Shock Top thinks Craft Beer "trys to hard"??? Pot, meet kettle.....
This is kind of a clever, funny ad, and I would probably enjoy a little more it if it wasn't a Shock Top ad (for those of you that did not know, Shock Top is brewed by ABInBev, or more commonly known as Anheuser Busch, or Bud, which is now a Belgian/Brazilian owned company). The idea of a talking tap handle is kind of an appealing, and amusing one, and leads me to think of what types of personalities our favorite craft beer handles would have, but that is a different topic for a different day.
In this ad, we see two spontaneous actors, um, I mean "customers" walk into a bar, and engage in a conversation with the Shock Top tap handle. Its cute, kind of funny banter, check it out...
A few things I find a little funny, and a bit hypocritical about this ad. For one, to imply craft beers are "trying to hard" its funny, especially when AB has become obsessed in recent years with competing with those same beers it is making fun of, in in many ways, fears. Releasing brands like Shock Top, to play the part of craft beers in order to pull craft drinkers (or at least people that want to try or experience craft beer) away from real craft beer, to their brand, pretending to be craft.
It also makes fun of the names of craft beers with lines like "what is that, 17 names, Willaby's Three Headed Unicorn? What is that?". So, in their defense, I tried to think of some of the longer beer names I could to see if this claim held any weight, at all. One of the longest names I did find, was a bit ironic, it was none other then "Shock Top's Honey Bourbon Cask Wheat Ale". So, its not 17 words, but it is 7. Before you write angry letters, I am sure there are longer names in the craft world, I am just saying, the one they used as an example (it was made up btw) is almost half as long as one of the beers they are promoting in this video....pot, meet kettle.
Now, if you like Shock Top, that's fine, I could care less. The issue I have with these "crafty" beers is,
they sort of pray upon uninformed consumers. I know a lot of folks that were shocked to learn Shock Top is an AB product, and that Blue Moon is made by Coors. They think they are drinking a legitimate craft beer, and are quite happy that these beers are normally far less expensive then "real" craft, so that these consumers will now have a hard time paying $10 a six pack for a craft beer, when you can get a sixer of Blue Moon for far less.
Again, I don't care if you like Shock Top, or Blue Moon, that is not my point here, simple just be an educated consumer, if you like Shock Top, and are fine with who makes it, that's cool, again, I have no issue with that. Just know what you are drinking, and choose what you drink wisely.
If you want to see all the ad's featuring "Wedgehead" the talking Shock Top orange wedge, you can check them all out on their You Tube Channel here. Like the beer, these ad's really pretend to be something they are not. Actors appearing to be "real" customers, talking to a beer "pretending" to be a craft beer. (That might be the strangest sentence I've ever written on this blog).
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