Budweiser

from http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/07/0726_globalbrands/source/31.htm

Reading texts is a really important part of Biblical study, which is what I spend most of my time doing. It is useful to use the techniques of careful reading on all texts, just to keep in practice, and important to read things that are less emotionally significant than the Bible, which helps us hone our tools in a less charged environment. Here is an example:
So, I was watching the Super bowl on Sunday, and saw this Budweiser commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnMloXnGC7U

It is the Budweiser bridge commercial, for those who don't want to follow the link. The commercial ends with this tagline: “Budweiser its what we do.”



Budweiser is a big deal here in Saint Louis, and I have previously mentioned my mixed feelings on alcohol, so I offer this analysis acknowledging that it isn’t exactly what I think about alcohol or Budweiser, it is just what I was feeling today.
Watching this commercial, I found myself laughing at the set up, particularly the panicked man and the people forming a railing on the bridge for no good reason, but overall, it left me feeling a little off. So I’ve been thinking about it this week, and thanks to some processing with some friends, here’s what I came up with.

Here is a town, so completely devoted to the consumption of alcohol that while completely unconcerned with the bridge being out in general, when their own crumbling infrastructure provides a roadblock to their supply of brew, the citizens are willing to drop everything they are doing to come and form a human bridge, allowing a huge truck to drive over their backs, just so they can once again partake in Budweiser beer. For their part, the Budweiser employees drive a truck to town, and then insist that the town reconstruct the human bridge so they can leave.

In short, Budweiser’s message is we addict people so that they will go to massive, self destructive lengths to procure our products, willingly debasing themselves in service to their addiction, and then we can drive over their prone bodies in pursuit of profit, abandoning them as soon as our pockets are full of their money.

Budweiser. Its what we do.