Because I've been out of the country for the last few years watching football this Sunday was the first chance that I've had to see Jay Z's breathtakingly cynical ads for Budweiser. I'm not sure when Budweiser dropped George Clooney as the person who does the voiceovers on their commericals, but the hiring of Jay Z is probably the final proof, if proof be needed, that Norman Mailer was right in his unfortunately named but ultimately prophetic essay, The White Negro from 50 years ago. No one is more edgy, urban and hip than Jay Z, or rather, no one was more edgy urban and hip than Jay Z roughly 10 years ago and 10 years is about the lag time for a company like Budweiser to catch up with the culture...I suppose it's a victory of sorts for a pluralistic, melting pot version of America that a white bread boring middle America company like Budweiser feels it's necessary to get Jay Z to promote their brand but I find the Budweiser Jay Z ad depressing for several reasons.
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Firstly and most importantly I don't understand why celebrity actors and singers do advertisements at all. Don't they realize that becoming a pitchman for a product destroys their artistic credibility? Bill Hicks pointed this out in a famous bit (famous among Bill Hicks cultists anyway) about Jay Leno twenty years ago. George Clooney does not need the money to shill for Budweiser, neither does either Jay, so why do it? Greed? That must be it, right? Greed pure and simple, and greed is not and never has been one of the virtues despite what some people in the GOP would have you believe.
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The second thing to be said is that Budweiser is a very shitty product. America is going through a craft beer revolution and Budweiser is the nemesis of everyone who actually likes the taste of beer. If you drink Budweiser beer (and you are over the age of 15) then clearly you need to be educated about what beer is supposed to taste like. My local gas station here in West Seattle has an amazing assortment of terrific beers from northern California, Oregon, Washington State and Alaska. Any of them are better than the watery bilge pumped out from those vast AB factories in St Louis. We are on this big blue marble for only a few brief moments and life is way too short to spend any of that time downing awful beer. Budweiser consistently scores extremely poorly on Rate Beer and Beer Advocate and this is a fact that Budweiser tries to hide by telling you to drink their product "ice cold" so you can't taste how bad it is. It is a worthless beverage and anyone who shills for it should know this. You are selling crap to America Mr Clooney, Mr Z, and you are working for a company that has done everything in its power to crush the microbrewery and craft beer movement. Budweiser is the enemy of all that is good in this country. When my children are old enough to drink beer I am going to tell them that every time they crack open a can of Bud a Hop Fairy dies. I actually believe this to be the case and if I believe it I think they will believe it too.
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So where does this leave us? Well on the one hand I'm glad that Norman Mailer has been proved right, on the other I'm depressed that Jay Z feels that its ok to work for such a horrible company as Anheuser Busch. And if I had a third hand I'd be suspicious that this is exactly what the tobacco companies started to do in the sixties when wealthier white people stopped smoking: you brand your product for minorities and the poor who don't yet have the information that your stuff is bad for them.
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Wednesday Update
Well, that's interesting. I've removed the video above because Budweiser have taken the video down from youtube for reasons best known to themselves. If you want to see this video on youtube now you have to go to the channels of conspiracy theorists who show the video to assert that 1) Jay Z is one of the illumanti or 2) he is one of the lizard people who control the Earth. Going to 2) takes you on an interesting journey into the world of David Icke who insists that the royal family, George Bush, Barack Obama, The Isle of White County Council, etc. etc. are in fact all lizard aliens who control the world and (my favourite of his ideas) that the moon is hollow because its an alien observation post. I'd love to explore this some more but I can't do that here because it takes away from the serious point I was trying to make about beer...If you didn't get a chance to watch the youtube video and you dont want to add to the hits of conspiracy theorists, I'll just say that it was a fragmented series of black and white images of young hipsters drinking Budweiser while Jay Z pontificated about individualism, America and apple pie. It wasnt anything like this:
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43 comments:
When I was a little kid we went for an extended family outing at the Busch gardens in the greater L.A. region and it was pretty fun. I don't remember if there were Clydedales there or not, but there probably were. Why it seemed appropriate to build a theme park for family's with young children that had to be entertained I don't know, but it was okay.
I like more full flavored beers myself, but cold lagers are now the American tradition, and I don't think that's going to change much.
I don't think celebrities do commercials out of greed, actually. I think they do it out of insecurity. It's kind of built into celebrity, I'd think. By the time you get famous, you've spent too many years not being famous, or your family has and you tend to want to build on the moment. Or that's my theory.
My main concern, though, is that now that you have American coffee, microbrews and baseball, how are they going to get you on that plane back to Australia?
Oh wow... but you have to admit the neuro linguistic programmers this company employs are brilliant... shifting images of alternative, young, cool, progressive people enjoying their lives as a whole - at some kind of party, festival, in the back of their truck, finding themselves connected, and understood under a red white and blue, love banner of music... black - white - rich - poor - we all love coming together, and enjoying music... while we drink.... what? budweiser? Well... if you're still awake at that point and haven't been swept away by a mind wave of "i belong" then your subconscious will just see yourself drinking that All American Beer with JZ and the cool kids. Its depressing. But the bastards know what they're doing. Try Boont Amber. Best Beer on earth.
Seana
Clooney insecure? He was born famous, wealthy and good looking. He just wants the money. He does these instant espresso ads in Australia which are a huge embarrassment. Every time he begs to be taken seriously as an actor or a director I think of him selling shitty coffee or shitty beer.
Leandro
Yeah its a brilliant piece of propaganda. Brilliant. Pushes all the right buttons and is utterly cynical. My hope is that few people are going to fall for it. And actually Budweiser's market share is falling every year...
Seana
And yes its going to be tough to leave this lovely spot, but leave it we must come January...
Maybe four months of unrelenting rain will be the tonic I need to go.
I think there's virtually nothing celebrities won't endorse for the right amount of money. Just look at Hilary Swank taking a bagful of cash to party with a Chechen dictator. The greed is good mantra is very alive in Hollywood, even for allegedly leftist people like Clooney. Speaking of entertaining beer ads, here's one from Australia for Carlton Draught that's brilliant. You've probably seen it Adrian, but for everyone else here it is.
Forgot to mention this about Jay Z: a big part of rap and hip hop culture is to flash a lot cash and bling. In the context of that culture Jay Z should grab every penny he can get, no matter where it comes from. This is the same guy who rents a bodacious yacht every summer to patrol up and down the Riviera leaving a trail of empty Cristal bottles.
Clooney may be the exception to the actor as neurotic mess, but I don't think so.
And of course a lot of people do ads coming up, so it is part of acceptable practice in Hollywood. I don't know exactly where someone would decide to just stop doing them. I'm sure it's very flattering to be asked.
That was a brilliant post. I have hated Budweiser my whole life, for all the same reasons and also because of their relentless advertising. I grew up near Tampa going to Busch Gardens as a kid and later young adult, and wouldn't even drink the stuff when it was free.
Welcome back to the states! Man you get around!
I stopped beieving in rock and roll as a vehicle of social change around time Eric Clapton and Stevie winwood songs turned up in beer commercials.
So yes, maybe appearance in a commercial for mass-produced American beer is an index of uncool, a sign one no longer cares about such things . I wouldn't mind a visit to Duff Gardens, though.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com
Cary
The Hilary Swank case was amazing. Someone should write a TV movie a la The Late Shift just about that one incident. The two time Oscar winner, a million bucks, and the dictator... Her professions of ignorance however do ring true though dont they?
Seana
But there are some people who have never done a commercial and never would because they recognise that once you sell yourself for a dodgy product then no one can ever trust a thing you say again.
Dennis
I especially hate them around St Patricks Day when they try to appropriate an Irish holiday and turn it to a celebration of really poor German American beer.
Peter
I do like that old vinyl album cover for The Who Sell Out though...
Not very many, though. I remember when Sam Waterston let us all down selling discount brokerage stuff. Still--in some ways it's just another part. And I still don't know why anyone believes advertising anyway.
It's probably a good thing you aren't sticking around till March 17th.
Love the rant, hate the beer.
For decades celebrities have been doing commercials for millions of bucks in Japan - never to be shown in North America, of course; that is, until youtube came along, heh heh heh.
When in doubt, assume that anyone connected with Hollywood, particularly actors, is venal and, above all, stupid. You'll be wrong occasionally, but not enough to make a difference.
Seana, Sam Waterston? How could anyone with such a limited range of facial expression be anything but sincere?
No, I've been in love with Sam Waterson since I saw him in Much Ado About Nothing on PBS when I was still in high school, and I'm afraid a little venality isn't going to change that. Besides, it was really my sister who was upset, because the ad was dissing Charles Schwab, where she happened to have worked.
Because my other sister lives in the Palisades, I happen to have met more than a few Hollywood people, and though admittedly none of them were moguls or huge celebrities, none of them were in the least bit stupid or even greedy.
In private, maybe, but when they convert themselves into commodities...
Another reason to get yourself to Prague lad! Excellent beers, no over-hyping..
I've worked in DC twice in the past year, tried some good (micro) beer in Georgetown (on Halloween, a lively night...) - delicious, though it was the most expensive half-pint I have ever had...
Good old Blighty has some ace brews too.. I live near the Titanic brewery. White Star is a fine drink - Iceberg not bad.
And what does JZ really drink??
John
I hate it too, although to call it "beer" is a bit much...
Seana
Its got to be greed. No one would promote Budweiser or any other horrible product because they believed in it.
Matt
In Australia Seinfeld does ads for a credit card company. Seinfeld! Who has 300 million dollars in the bank.
Peter
Or they may just be weak and are pressured by their agencies to earn something for nothing...Of course the price is their immortal soul.
Seana
I've never met anyone famous so I dont know, but I'd like to think that I would be above it all.
DEB
Well if I'm going to do a European beer odyssey I suspect I wont make it out of Belgium.
Adrian, you would be above it all, but thousands wouldn't. And I have to say that American media hasn't really found away around commercials. Public television likes to think they have but they lie to themselves a bit about that.
Having finally gotten around to listening to it, I like the distinction Bill Hicks made between actors coming up and celebrities willing to shill for even more money than the amount they already have.
Of course, no one ever has enough money. That's how capitalism works.
I was trying to find that post you did a long time ago about a reason for not killing yourself that ends up with Belgian ale, but wasn't successful.
yeah i follow seana's observation/opinion that actors etc just can't get enough....clooney shills that dreadful nescafe stuff now, as im sure you know...speaking of baaaad coffee...
as for bud, well, i agree with you and millions of others...lifeless, tasteless piss (could piss eber taste nice? well nehru thought it so im led to believe) and i have seen that jay z commercial so im in cahoots with you on these thoughts...plus i lament the fact that smaller craftier brews are out there....
finally i miss the bottle shop next to the local down in carlisle st...i found some of the best beers, porters, stouts etc in my life in that place...the sign that says 'exciting new store coming soon' is still there...
anyway good post my man :)
Life of Brian must be my favourite film...I just never tire of it. I saw it in Brum the day it was released in 1979. The Bishop of Birmingham was there. Afterwards he was mobbed by the press, and looked rather like a rabbit caught in headlights. He didn't say anything meaningful.. it was banned shortly afterwards. In Aberystwyth the ban was only lifted in 2009 after a campaign by the mayor - who played Judith Iscariot in the film! You couldn't make it up... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/5067927/Aberystwyth-embraces-Monty-Pythons-Life-of-Brian.html
oops,, the ban was an urban myth.. I am such a sucker for a good story
Dan
I tried to support those guys on Carlisle Street but I knew they were doomed because they just didnt get the foot traffic. The Local goes from strength to strength though...
Deb
Not an urban apparently is that that line "I'm not" in that clip was improvised and they decided to keep it in because it was so funny.
Excellent post Adrian because I had not heard of Bill Hicks (I've been busy ok) and because it's been in my top ten pet peeves about how Budweiser even exists as a company because the beer is so bad. Even when frequently imbibed as an underaged youth.
The JayZ thing reminds me of Michael Jordan who used his prowess on the court to align with corporate bullshit sponsors like McDonalds. For MJ it was all about branding.
There's no apparent conflict with athletes and corporate representation the way there is with actors / artists. Athletes have a short life span, that's sort of built-in, but when they're healthy they get a lot of airtime if they're playing well. And then interviews, and shout outs on radio shows and tv, and newspapers only pile up. More so than an actor where the publicity has a lot to do with their antics off screen. So maybe the thing with a lot actors is that they want to be like Mike. And some are just horse's arses.
Allen Ginsberg did an ad for the GAP - he wore khakis anyway in real life - but did a print ad for GAP khakis. A tiny but vocal part of the world complained about his artistic integrity but he said he did it for Naropa, which was in bad financial shape. He gave all of the proceeds to fix the Writing building and to pave the path out front.
William S. Burroughs was a pitchman for Nike. But that's OK; he was William S. Burroughs. By taking money form the system, he showed how absurd the system was.
All I can think of when I see Burroughs's name is his claim that eating sprouts was like going down on a robot (in a Naropa grad memoir "When I Was Cool").
Nike, really? Kinda like having Sr Teresa do an ad for ... Budweiser.
And I can't think of Burroughs without recalling the time in a used bookstore forced to accommodate some books horizontally on top of the vertically stacked volumes. This led, in the B's, to the fortuitous conjunction of William S. Burroughs on top of William F. Buckley.
Who would Kerouac have been shilling for if he were around today?
Oh my, Burroughs topping Buckley.
My guess is Jack Kerouac would shill for Polident.
The thing with Clooney and Nespresso is that nestle are responsible for the deaths of so many children in the very area he and his dad campaign for
Brillant post!
The "I'm Not" guy improvised the line, and for that, he got a paid for an entire speaking role, for that one, improvised line.
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