CEO DATELINE - Beer Institute rules Bud Light ad wasn't ‘lewd'
CEO DATELINE - Beer Institute rules Bud Light ad wasn't ‘lewd'
- July 22, 2016 |
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Walt Williams
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A recent TV beer commercial featuring comedians Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer joking about the size of their "biggest caucus" was perfectly acceptable by the standards of the day, the Beer Institute recently ruled.
The beer industry is somewhat unusual in the business world in that its main trade group monitors and investigates ads for alleged violations of an advertising compliance code that most major beer makers have agreed to follow. Any member of the public can lodge a complaint with Beer Institute's Code Compliance Review Board, which will then view the ad in question and make a ruling determining whether it violates the code.
The Bud Light commercial, which first aired during this year's Super Bowl, had Rogan and Schumer suggestively quip about the size of their beer party "caucus." One viewer complained to the Beer Institute that the commercial was making an inappropriate sexual joke, but the compliance board ruled the reference could be interpreted multiple ways.
"If interpreted literally, of course, the use of ‘caucus' in this ad simply would refer to the size of the expected contingent for the Bud Light Party—suggesting that the party will be large because it consists of fans of the nation's best-selling beer," the board said.
Even if it was making a sexual joke, the commercial was well within the bounds of acceptable taste for its adult target audience, the board added. The evidence? Just look at comments made earlier this year by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump about Trump's allegedly small hands "and the supposed implications of such."
"In today's environment, sexual innuendo is advertisements, movies, television shows and even news programming," the board said. "Our society simply is not so sensitive as to view any such reference as being ‘lewd' or ‘indecent.'" http://bit.ly/2a0F0SH
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