This year, in honor of International Women’s Day, Budweiser revisited three of their beer ads from the ’50s and ’60s that they are not exactly proud of. The outdated ads portrayed objectified women in a subservient role to their husbands. But media and advertising was only a reflection of the world we lived in. Although today’s reality is not perfect, we’ve come a long way in the battle with gender stereotypes and sexism, and Budweiser took an opportunity to celebrate this and course-correct its company policy by modernizing it and showcasing gender balance and women’s empowerment.
It might be difficult to imagine for younger generations, but back in the 1950s, women conformed to clear gender roles. Popular culture, vintage ads, and mass media were only reinforcing the messages of traditional ideals with patterns of repression and sexualization of women by men. We still notice the result of that in many third-world countries and more conservative households, and it affects the self-confidence of women around the world.
More info: budweiser.com
1956
Image credits: Budweiser
2019
Image credits: Budweiser
A diligent wife and mother who takes care of the household and supports the hardworking husband unconditionally – was a classic example of a stereotypically perfect woman in the 1950s. This image was reflected in many sexist ads, which always placed men at the forefront. A masculine brand like Budweiser was no exception.
However, the brand was serious about making up for those vintage advertisements – revamped versions of the ads now unbiasedly adapt to a modern woman who lives in a well-balanced relationship and takes time to relax and enjoy herself. Although the Budweiser ads have the same colorful vintage aesthetic, updated versions are free of sexist messages and assigned roles.
1958
Image credits: Budweiser
2019
Image credits: Budweiser
A slogan on an old ad from 1956 which reads, “She found she married two men” is replaced with an empowering one: “She found she has it all.” Another reprinted ad from 1958 shows a couple enjoying pizza and beer together and reads, “Home is where life happens, and life happens when you build it together,” while the original depicts a woman serving a beer to her working husband. The last updated ad from 1960, where a woman had just prepared dinner for her husband and served him a beer, now shows the same woman enjoying her evening and reads, “It’s Friday, your favorite takeout just got here. Crack open a cold Bud and enjoy some time to yourself.”
1962
Image credits: Budweiser
2019
Image credits: Budweiser
The campaign is a part of a long-term partnership with the Association of National Advertisers’ “#SeeHer” initiative, which aims to improve how women are portrayed across all media and advertising. There is definitely more diversity, accuracy, and respect in the portrayal of women comparing to the mid-twentieth century, but according to #SeeHer data Budweiser includes into the campaign ads, only 61 % of ads positively portray women.
The brewery brand collaborated with VaynerMedia agency on the implementation of the idea. The campaign’s creative was run by three women illustrators Heather Landis, Nicole Evans and Dena cooper with the goal of representing one theme: independence, equality and fulfillment.
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Share on FacebookThey did a good job not going too far to the other end / just reversing the roles. The ads don’t depend on marriage or family to show a woman enjoying a Budweiser. They let her either stand on her own or be an equal member in a partnership. Although I do think the 1962 ad is still sweet and relatable in the context of a woman who isn’t subservient, and just wanted to cook a nice meal for her spouse. But I know the original intent wasn’t so innocent. Didnt Bud quickly change directions from housewives in the 60’s to bikini girls in the 90’s? Maybe they should revisit those too. Edited to add: Either way, Bud is undrinkable garbage.
I like the idea but unfortunately the redone illustrations just look kinda amateurish next to the originals. They don't nail the 1950s illustration style but they don't look modern either. The last two particularly seem to have some issues with basic scale and perspective. And the new poses lack the genius of the original art to draw the viewers in and focus their attention. (The Mad Men era of advertising was the first to lay out these visual principles as a science.) I want the modern illustrations to be as vibrant and interesting as the originals. Instead they're kind of boring.
The one with the couple and the moving boxes has them with strangely small feet
Load More Replies...It's an interesting idea, but it sounds like their real message is that beer is not just for men, it's for everyone, because they want to sell more beer.
At least while they're trying to put food on the table, they're spreading more updated ideas.
Load More Replies...Now I want to see the kind of chaos that would erupt if instead of those ads, the new ads were there back in the 50s and 60s. How would people (specifically men) react?
Our times are not great, but when I think about the women like my grandmothers, who gave birth to children in 1950s, worked as much as their husbands plus at home, and had to listen to all this s**t about serving their poor exhausted husbands... I'm really angry.
Its important to remember that advertising is not always a direct reflection of whats actually happening in culture. My grandmother was the "stereotypical" homemaker wife/mother, but she was respected and regarded in those roles. This was the case for MANY women of the time, don't believe the rhetoric that all 50's housewives were treated like slaves by their husbands, good men of every generation appreciate their wives and the work they do in building a home and famliy.
Load More Replies...Nothing like working on/fixing some gadget with a hammer in one hand and a beer in the other. WTF was bud trying to say in that ad??????
That if you cant unwreck things, get wrecked with them
Load More Replies...I'll give them credit for getting their ads up to date. But I still prefer craft beer.
The maker of Miller/Coors was waiting for a meeting in a restaurant and ordered a Coors. The maker of Budweiser showed up and ordered a Bud. The maker of Guinness showed up and ordered a cola. The others were surprised and he said, "I figured if you weren't going to order beer, neither would I."
It would be nice to see other companies doing this, I'm sure there's hundreds of old commercials out there that are sexist af that could be restored!
The guy with the hammer looks like he already had enough beer, though.
Ugh! This is some bad art AND design! Regardless of content, the originals are great examples of design from that era, especially the very first one. The new images are just imitations done with the 50s look in mind but no real knowledge of composition, typography or illustration. Very amateurish and thus hurting the cause more than helping it.
I was more interested in the art work, rather than the message they were desperately and lamely trying to get across. I wonder why the new art work is so inferior to the originals.
A step in the right direction though their focus is on increasing the market. Can't help thinking that it took women so many years to reach this stage.
This is wonderful. More companies should rectify harmful ads like this.
I didn't find anything male chauvinist in the 50's, I guess because It was always like that....man is the boss...but in my home mom was because my dad was in WWII and it did mess up the minds of that generation..BUT I noticed it in the early 70's....the men sat together and the women sat together talking about babies and cooking and women stuff...and the men AS YOU KNOW talked about women and cars and they didn't want me there...I didn't want to sit with these women who listen to everything a man wants them too..... If your husband smacked you..don't call a policemen them never would come it was a domestic argument...BUT today you can't do that...
Dog smells food, Dog comes running. A cat would already be on the table.
Load More Replies...I have to agree with Mewton's Third Paw. The 1950's posters maybe sexist, but that was time and I can understand that the company wants to do with gender equality, but the sad truth is that no one really cares anymore. I mean they do care, but only to an certain extent. Also, the company (or person) didn't bring out anything out interesting about it and really just makes me laugh on how terrible the new ones are. Another thing I like to comment on is there's NO reason another than attention and marketing reasons that this exist. If they REALLY cared about the issues, they would do more than draw laughable bad posters with a '''''''''''good''''''''''' intentions.
RE: the original 1958 ad, that guy looks just like Jason Sudeikis! Hahaha!
ah yes, let's make women alcoholic now, sorry budweiser pal, wine corporations already got women into alcoholism
So they're respecting women by erasing their history? No, thank you. Nobody wants to drink your ridiculous garbage beer or your idiotic rewritten history. Has anybody ever thought that the ideas of today might seem backward, cruel, stupid or mean at some point in the future? Learn from the past.
I liek it... but they could have done without adding the instagram filters to the women's faces hahaha.... show a little wrinkle.
2019 (bottom one); who positioned the lettering? "your favorite takeout just got her"? Not professional. Her hair? Looks like my mom in 1979.
I really like how a sense of partnership replaces this creepy image of women as ...things... whose purpose it is to serve men. (her face in the one with the crocpot really gives me the creeps)
Just an ordinary global beer without any specific taste and with a big annual advertising budget to pretend to be as unique as pieces of sand at a beach.
Because the ideal 50s housewife is supposed to be a really friendly bartender?
I was gob smacked by their new ads. I've NEVER seen such awful print advertising in my life. The illustrations are ATROCIOUS. Yes, I know they are supposed to look like 1958, but they don't. They just look like BAD illustrations. I just threw up in my mouth a bit. Instead of the illustration of the Doris Day person sitting by the D**k Van Dyke person why didn't they get smart and show a photo of modern people (using a similar photoshop treatment to the ads of 50 years ago, but with a 2019 look) - ie. both wearing old t-shirts and shorts covered with paint while they eat sushi and clink their beer cans together? I'm guessing some poor art director got voted out by the chairman of the board's wife. And when a line stank 50 or 60 years ago like "Where there's life there's Bud" why try to reuse it in present day? I KNOW they are trying to paralell the two ads only with one updated, but unless they are shown together NONE of this awful campaign works.
I can just picture some poor marketing schmuck, out of fresh ideas, haggard, exhausted, 2:00am, staring at a table of past campaign posters and ads...wait a minute...why don't we just run these old ones through a blender and repurpose them?
I like the 50 ones much better. (I am a woman) It was the 50's and this was normal then. The woman making diner is cute and sweet. And I really feel the man is just pulled out of this.
I'm not sure if you know anything about the 50s, but ads like these were to help keep women in subservient roles in the kitchen. Or do you think they had similar ads about men cooking dinner for their wives after she had gotten home from work?
Load More Replies...I’d like to think he’s just waiting to be done with organizing the new place they now have, since he seems to be looking at one of the boxes.
Load More Replies...I don’t think the beer and hammer situation was common in any decade.
Load More Replies...Of course we'll be judged 50 years from now! I would be horrified if women's current position in society didn't change for the better in 50 years
Load More Replies...They did a good job not going too far to the other end / just reversing the roles. The ads don’t depend on marriage or family to show a woman enjoying a Budweiser. They let her either stand on her own or be an equal member in a partnership. Although I do think the 1962 ad is still sweet and relatable in the context of a woman who isn’t subservient, and just wanted to cook a nice meal for her spouse. But I know the original intent wasn’t so innocent. Didnt Bud quickly change directions from housewives in the 60’s to bikini girls in the 90’s? Maybe they should revisit those too. Edited to add: Either way, Bud is undrinkable garbage.
I like the idea but unfortunately the redone illustrations just look kinda amateurish next to the originals. They don't nail the 1950s illustration style but they don't look modern either. The last two particularly seem to have some issues with basic scale and perspective. And the new poses lack the genius of the original art to draw the viewers in and focus their attention. (The Mad Men era of advertising was the first to lay out these visual principles as a science.) I want the modern illustrations to be as vibrant and interesting as the originals. Instead they're kind of boring.
The one with the couple and the moving boxes has them with strangely small feet
Load More Replies...It's an interesting idea, but it sounds like their real message is that beer is not just for men, it's for everyone, because they want to sell more beer.
At least while they're trying to put food on the table, they're spreading more updated ideas.
Load More Replies...Now I want to see the kind of chaos that would erupt if instead of those ads, the new ads were there back in the 50s and 60s. How would people (specifically men) react?
Our times are not great, but when I think about the women like my grandmothers, who gave birth to children in 1950s, worked as much as their husbands plus at home, and had to listen to all this s**t about serving their poor exhausted husbands... I'm really angry.
Its important to remember that advertising is not always a direct reflection of whats actually happening in culture. My grandmother was the "stereotypical" homemaker wife/mother, but she was respected and regarded in those roles. This was the case for MANY women of the time, don't believe the rhetoric that all 50's housewives were treated like slaves by their husbands, good men of every generation appreciate their wives and the work they do in building a home and famliy.
Load More Replies...Nothing like working on/fixing some gadget with a hammer in one hand and a beer in the other. WTF was bud trying to say in that ad??????
That if you cant unwreck things, get wrecked with them
Load More Replies...I'll give them credit for getting their ads up to date. But I still prefer craft beer.
The maker of Miller/Coors was waiting for a meeting in a restaurant and ordered a Coors. The maker of Budweiser showed up and ordered a Bud. The maker of Guinness showed up and ordered a cola. The others were surprised and he said, "I figured if you weren't going to order beer, neither would I."
It would be nice to see other companies doing this, I'm sure there's hundreds of old commercials out there that are sexist af that could be restored!
The guy with the hammer looks like he already had enough beer, though.
Ugh! This is some bad art AND design! Regardless of content, the originals are great examples of design from that era, especially the very first one. The new images are just imitations done with the 50s look in mind but no real knowledge of composition, typography or illustration. Very amateurish and thus hurting the cause more than helping it.
I was more interested in the art work, rather than the message they were desperately and lamely trying to get across. I wonder why the new art work is so inferior to the originals.
A step in the right direction though their focus is on increasing the market. Can't help thinking that it took women so many years to reach this stage.
This is wonderful. More companies should rectify harmful ads like this.
I didn't find anything male chauvinist in the 50's, I guess because It was always like that....man is the boss...but in my home mom was because my dad was in WWII and it did mess up the minds of that generation..BUT I noticed it in the early 70's....the men sat together and the women sat together talking about babies and cooking and women stuff...and the men AS YOU KNOW talked about women and cars and they didn't want me there...I didn't want to sit with these women who listen to everything a man wants them too..... If your husband smacked you..don't call a policemen them never would come it was a domestic argument...BUT today you can't do that...
Dog smells food, Dog comes running. A cat would already be on the table.
Load More Replies...I have to agree with Mewton's Third Paw. The 1950's posters maybe sexist, but that was time and I can understand that the company wants to do with gender equality, but the sad truth is that no one really cares anymore. I mean they do care, but only to an certain extent. Also, the company (or person) didn't bring out anything out interesting about it and really just makes me laugh on how terrible the new ones are. Another thing I like to comment on is there's NO reason another than attention and marketing reasons that this exist. If they REALLY cared about the issues, they would do more than draw laughable bad posters with a '''''''''''good''''''''''' intentions.
RE: the original 1958 ad, that guy looks just like Jason Sudeikis! Hahaha!
ah yes, let's make women alcoholic now, sorry budweiser pal, wine corporations already got women into alcoholism
So they're respecting women by erasing their history? No, thank you. Nobody wants to drink your ridiculous garbage beer or your idiotic rewritten history. Has anybody ever thought that the ideas of today might seem backward, cruel, stupid or mean at some point in the future? Learn from the past.
I liek it... but they could have done without adding the instagram filters to the women's faces hahaha.... show a little wrinkle.
2019 (bottom one); who positioned the lettering? "your favorite takeout just got her"? Not professional. Her hair? Looks like my mom in 1979.
I really like how a sense of partnership replaces this creepy image of women as ...things... whose purpose it is to serve men. (her face in the one with the crocpot really gives me the creeps)
Just an ordinary global beer without any specific taste and with a big annual advertising budget to pretend to be as unique as pieces of sand at a beach.
Because the ideal 50s housewife is supposed to be a really friendly bartender?
I was gob smacked by their new ads. I've NEVER seen such awful print advertising in my life. The illustrations are ATROCIOUS. Yes, I know they are supposed to look like 1958, but they don't. They just look like BAD illustrations. I just threw up in my mouth a bit. Instead of the illustration of the Doris Day person sitting by the D**k Van Dyke person why didn't they get smart and show a photo of modern people (using a similar photoshop treatment to the ads of 50 years ago, but with a 2019 look) - ie. both wearing old t-shirts and shorts covered with paint while they eat sushi and clink their beer cans together? I'm guessing some poor art director got voted out by the chairman of the board's wife. And when a line stank 50 or 60 years ago like "Where there's life there's Bud" why try to reuse it in present day? I KNOW they are trying to paralell the two ads only with one updated, but unless they are shown together NONE of this awful campaign works.
I can just picture some poor marketing schmuck, out of fresh ideas, haggard, exhausted, 2:00am, staring at a table of past campaign posters and ads...wait a minute...why don't we just run these old ones through a blender and repurpose them?
I like the 50 ones much better. (I am a woman) It was the 50's and this was normal then. The woman making diner is cute and sweet. And I really feel the man is just pulled out of this.
I'm not sure if you know anything about the 50s, but ads like these were to help keep women in subservient roles in the kitchen. Or do you think they had similar ads about men cooking dinner for their wives after she had gotten home from work?
Load More Replies...I’d like to think he’s just waiting to be done with organizing the new place they now have, since he seems to be looking at one of the boxes.
Load More Replies...I don’t think the beer and hammer situation was common in any decade.
Load More Replies...Of course we'll be judged 50 years from now! I would be horrified if women's current position in society didn't change for the better in 50 years
Load More Replies...
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