Bud To Skip Super Bowl Advertising

Screen shot from Budweiser video

After 37 years of Super Bowls, Budweiser won’t be in this year’s Big Game.

Forbes reports Anheuser-Busch’s flagship beer brand is instead donating its advertising dollars to the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative to raise awareness of the Covid-19 vaccines.

To explain why it’s skipping this year’s game, Budweiser today is releasing a 90-second video—narrated by actress Rashida Jones and set to the song “Lean On Me”—that features footage from the past year of the pandemic. There are people singing out their windows, a car parade surprising elderly neighbors, a dog making a surprise appearance on Zoom, NBA players kneeling while wearing “Black Lives Matter” t-shirts inside of an empty stadium, masked grocery shoppers dancing and people getting Covid-19 vaccines. 

According to Anheuser-Busch U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Marcel Marcondes, the decision is “good for society, it’s good for the economy, and it’s good for the brand.” Along with partnering on the creative that the Ad Council is developing to help people better understand the vaccines, Budweiser is also donating the air time that would have been during the Super Bowl.