Anheuser-Busch will not advertise its Budweiser brand during Super Bowl Sunday for the first time since 1983. Instead, the company will be donating the money that it would have spent on advertising to COVID-19 vaccine efforts.
“We have a pandemic that is casting a pall over just about everything,” said Paul Argenti, Dartmouth College professor of corporate communication. “It’s hard to feel the exuberance and excitement people normally would.”
Anheuser-Busch will still use four minutes of advertising for some of their bigger brands, including Bud Light, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, Michelob Ultra, and Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer.
The Anheuser-Busch announcement follows several other companies who will not be advertising this year during the big game. PepsiCo. previously announced that they will not be promoting Pepsi but would still advertise Mountain Dew and Frito-Lay products. Coke, Audi, and Avocados from Mexico have decided to sit out this year’s Super Bowl as well.
Villanova University Marketing professor, Charles Taylor, agrees with advertisers who have opted out of running light-hearted ads during the game, saying that “I think the advertisers are correctly picking up on this being a riskier year for the Super Bowl.”
Super Bowl LV, which will arrive as COVID-19 still has a hold on the country, will not only be different in terms of advertising. Attendance will be limited to only 22,000 people. This is just one-third of the 65,890 capacity of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
