A Horse is a Horse?

[Shawn Mamros]

>Okay, I just heard it again.  The Anheiser Busch spot.  You know the one,
>where they are asking,
>"What would you rather have for president, a horse or part of a horse?"
> Clearly a thinly veiled political spot with A.B. favoring Kerry.  How
>does this work in the wacky world of political advertising?  Does this make
>it under the radar?

Uh... no, it's not meant to be a political ad at all.

To understand it, though, you'd have to have seen the ads Miller Brewing
was running (on TV, at least) which tried to set up a mock presidential
debate, only it was Miller vs. Bud, with Bud being represented by a (mute)
horse, and Miller being represented by a guy who, quite frankly, was
rather annoying.  The Bud (Busch) radio ad is clearly a strike back
at Miller's ad campaign, which doesn't seem to be as effective as Miller
had perhaps hoped.  (Though why the folks at Busch felt they had to
respond back at all seems odd - isn't it considered bad form to make
any mention of the Number 2 competitor if you're Number 1?)

But it doesn't have anything to do with the real Presidential race.
And I suspect neither Busch nor any other large company would want to
be seen as favoring either side in that race; you'd risk alienating
a good percentage of your customers if you did so.  (Plus, I'm sure
many would debate exactly who would be the "part of the horse".  I
have my opinion on the matter, of course, but I'm not about to discuss
it on this list.)

-Shawn Mamros
E-mail to: mamros@mit.edu