Dive Brief:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger is the star of strange new ads for Bud Light that will air during the Super Bowl.
- The former bodybuilder, movie star and California governor was reportedly paid $3 million for the spots.
- The ads, in which Schwarzenegger dons a blond wig and 1980s exercise clothing to play ping pong, is part of a large-scale effort by A-B InBev to revive sales for Bud Light.
Dive Insight:
Ummm... So, wait — are we understanding this correctly? Bud Light sales are falling because the beer is perceived of as an "old man's beer," so AB-Bev decides to save the brand with a gazilllion-dollar ad campaign of funny ads aimed at millennials. And in order to reach the famously unreachable Gen Y, Bud Light hires an old man, wearing old clothes.
No doubt this all made perfect sense to the baby boomers and Gen X folks at the ad agency.
The only thing that gives us any hope for this ad campaign — and it is a very slim hope — is that Bud Light has so far only released "teaser" ads. Perhaps the real ads will be different. Or more on-target. Or less strange.
