Rolling Rock beer does ‘a Britney Spears’…NOT
Posted on 08. Dec, 2006 by Jonathan Cherry in Advertising
In a dumb and poorly thought out strategic move by owners of the Rolling Rock beer brand, Anheuser-Busch have lied to the American public in an attempt to get people to Google their silly ‘gorilla dancing with bikini-clad girls around a pool’ ad.
See, they’ve taken note of Britney Spear’s PR strategy to get her career back to its dollar printing days of old – and figured that a bit of controversy of their own might stop the last remaining drinkers of Rolling Rock switching to the more potent – sparkling water.
On billboards and in Web ads, vice president of marketing Ron
Stablehorn apologizes to anyone offended by Rolling Rock’s recent "Beer
Ape" commercials.
The result: People Google the brand and download a video of the "Beer Ape" ad on YouTube to find out what all the fuss is about.
But, if you read the comments on YouTube – there’s clear confusion – and then anger that the whole promise of a peak at the brand’s nether region is all a fake.
Don’t worry kids – console yourselves with another sparkling water and let the old Rolling Rock die peacefully out in the woods.
Aping a controversy – Pittsburg Tribune
Link to the ape ad here
