Budweiser commercials tend to be some of the most highly-anticipated advertisements of the Super Bowl, from heartwarming stories of Clydesdale horses and puppies in 2014 to the odd frogs of 1995.
This year, they stepped away from animals to focus on a more human aspect: the emigration of Budweiser founder Adolphus Busch from Germany to the United States in the 1800s. The commercial is a minute long and called “Born the Hard Way.”
It opens with someone saying to Busch, “You don’t look like you’re from around here.”
Busch is thrown about on a boat ride, told, “You’re not wanted here, go back home,” and treks across the country to arrive in St. Louis, Missouri. Once there, he’s welcomed and goes into a bar, where a man identified as Eberhard Anheuser orders, “a beer for my friend, please.”
Busch and Anheuser started the business now known as Budweiser in St. Louis.
The commercial is timely given President Donald Trump’s immigration ban from seven Muslim-majority countries that spurred large protests over the weekend. However, Budweiser insists that the timing is nothing more than a coincidence, according to CNN.
Ricardo Marques, vice president of marketing at Budweiser, said in a statement that the commercial is “a story we believe will resonate with today’s entrepreneurial generation — those who will continue to strive for their dreams.”
A 30-second Super Bowl ad cost around $5 million this year, according to the New York Times. It’s unclear how early most companies start developing commercial ideas before they actually air.
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