Chicago Sun Times advertising columnist, Lewis Lazare, got a little hot under the collar this week when Anheuser-Busch used Stuart Elliot of the New York Times to screen, approve and promote their upcoming Super Bowl ads.
“Upending what had long been a strict rule of not allowing anyone in the media to see complete versions of its Super Bowl ads before they air, A-B chief marketing pooh-bah Bob Lachky presented more than 20 commercials under consideration for the 2005 Super Bowl of Advertising to Times marketing writer Stuart Elliott and asked him to rule on whether Anheuser-Busch had cleaned up its act this time around.
In Wednesday’s edition of the Times, Elliott obligingly told his A-B supplicants exactly what they wanted to hear — the work is “well within the bounds of mainstream marketing.” Now we can all breathe a huge sigh of relief, knowing the Times has helped Anheuser-Busch jump-start its public relations campaign to reverse the fallout from the 2004 Super Bowl debacle featuring crotch-biting dogs and flatulent horses.
A nervous marketing department at A-B clearly was desperate to hear a high-profile media outlet tell it what it may not have gotten a clear reading on from the reams of obviously pointless research the brewery does each year on every commercial considered for the Super Bowl.”
I wonder what Lewis would have done had A-B called on him to do its bidding, instead of his rival in Manhattan.
