Monday’s ad is presumably supposed to be funny in that time when most women were housewives incapable of much else, and certainly putting up wallpaper was beyond their expertise. She has that “I guess I can’t do it” look on her face, but I’m sure the beer will make it all better. It’s from 1958. In my household the opposite is true. I’m all thumbs but my wife is the handy one.
Friday’s ad is the oldest piece of American breweriana known to exist. It was a poster created by Anheuser-Busch, who commissioned the original painting, Custer’s Last Fight, which was painted by Cassilly Adams in 1884. A lithograph was then prepared by F. Otto Becker in 1889. It was distributed as an advertising poster by Anheuser-Busch. It has since become one of the “most famous views of of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, referred by Indians as the Battle of Greasy Grass.”
Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Little Bighorn, which has become famous as Custer’s Last Stand. It began on June 25, 1876 and ended the following day.
According to one history website, Indian Wars — Wyoming Tales and Trails, “it is, however, best charitably described as fanciful. The Indians’ attire is in error; Custer’s hair is in error, he had it closely shorn before leaving Ft. Abraham Lincoln; he is wearing a red scarf; and, perhaps most importantly, the battle is being fought on the wrong side of the river.”
As possibly the very first piece of breweriana, an original will set you back a pretty penny, at least from $1,699 to $2,250. One of the eBay sellers includes the following information about the lithograph:
Measures approx. 32 ” X 42″across Great colored lithograph depicting the grisly battle between General Custer’s troops and Indian warriors at Little Big Horn. Custer is featured at center waving a saber and dressed in fringed buckskin. The remaining cavalry officers (except for his brother Tom) are dressed in military uniform. Indians are armed with scalping knives, tomahawks, clubs, spears and rifles. Dead of both parties appear in foreground, with several being identified in the bottom margin as Courier from Sitting Bull, Squaw Killing wounded, Rain In the face and the Sioux Warrior who killed Custer. Custer’s medals and banners are in lower left margin. Mounted Indian poses beside a monument in lower right margin. In the small margin directly under the picture it is marked Entered According To Act Of Congress By Adolphus Busch march 30th 1896 In The office of The Librarian Of Congress At Washington, D.C. In the lower center portion it is marked The Original Painting has been Presented to the Seventh Regiment U.S. Cavalry By Anheuser Busch Brewing Association, St. Louis, Mo. U.S.A.
I’m an unabashed lover of animation, which is why I always bristle when the neo-prohibitionists invariably complain when a cartoon is used to sell beer. They always argue that cartoons appeal only to children, and seem to forget that adults love them, too. Many of the most famous cartoons we love were originally made for adults, to be shown before feature films at the theater in the days before television. It wasn’t until the advent of TV, I’d argue, that the split began between cartoons for kids and for adults.
Anyway, I recently was looking for and found a bootleg DVD of old Quisp & Quake commercials, which were created by Jay Ward, famous for Rocky & Bullwinkle, among much else. And, yes, I am that much of an animation geek. Anyway, I also discovered at the same website, something I hadn’t previously known about: a Hanna-Barbera made Flintstones cartoon done in 1967 for an Anheuser-Busch distributor meeting or convention. I promptly ordered that as well.
It’s a little over 19 minutes, shows some upcoming television and radio spots for Busch Bavarian Beer, but also includes a mini-Flinstones story, too, that begins when Fred and Barney lose their jobs and go to a bar to drink Busch beer. It appears aimed at distributors, and possibly retailers, to show what advertising will be used in 1967 to support the brand and help it continue to be successful. There’s some great old adspeak in the video, where the narrator talks about “advertising that moves the consumer to Busch” with what they call — and they say in hushed tones implying it’s a new term — “Target Advertising.” But here’s my favorite. “We used words that beer drinkers understood.” That had me laughing out loud. What exactly are the words that beer drinkers understand? Are they small ones? Simple ones? Ones without too many syllables?
After a few minutes of a Flintstones story, going to the bar, then back home, the boys return again to the bar. The bar’s name is actually “Tavern-Type Inn Bar Grill Lounge Pub Saloon.” They agree to take over for the bartender and serve some Busch beer, then watch a video within the video that’s aimed at the distributors and talks about advertising plans for 1967. Apparently last year’s slogan was “you can’t say beer better than Busch” and the new one will be “when you’re due for a beer, Busch does it!.”
I think my favorite part of the video is when the beer wagon comes out of the A-B gate, pulled by Clydes-dinos. After the video, the 5:00 whistle sounds and Fred and Barney have to go back to work serving Busch to the after work rush. When they’re done, they talk about what hard work it was, and they throw out this bon mot, which must have delighted the crowd. “It takes know how to work in the beer business,” to which Fred replies “yeah, and we got no know how, no how.” Eventually, their boss from the gravel pit, Mr. Slate, comes in the bar and they get their jobs back, of course, wrapping up the story arc from the beginning.
It’s a fun cartoon, especially for the beer geek, and I can’t imagine how expensive it must have been to get Hanna-Barbera, one of the premiere animation studios at that time, to do an industrial film for them. Happily, you don’t have to go out and buy a copy of it like I did, but can watch it right here, because I found it on YouTube, separated into two parts. Enjoy.
Part 1: 9:22
Part 2: 9:59
Grupo Modelo is the largest beer company in Mexico, and their most popular beer, of course, is Corona. For many years, Anheuser-Busch has owned a non-controlling 50% share of the company, but after the InBev merger they own 50.2% but only 49.3% voting. And I think they’ve been coveting control for a long, long time and now they may finally get it.
Yesterday, Reuters had an item, AB InBev to Buy Modelo This Year, suggesting it’s likely a deal will go through, and will be completed later this year. The price tag looks to be about $10.8 billion. Earlier this year, Heineken bought FEMSA, Mexico’s second largest beer company. So if ABI buys Modelo, the majority of the country’s beer market will be owned by foreign companies, just like in the U.S.
Monday’s ad is for Budman, who made his debut this day in 1969 as a cartoon spokesman for Budweiser. Today’s ad also ran circa 1969 and so it most likely is one of the first Budman ads and certainly the tagline “Dauntless Defender of Quality” is the one I’m most familiar with. I imagine A-B couldn’t even have a cartoon character today since the neo-prohibitionists cry fowl every time a beer label uses any sort of cartoon imagery, curiously believing cartoons appeal only to children.
Friday’s ad is for Budweiser cans from 1963. You have to admire her ‘do and the mod frock, but “Pick a Pair,” suggesting that the “smart way to buy” is to purchase two six-packs implies that the 12-pack had not yet been invented. To me, that’s the odd notion. When did the 12-pack debut as a lasting package? I know breweries experimented with varying package sizes, before the sixer became the standard. I also seem to recall its victory had something to do with weight and ease of carrying. Though despite the obscenely happy face she’s wearing, she seems to be struggling a bit with carrying two six-packs, or at least they’re perched precariously.
Tuesday’s ad is for the Budweiser flat-top can from 1964. They’re going for that manly fisherman demographic. I found it interesting given yesterday’s post, Evolution of a Beer Label, just how much importance A-B was placing on its label in 1964. Notice what the ad copy reads. “The story is on every Budweiser label.” But I think the previous question asked by the ad, “[i]s there any real difference in the way beers are brewed,” will have the average beer geek laughing out loud.
Monday’s ad is from 1937 and is again for Budweiser. The gypsy fortune teller must have seemed very exotic in the late 1930s. But I love the assertion that by buying Budweiser you’re complimenting “your own excellent taste.” And you, and three generations before you, have done so not because you liked the taste, not because you were thirsty, not even because you enjoyed beer, but for a more grand reason. You bought Bud “in the interest of good fellowship, contentment and good living.”
The inset box is signed by Adolphus Busch III, who’d taken over A-B from August A. Busch Sr. just a few years before, in 1934. It also contains some interesting statements. Obviously, the nation was still smarting from the effects of the Great Depression. Busch is insuring customers that buying Budweiser is helping American business; railroads, retailers and even farmers. He concludes with “whenever you drink Budweiser you are helping someone.” I imagine that’s true, but it’s still a bit odd that his focus is on that help going to someone other than A-B itself. I guess he didn’t want to come off like he was being self-serving.
The other thing I’m curious about is he mentions that A-B has “bought millions of dollars worth of barley and hops from American farmers.” Hops, I understand, to a point, at least. Today A-B owns hop farms in Idaho, but also in the Hallertau region of Bavaria, Germany. Obviously, the ad doesn’t claim they buy ALL their hops and barley from U.S. farmers, and they don’t even mention where the rice comes from. But did A-B buy more hops domestically in the past? Also, it’s my understanding that the vast majority of barley used by American breweries comes from Canada, though there is a small percentage grown in the U.S. for brewing. Has that shifted in the last 70+ years since this ad ran? Did brewers used to get more of their grain here in the States? Anybody know? You rarely see local grain touted as a point of pride in advertising, the only recent exception I can think of being Sierra Nevada’s Estate Brewers Harvest Ale. But with all the recent attention paid to buying locally and locavores, that has to be one of beer’s dirty little secrets: that most brewing grains come from outside the U.S., much less from local farmers.
Thursday’s ad is from 1892 and is for Budweiser. I assume what she’s wearing was fashionable in the day, but I’d say that dress is a little too busy, especially against that garish background. There’s a small title at the bottom that reads “The Hostess,” perhaps suggesting this was part of a series? It’s hard to see in this size, but if you click through to see it full-sized, you can see she’s wearing a necklace of the Anheuser-Busch “A” and eagle logo. And take a look at the odd-looking crown and the red stripe below it. I’m no breweriana expert, but that looks very different to me, too.
Came across this interesting tidbit at Stan’s Appellation Brewing, which he found at the St. Louis Business Journal. It’s an interesting little story about where many of the ex-Bud employees — the ones in positions of power — ended up or what their fate appears to be. It’s called Life After Anheuser-Busch.
The gist of the story is that many talented businesspeople have left A-B in the five months since InBev bought A-B. As Stan points out, in the first two months of this year, “[r]oughly 2,400 salaried employees, or about 40 percent of its St. Louis workforce, took early retirement buyouts or [received] pink slips.”
Doug Muhleman, who was the VP of Brewing Operations and Technology, is growing grapes and making wine on 20 acres in, of all places, Healdsburg, in Sonoma County, just up the road. For several years he’s been growing merlot and zinfandel grapes but he and his wife, Juli, have decided to make a go of their Muhleman Family Vineyards. I’d met Muhleman a couple of times, and he always struck me as a very good guy. At first, Sonoma didn’t make sense, but he went to UC Davis, so that’s the Northern California connection.
Another former star, Bob Lachky, who was the VP of Global Industry and Creative Development, is “Best known as the guy behind Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser frogs, football-playing Clydesdales, “Louie the Lizard,” “Wassup?!” and “Real Men of Genius” advertising campaigns. Now 55, he plans to stay put in St. Louis where he is considering an investment in an online start-up and exploring the launch of his own content development firm.”
Catch up on what seven more former A-B execs are up to now, too. I’m glad so many landed on their feet — seriously — and maybe it’s my bleeding little liberal heart, but I’d like to hear that the more colorfully collared have fared as well. Unfortunately, not only is that probably not the case, but that’s not something the business press seems to care that much about. It’s just not their audience.
The article also had this great illustration that sums up the story perfectly, done by a Michael Behrens.
