Why can't all commercials be beer commercials?
Overheard at a recent clandestine meeting:Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to induct another campaign into the Beer Ad Hall of Fame. I suppose that by rule, we will have to wait another several years until it can properly be considered, but I think this one is in on the first ballot, just like recent inductees Bud, Weis, and Er the Frogs as well as Louie and Frankie the Lizards. Cedric the Entertainer is on the fringe of getting in, but more for his longevity than his brilliance. The candidate of which I speak is not of the famed Anheuser-Busch lineage, which of course includes the aforementioned Hall of Famers (and also George Clooney). No, this campaign springs from the loins of their bitter rivals from Wisconsin, the Miller Brewing Company. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Committee, I nominate for early consideration the Men of the Square Table, and their Man Laws!
I love beer commercials. Even when I dislike the beer in question. These Miller Lite commercials are a great example - I hate, Hate, Miller Lite as a beer, though not as much as I despise Coors Light - which is brewed, shipped, and stored cold only because its taste needs all the help it can get (as do the commercials). Yet, despite my distaste for the product, I love the commercials. One thing must be noted when I refer to great advertisements. I'm not looking at effectiveness - obviously if a commercial does nothing to sway me toward a particular product, it is not a successful effort. I'm talking about entertainment value, although by creating an entertaining commercial, a company gets its product talked about by the water cooler and on two-bit pop culture blogs, which raises awareness, which is in itself one measure of a successful commercial, so I suppose there's that.
I particularly enjoy these particular beer commercials. The cast is great: everybody from Burt Reynolds to a pro wrestler to the guy who cut his own hand off after a boulder fell on it, plus the token black guy. Then there's the premise, which I would hope requires no explanation here. The idea of a sacred set of rules for men are nothing new to any group of guys. The Man's Code is well known in all parts, at least in theory. Of course, different geographical areas and different crews will abide by different variations of the Code, but every guy inherently believes that the variant practiced by his group is the one and only proper code, and all others are heretics and blasphemers. Part of the brilliance of the Square Table is its ambition in establishing a uniform set of Man Laws. Its genius also lies in its nod toward the discrepancies that exist among different groups in the form of legislative debate. I suppose the humor helps, too. All in all, I think this has the potential to be what Bill Simmons would call a Pantheon commercial, joining the other all-time great beer ads.
posted by The AMT @ 11:45 PM
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