Fabled Company Skips Super Bowl Commercial for First Time in Nearly 40 Years

For those of us tuning into the Super Bowl who don’t identify as Chiefs fans or Buccaneers fans, we only know three things for certain:  The game will be close until the end because that’s how the advertisers want it, the halftime show will be lip-synced, and the commercials could very well steal the show.

Sure there could still be some surprises, but most of us have seen enough of these spectacles to know what’s coming, and what’s missing.

Like, for instance, this year’s lack of a Budweiser commercial. 

Budweiser will not be running a commercial during the Super Bowl for the first time in 37 years.

Instead, the Anheuser-Busch InBev beer will use the marketing dollars to support Covid-19 vaccine awareness and access.

In the week leading up to Super Bowl LV, Budweiser plans to run its Super Bowl ad digitally. The spot focuses on resilient Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, including a group of health-care workers who were the first to receive the vaccine. Actress Rashida Jones, known for her roles in “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” will narrate the spot.

Budweiser has been patting themselves on the back over the stunt on social media as well, which really takes the air of the goodwill they’re staking claim to here.