This is not The Onion folks. Budweiser has submitted paperwork in order to change its name from to “America.” To further increase the patriotic fervor they will also be changing:
- “King of Beers” has been changed to “E Pluribus Unum,”
- “The World Renowned” changed to “Land of the Free”
- “Anheuser-Busch, Inc.” updated to read “Liberty & Justice For All.”
- “Trademark” was changed to “Indivisible”
- “Registered” changed to “Since 1776”
That last one is interesting to me. The beer wasn’t available until 100 years later in 1876.
Isn’t this just misleading consumers, or does the transformation to this level of Americana allow them to do that?
It will also include the words from Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land”
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters this land was made for you and me.
AB Budweiser will apply the new branding as a nod to the presidential race and it will run from May 23rd until election day, or for seven months, on its 12oz bottles and cans. The cans will be apart of a national campaign called “America is in your hands.” The branding also coincides with its sponsorship of this summer’s US Olympic athletes.
We are embarking on what should be the most patriotic summer that this generation has ever seen, with Copa America Centenario being held on U.S. soil for the first time, Team USA competing at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Budweiser has always strived to embody America in a bottle, and we’re honored to salute this great nation where our beer has been passionately brewed for the past 140 years.”-Ricardo Marques, vice president, Budweiser.
I mean, seriously, this is genius branding, regardless of what you think of Budweiser or AB InBev. It’s vulgar, deluded, in your face, unapologetic and tries to wrap itself in everything many in America identify with.
In summer Budweiser sees a huge increase in sales making the timing of the rebranding impeccable. The timing of the rebranding, coupled with this election season’s record setting patriotism I’m seeing this as a huge win for the brand.
We thought nothing was more iconic than Budweiser and nothing was more iconic than America,” Tosh Hall, creative director at the can’s branding firm JKR.
Apparently, AB InBev wants to align patriotism with its other well known traits like squashing competition by buying it and trying to control streams of distribution. Are these patriotic practices?
Old Can (l). Patriotism on steroids (r)
Budweiser is the most iconic beer brand in America, so combining this level of patriotism with our own country’s name – while seemingly vain, deluded and a bit scary – might not be that off-base. The problem I have is seeing our own country’s name branded like this. But hey, our country is branded everywhere, right? “America” is on t-shirts, doo-hickies, toys, an everything in between. Why not Budweiser?
Expect an onslaught of patriotism this summer, like you’ve never seen.
Will you be buying one of these to add to your collection? Kinda like that old can of Bud Dry that you have yet to open?
