Coors Light takes on Bud Light’s corn syrup crusade with equally petty campaign
Large beer companies have always been competitive, but that competition spilled over into the national consciousness last month when Bud Light’s Super Bowl ads took a direct swipe at Miller Lite and Coors Light for containing “corn syrup.” As I noted, that attack is misdirected and confusing to consumers, but that hasn’t stopped both Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors from trading barbs back and forth for weeks. The rift became serious enough to derail a tentative pro-beer marketing partnership between America’s largest breweries, and it’s still not over. Today, Coors Light announces a new promotion to “turn the conversation back to what people really want” by “turning negativity into free Coors Light.”
“Bud Light has been attacking us out of frustration for weeks now,” Ryan Reis, vice president of brand marketing for Coors brands said in a statement. “We believe people just want to move on. So we invented this smart beer tap that does the listening for them—and even better, turns Bud Light’s negativity into rounds of Coors Light on us.”
