Super Bowl LIII wasn’t much of a spectacle and, by now, most people have moved on. But there was one commercial that’s still being talked about: Bud Light’s corn syrup-based attack against its fiercest rival, MillerCoors.
The commercial, set in Bud Light’s medieval, “Dilly Dilly” universe, follows the king and his servants as they return a massive barrel labeled “corn syrup” to their competitors’ kingdoms. At each stop, they’re sure to point out that the brewers at the Coors Light and Miller Lite castles use corn syrup to brew beer. Conversely, the Bud Light castle opts for rice — though the fact is never overtly stated in the commercial.
The response was swift. On Twitter, the National Corn Growers Association voiced its disappointment, while MillerCoors took out a full-page ad in The New York Times. Some people hated the commercial. Some loved it. But no one was sure exactly what Bud Light was trying to say. Fact is, there isn’t much difference between beer brewed with rice and beer brewed with corn, ingredients commonly referred to as adjuncts. And that, it seems, was largely the point.
“Bud Light wasn’t trying to say that corn syrup doesn’t belong in beer,” said Alex Delany, associate editor at Bon Appétit. “The only real information you get from that commercial is that MillerCoors uses corn syrup, and Bud Light doesn’t. From a marketing perspective, it’s kind of genius.”
Through the commercial — and new, highly-visible nutrition labels on its packaging — Bud Light is playing on what Delany calls our “collective association” in regards to corn syrup and wellness, generally speaking. “It’s 2019. People know they aren’t supposed to drink corn syrup by the gallon or the teaspoon,” Delany said. “But the more people know, the less they actually think. If you only tell someone half of a story, knowing they possess enough knowledge to finish it, they’re going to finish it themselves.”