Tag: Budweiser

Puppy Bowl XX vs Super Bowl LVIII: Viewing Guide for Dog Lovers

The most exciting game of the year takes place on Sunday, February 11. That’s right, Puppy Bowl is celebrating its 20th anniversary! (Hey, that’s like 140 years in dog years.) Oh, and for Taylor Swift fans, Super Bowl LVIII (that’s 58 in regular numbers) is happening that very same day.

If you’re planning to root for Team Ruff or Team Fluff and the Kansas City Chiefs or the San Francisco 49ers, here’s what to expect for Puppy Bowl—and the dog commercials to look for in that other Bowl.

Puppy Bowl XX

To celebrate its 20th year, Puppy Bowl XX will have the most players ever—131 puppies from 73 shelters and rescues. And hopefully, if it’s like the previous 19 Puppy Bowls, each and every one of those adorable little guys will already be in forever homes by the time the big game airs. Yay!

Puppy Bowl XX also features the following for the first time ever:

  • Its tiniest competitor, a 1.7-pound Cavapoo (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel/Toy Poodle mix) named Sweetpea, and its biggest, a 70-pound Great Dane puppy named Levi. (No, these two will definitely not be on the gridiron at the same time.)
  • Puppies with special needs. Among them are Mr. Bean, a two-legged Papillon, and Riddle, a Pug mix with a neurological condition that causes coordination problems.
  • An assistant referee, appropriately named Whistle. The Bichon Frise mix just happens to be the foster dog of referee Dan Schachner.
  • The debut of the Puppy Bowl Hall of Fame, with the induction of four players from previous games.

Puppy Bowl XX airs on Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, Max, and Discovery+ at 2 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacific on February 11. If you miss any of it, there will be reruns on Animal Planet throughout Super Sunday. Go Team Ruff! Go Team Fluff!

Super Bowl LVIII Dog Commercials

Good news: After being inexplicably absent last year, those gorgeous Clydesdales are back in Budweiser’s new “Old School Delivery” commercial. Not only that, but the ad also features an adorable yellow Labrador Retriever who helps the horses deliver beer in a snowstorm! If you want to watch it again and again, here you go.

Tissue (Box) Alert! The “Tails of Hope” commercial for Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y., is filmed from the point of view of therapy dog Hawk, a beautiful Golden Retriever. If this line—”They call me a therapy dog, but honestly I just feel like one lucky pup”—doesn’t make you reach for those tissues, you just ain’t wired right. Here’s a sneak peek in case you don’t want others to see you sobbing.

Swiftie Bowl—er, Super Bowl LVIII kicks off on February 11 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern/3:30 p.m Pacific on CBS.

Photo: Anheuser-Busch

Puppy Bowl or Super Bowl? What to Watch on Super Sunday

Are you as excited as I am about the big game on Sunday, Feb. 13? That’s right, Puppy Bowl is back for its 18th year. If you’re planning to watch that other game with the two-legged players instead (go Rams!) but don’t want to miss out on adorable dogs, look for heartwarming commercials featuring actual and robotic canines.

Here’s a Super Sunday TV viewing guide for us dog lovers.

Puppy Bowl XVIII

More than 100 ridiculously cute puppies from shelters in 33 states will be joining Team Ruff or Team Fluff in Puppy Bowl XVIII. It’s the biggest lineup in the history of this competition.

Among this year’s rather interesting competitors are Wes (Team Fluff), a Chihuahua/Golden Retriever mix (!), Tayce (Team Ruff), a Chihuahua/Siberian Husky mix (!!) and Rob Gonchowski (Team Fluff), a Dachshund/American Pit Bull Terrier mix (!!!).

In addition to their hosting duties, this year Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg will be coaching the furry young athletes. Snoop Dogg, by the way, is also scheduled to perform during the Super Bowl halftime show. He sure gets around! “I’m honored to be co-hosting the only sporting event on the planet guaranteed to raise the ‘woof,’ with the magnificent Martha Stewart!” he says. 

No matter which team ends up winning the Lombarky Trophy, all the players are winners, and most have already been adopted into forever homes. But there are plenty of just-as-cute puppies waiting for you at your local shelter! Visit PuppyBowl.com/adopt for information about the shelters and rescue organizations that provided pups for this year’s game.

Puppy Bowl XVIII airs Feb. 13 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time/11 a.m. Pacific Time on Animal Planet. It will also stream on discovery+.

Super Bowl Commercials Featuring Real and Unreal Dogs

Budweiser Brings Back the Puppy

You may remember back in 2015 when Budweiser’s Super Bowl commercial featured not only the beautiful Clydesdale horses but also an adorable “lost” puppy. Unfortunately, that ad apparently sold more Kleenex than Bud, so the company announced in 2016 that it was taking a new creative direction and would no longer feature puppies in its commercials.

Seven years later, Budweiser has come to its senses and will once again air a commercial featuring an adorable puppy during this year’s Super Bowl. The spot, titled “A Clydesdale’s Journey,” is directed by Chloé Zhao, who won an Academy Award and many other honors last year for directing “Nomadland.”

In the ad, a Yellow Labrador puppy starts barking when a Clydesdale falls down and is injured after tripping on a barbed-wire fence. After the horse is nursed back to health by a stable hand and veterinary nurse (who also nurse Budweisers, naturally), the puppy and Clydesdale are joyfully reunited.

Grab a tissue or 10: Here’s the 60-second version of the commercial. A shortened 30-second version will air during the Super Bowl.

Kia Introduces a Cute Robot Dog

What’s more as adorable than a real, live dog? An unreal robot dog, maybe?

In the “Robo Dog” commercial for the new, all-electric Kia KV, a robot dog in an electronics store sadly gazes out the window at a man petting a real dog. But then he sees another man unplug his Kia KV from a charging station and gets his artificial hopes up.

As the Bonnie Tyler song “Total Eclipse of the Heart” plays — which seems kind of cruel since robots don’t actually have hearts — Robo Dog chases after the man of his dreams. Its battery begins to die, but never fear: a happy and, uh, electrifying ending is in store.

In the not-too-distant future, could robot dogs become as popular as the real thing? Interestingly, in a TODAY poll asking whether you’d consider owning a robotic pet, the results are equally divided between “Sure, why not?” and “No, there are too many animals in need of homes.” For now at least, my vote is a definite NO.

Instead of piquing interest in robot dogs, Kia is hoping its commercial encourages people to adopt real dogs. In partnership with the Petfinder Foundation, Kia has launched the Robo Dogmented Reality app. By scanning a QR code on a mobile device, users can see Robo Dog in their own homes to get an idea of what having a real pet would be like.

Here’s the commercial. Be sure to give your real dog a hug while you watch it.

Happy Super Sunday!

Photo: discovery plus/YouTube

Buh-Bye, Cute Puppy in Budweiser’s Super Bowl Ad Who Didn’t Sell Beer

By now you’ve probably forgotten about most of the commercials that aired during last February’s Super Bowl game.

…Except for that “Lost Puppy” one with the yellow Lab. That’s right, this one.

The problem is, that commercial — which was voted the No. 1 viewer favorite in just about every poll — probably ended up selling more Kleenex tissue than Budweiser beer.

That’s why, sadly, there won’t be a puppy in the Budweiser commercial that airs during Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, 2016.

“Budweiser aired two very different spots in last February’s Super Bowl, and we learned that content focused on the quality of our beer was most effective in generating sales,” said Jorn Socquet, vice president of marketing for Anheuser-Busch, in a statement sent to Adweek.

“Starting with our ‘Brewed the Hard Way’ ad in last year’s game and throughout 2015, our marketing has featured a bold, confident voice that speaks directly to Budweiser drinkers, and sales trends have improved as a result. We’ll continue this tone in Super Bowl 50, and we’re excited to explore new creative territory.”

Borrrr-ing! And what’s especially unfair is that Budweiser has been featuring Clydesdale horses in its Super Bowl commercials for decades — yet the company gave viewers only two measly opportunities, in 2014 and 2015, to establish a connection between cute puppies and buying beer.

I’m fairly certain that if the puppy could stick around for Super Bowls 50 through 60, viewers would successfully make that association and Budweiser beer sales would skyrocket.

 

So, have those cute Clydesdales been given the ad ax as well?

Nope. They will “most certainly make an appearance,” Socquet assured Adweek. Bless those beer-sales-generating beasts.

I know I’m not alone in wanting the puppy back. In an Adweek poll last month asking if people wanted the puppy to appear in Budweiser’s Super Bowl 50 commercial, a whopping 75 percent answered, heck, yeah.

Many advertising industry experts also disagree with Budweiser’s decision to dump the cute doggie.

“The commercials that usually win the popularity contests are the ones that have recurring characters and an ongoing story,” Scott Davis, chief growth officer at brand consultancy Prophet, whatever that means, told Adweek.

But apparently Anheuser-Busch doesn’t care about what industry experts or we consumers think. For that reason, on Feb. 7, I’ll watch the game (“Puppy Bowl XII,” that is) while enjoying a nice, frosty non-Budweiser beverage.

Best and Worst Super Bowl XLIX Commercials Go to the Dogs

Apparently there was another major sporting event yesterday besides Puppy Bowl XI.

For the second consecutive year, most viewers and critics chose a Budweiser “puppy” ad as the best Super Bowl XLIX commercial. The least-favorite ad, from Nationwide, also co-starred a boy’s best four-legged friend.

Favorite Super Bowl Ad: Budweiser’s “Lost Puppy”

Just as Budweiser’s viewer-favorite “Puppy Love” ad yanked hard at the heartstrings last year, this year’s “Lost Puppy” was equally tear-jerking. This ad was not the favorite of many wolf lovers — myself included — since it perpetuates the negative stereotype of these animals as snarling, dog-eating villains. If that scene could have been cut, this would rate a “pawfect” 10.

Least-Favorite Super Bowl Ad: Nationwide’s “Make Safe Happen”

If Nationwide was going after a Super Bowl buzzkill with this commercial, it sure succeeded. The spot begins with a boy riding a tricycle, his faithful dog by his side. And it just goes downhill from there. The boy dreams of all the things he’ll never get to do, like “ride a bike,” “travel the world with my best friend” (in a small boat with his dog) and get married (with his dog by his side) — because he “died from an accident.” Woo hoo!

Least-Seen Super Bowl Ad: GoDaddy’s Puppy for Sale

When people on social media became outraged over GoDaddy’s offensive parody of Budweiser’s “Lost Puppy” commercial, the company announced last week it would pull the ad. In the GoDaddy version, when the puppy finally makes it home, his pet parents are delighted to see him — but only because they’ve just sold him on a website they built using GoDaddy. Har, har, har! Some are saying this was all just a publicity stunt, and Go Daddy never intended to air the spot. Either way, just No, Daddy.

Most Important Super Bowl Ad: NFL’s “NO MORE” Domestic Violence PSA

There’s no dog in this chilling public service announcement — just the voice-over of an actual 911 call from a woman pretending to order a pizza, as the camera pans over the aftermath of a domestic-violence incident. This was the first-ever domestic violence ad to be shown during a Super Bowl game, airing as a result of NFL player Ray Rice being caught by an elevator camera punching his fiancee and knocking her unconscious. After that video leaked in September, calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline increased by 84 percent.

Why do people stay in abusive relationships? A study found that 25 to 50 percent of them don’t leave because of fear of what will happen to their dogs and cats. Many domestic violence survivors (70 percent) said their abusers also threatened, injured or killed their pets. In the past, domestic violence shelters did not allow pets, but, fortunately, that is changing across the country.

This ad has been criticized for showing the aftermath of domestic violence rather than how to prevent it. Maybe a future NFL “No More” PSA will focus on pet-friendly shelters.

Photo via YouTube

New Budweiser Video a Pawesome Warning Against Drinking and Driving

Back in February, Budweiser’s heartwarming “Puppy Love” spot was, by far, the most beloved and popular of all the pretty amazing Super Bowl commercials.

The company may have topped itself with the new “Friends are Waiting” digital video it released Friday.

“Unlike previous spots from Anheuser-Busch’s flagship beer brand, the online-only content carries a more emotional tone and portrays how having a plan to get home safe can result in a positive ending,” the company stated in a press release.

It begins with a montage of Cooper, a Labrador Retriever puppy, growing up with his best friend, a young man named Luke. When his dog dad, holding a six-pack of Buds, takes off with his buddies in a car, Cooper becomes concerned as the hours pass.

“Friendship, camaraderie and enjoying great times are at the heart of Budweiser’s most popular campaigns, and this video maintains that tradition but with an unexpected twist,” Brian Perkins, the company’s vice president, said in the press release. “Budweiser is known for connecting with beer drinkers in memorable ways, and our efforts to promote responsible drinking through this video are no exception.”

“Friends are Waiting” has been viewed nearly 8 million times on YouTube since it was released Friday. It was created for Anheuser-Busch’s 5th annual Global Be(er) Responsible Day, which is intended to promote responsible drinking worldwide.

Grab a tissue (box) and enjoy. And never, ever drink and drive!

Photo via YouTube

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