For the last several years, Bud Light has been running a series of radio ads that began as “Real American heroes” but became known as “Real Men of Genius” post 9-11. I submit to you, dear Dopers, that this series is the greatest bit of advertising (radio or otherwise) utilized in a long, long time.
I don’t drink beer (yay for being 20!), but these ads make me consider it. And to be honest, their advertising has worked on me: when I turn 21 in January, I’m probably more like to buy Bud (when buying beer is a necessity _ since their name will be stuck in my head. So (to me at least) this advertising has been successful.
Anywho, I can’t even begin to count the times I’ve almost crashed the car, due to laughing hysterically at these ads. My personal favorite is Mr. Paranoid of the Ocean Guy, which includes gems like:
My other favorite is what seems to be a newer one: Mr. Boneless Buffalo Wing Inventor Guy. I can’t find the exact lyrics, but it goes something like this:
Oh, and I can’t forget: Mr. Really Big Pet Snake Owner
*
Obviously, I love these commercials. Where do you guys stand on Real Men of Genius?
While I dig these ads, I will also say that, in general the better the ads, the worse the beer. The only beer I like I’ve ever seen advertised in media are Newcastle and Sam Adams.
Wow, have these really been running that long? I agree that they’re funny the first time you hear a new one (I did laugh pretty good the first time I heard the “Hope I’m not eating rear end” one last week). Overall radio ads are really hard to do, and most just go with shrill and annoying. That these are as memorable as they are and have lasted as long has they have gets a thumbs up from me.
My favorite is the one for Mr. Ceremonial First-Pitch Thrower Guy:
“As your ball crosses homeplate at a breath-taking 8 and a half miles per hour…”
(That’s almost ten!)
I think the commercials are cool, but until you mentioned it I didn’t remember what they were actually advertising. So, memorable commercial yes, good product advertising (at least for me), not so much.
I enjoy those commercials too, whenever I accidentally hear radio advertising. There’s no commercial funny enough to stop Bud from tasting like llama spit, but I feel good will towards advertisiers who don’t go out of their way to irritate me. The singer in those ads is David Bickler, a former member of the band Survivor, and the announcer is Pete Stacker, who is also the announcer for Comedy Central.
The Wikipedia entry has a complete listing of the heroes/men of genius “honored” over the years.
The ads are great, but they really lost something for me when they changed to “Real Men of Genius”. First, the old ones were the best. Second, the thought that having a commercial with a “Real American Heroes” tagline is somehow inappropriate because of terrorism is monumentally fucking stupid and knee-jerk reactionary. Third, the jingle isn’t nearly as catchy as it was.
I have seen Sam Adams & Newcastle ads, and out of all the beers I’ve seen advertised, those two are the only ones I like. My favorites consist of ones I’ve never seen advertised on TV/radio/bus stops.
WLW here in Cincy does a pretty good knock off of these commercials–they had the singer (think he was the lead singer for Survivor–sure one of the links identifies him) who does the actual “Real Men of Genius” on and he said they were the best knock-offs he had heard.
Like many of the above, I like the commercials, but prefer Corona as my beer of choice.
_ since their name will be stuck in my head. So (to me at least) this advertising has been successful.
Now that I think about it, I think that I have now seen an ad for Bass Ale.