
Wednesday’s ad is another one for Budweiser, though this one’s a little older than yesterday’s, most likely from the late 1950s or early 1960s. It’s from Budweiser’s long-running “Where There’s Life” series of ads. The ad features a couple on the beach, and even though its night their faces still look shiny with sweat, or maybe that’s just the glow of the fire that makes them look like that. Either way, hopefully those weenies will be done soon.

Tuesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from not too long ago: 1987. And while I don’t normally feature the overtly sexist ads, this one is too classic to ignore. This, and variations on it, were nearly ubiquitous in the late 1980s. I recall seeing them everywhere. I still think it’s a fairly clever ad, even with the titillation. One thing that sticks out now, just 25 years later, is what they’re listenging to and reading. If the ad was done today, they’d be using an iPod and reading on a Kindle or iPad.

Tuesday’s ad is another one for Budweiser, also from 1964 and again withe tagline “that Bud… that’s beer!” In this one, a man with a goofy-looking expression is holding a bottle of beer at a party, and appears to be drinking it straight from the bottle.

Monday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1964. The ad features a fisherman holding a flat-top can, with his rod over his shoulder and flies stuck into his cap. But it’s really the copy that stands out in this ad, staring with the tagline “that Bud… that’s beer!” But look to the left, here’s a gem. “Is there any real difference in the way beers are brewed? Sure, and one is brewed to be the King of Beers.” Sure? Well, that sure tells us a lot about how Bud was brewed differently from every other similar-tasting American lager in 1964. Nice.

Wednesday’s ad is another one for Budweiser, this time from 1962. Showing a half-dozen men of varying ages out for a night of bowling — league night, no doubt — and also drinking a few beers “between frames.” It seems likes everybody was in a bowling league in the 1950s through the 1970s. My Mom was, I was as a kid. It was always fun. I also had a girlfriend briefly in high school who loved bowling — she was on the school’s team — and so spent a lot of time bowling with her, too.
There was a book a few years ago, Bowling Alone, that was all about how people no longer go out and do things in their community, instead just stay in and watch TV. It used the popularity of bowling and its recent slide as a metaphor for the collapse of the American community. It was an interesting idea, I only read part of it, but liked what I read. Hmm, I think I need to go bowling again, and soon.

Tuesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1961. The very-red ad shows a greasy-haired bartender in uniform, handing you a glass of Budweiser. There’s a bowl of popcorn on the bar and a Bud lamp on the wall behind. The ad is part of A-B’s long-running “where there’s life … there’s Bud” campaign, showing their beer in a variety of settings. One thing I’m starting to notice is how unusual the glassware is in so many of the ads of this time period. I’m so used to the ubiquitous pint or shaker glass, but I can’t say when it became the standard bar glass. I spent a lot of time in bars as a kid in the late 1960s and 1970s (I had an alcoholic stepfather) and I can’t say I remember there being much in the way of unusual glassware, though I was young and not paying that close attention, so there’s that to consider.