Did Yuengling just pull a Budweiser?

Whatever, dude. You keep throwing out those weak insults. Maybe you should apply your own reading comprehension skills to your own posts.

 

As a small brewery worker who has done damn near everything a brewery worker can do. The part I as offended by in the beer sniffer ad was that our work making beer for people who might actually want to look at the glass and go Michael Jackson on it was dismissed as "easy" and that being creative was something to make fun of.
Beyond that. I loved the commercial cos that footage of beer sniffers and text about funny creative beer was a blessing if you get that the commercial was in no way saying what it was advertising was actually a superior choice. It re-presents their beer as a choice for people who don't want to think about choice, and aren't interested in creativity. It could've been even funnier and more 'offensive' in calling out how long it takes the kind of people who sniff their beer to make up their mind at the liquor store. I'm fine with that, cos I can take the joke because what it also does is draw a very clear line about who is welcome to join, and who is asked to leave.
Then I remember my days as a smoker and when I was into Pall Mall straights for that brief moment and what text they included on the packet. "Wherever particular people congregate."

 

The ad is simple, not really pretentious, and I don't think the ad really goes to the anti-craft side of the fence. Yuengling has a right to be proud of their product. Yes, it is corn-based, and somewhat sweet, but it is also a very drinkable and refreshing lager. Their recent success is based on that beer, and it has been significant success in terms of business and customer growth.

I, for one, just don't mind that Yuengling is "technically" in the craft brewing club. Are they actually craft brewers? Probably not, but they are within smelling distance.

If I had to choose between a Bud and Lager, it would be the Lager every time.

 

But that's not what AB did, was it? If they'd done that, maybe people wouldn't have made a fuss about it. Context matters. Tone and presentation can be as important as the underlying message. What you're basically arguing is akin to saying that a person's reaction to every movie version of Romeo and Juliet should be the same because they all use the same words, but there's a world of difference between what Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann did. A person can easily enjoy one version while disliking the other. That seems to be what's going on with these ads.

 

Yuengling Summer Wheat is a better beer then any beer AB brews. It is a real craft beer. AB itself (not InBev) has no real craft beers since they killed all the good Michelob lines and American Ale.

Case closed.

 

And getting closer all the time. The Yuengling Summer Wheat is a craft beer IMO.

In a few months they will be producing an IPL (which I think will be called Winter Lager) and that will be a craft beer as well.

You can buy their Oktoberfest now; I am conflicted whether the term of craft beer should be applied to this particular beer.

Cheers!

 

Active insults, versus passive "this is what we are not". Therein lies the difference.

"We brew the hard way" versus "we're not private reserve stuff".

"Let them drink their peach whatever ale" versus "we're just about simple lager, yo".

One actively denigrates other products, the other simply states what they are and are not going for with their own product. If one can't see a distinct difference - not a subtlety, not a nuance, but a different message and presentation entirely - then there's a perception issue.

 

I concur, I mean I almost had to laugh at the OP. Offended??? By what?!?! That is one hell of a reach to say that this ad is even mildly similar to AB's Super Bowl Ad.

I think it's time to learn to relax, starting to look silly here.

 

You nailed it with this post.

A gold star for you!!

Cheers!

 

Not to mention that being America's Oldest Brewery is a pretty awesome distinction. I would wear that with pride as well.

 

But it's not North America's oldest brewery. Molson has that claim, brewing in Montreal since 1786 to the present. However they stopped being 100% family owned in 1945 when they began to sell stock.

I do enjoy Molson Export greatly when I can get my hands on it, and still occasionally buy cases of Molson Golden.

My preferred Canadian beer of choice remains Moosehead.

 

This is one of those 'first world' problems IMO. Advertising is simply an attempt at mind control. There have been books, studies, college courses, etc. that prove this point. My personal rule of thumb is not to believe ANYTHING contained in an advertisement, print, radio or tv since most of the time the information presented is not entirely true. I'm not saying that it's lies, but facts can be presented in a way that even the most specious statement is taken as fact. I also refuse to buy any product or service that is advertised constantly to the point of being annoying such as Geico & Capital One. Why? The money from advertising has to come from somewhere and more likely than not it comes from the quality of the product or service. It sure doesn't come from profit and it sure doesn't come from higher rates.

 

For me, even more impressive is that the same family that founded the brewery still owns and runs the brewery.

 

The text of the ad I just saw at the link:
"American-owned, family-operated, five-generation, fiercely-focused on one thing; putting the best beer on the bar. Yuengling. America's oldest brewery."

Clearly, the OP's link now leads somewhere else.

Oh, found the ad everyone's talking about. It's titled "Standard Beer".

Meh. Who cares? It plays to the people it's supposed to play to.

 

I think it would have only been a stab at Bud if it would have said "Not Beechwood Aged"

Beechwood BLECH

 

But nothing in the Yuengling ad really makes fun of the craft product. It simply says that Yuengling is not "limited", but still makes a point to use a play on words noting that in spite of not being those things, it's still a special beer (calling it a "rare breed"). This is where context becomes important and I think you are really glossing over some key cues in the Bud ad that simply weren't present in the Yuengling ad.

In an attempt to simplify it, I'm going to compare the Cliff's Notes version of each ad's message:

Bud: "craft beer is stupid because X, and we aren't X--we're Y"

Yuengling: "we aren't X, we're Y"

The latter accepts that even though Yuengling might not themselves be X, there is also nothing inherently wrong with X. They understand that X and Y can both be valid interests--that interest in their product doesn't depend on creating an US vs. THEM mentality in consumers. They implicitly recognize that even though they brew a simple beer, that if you want to "fuss" over the beer, then knock yourself out. Really, the entire ad is a play on the old "classic never goes out of style" idiom more than anything else.

I'm not sure how much clearer the difference can be made. I mean, the ads are similar the same way an apple and an orange are both fruit.

 

A standard beer that is a rare breed....I am confused.

 

Ah, they aren't trying to sell a beer to you!!

Cheers!