Is Busch Latte Promoting Breakfast Beer?

Some will say yes. Even though that probably wasn’t Anheuser-Busch’s intention…But given today’s politically correct world, we’d be surprised if someone didn’t complain.

Here’s the deal…

Busch has been busy of late, promoting its brand with forest scavenger hunts and unusual heartland alignments…

And this week Busch re-branded its cans to have fun with a nickname that according to Urban Dictionary originated in Massachusetts as a slang term used by used by middle class kids to describe Busch Light.

We’ve never heard the term used before (we’re miles away from our high school drinking days) but apparently Anheuser-Busch has and they’ve built a campaign around it.

As part of that campaign the company changed the Busch Light label to Busch Latte and redesigned the cans which with a new tagline, “Brewed for America’s Heartland,” which corresponds with the special 30-Pack’s limited availability in Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.

Which begs the question…why has Anheuser-Busch gone to all this expense and trouble to launch a campaign that is limited to seven Midwestern states?

Tapping into the marketing value that comes with most novelty limited releases and targeting (we think) the millennials who are increasingly abandoning beer Busch also released a Bush Latte video that pokes fun retro coffee adds from back in the 80’s.

In it the company substitutes the early morning coffee expertise with Busch Latte. And although the video is humorous it also veers dangerously close to being seen as promoting drinking beer first thing in the morning. A practice that some associate with alcoholism as a way of lessening the impact of hangover brought on by a night of heavy drinking.

Even though the Busch Latte video and its sing-a-long soundtrack made us laugh…we suspect that in today’s polarized landscape not everybody will be laughing.