Anheuser-Busch InBev is dealing with fallout from corn growers over Super Bowl TV spots that slammed competitors for using corn syrup in their brews.
The commercials depicted a comically large barrel of corn syrup being delivered by mistake to the “castle” where Bud Light is brewed. The Bud Light King and his crew then go on arduous quests to take the syrup to Coors Light and Miller Lite breweries, making the point that both of these beers are sweetened with corn syrup. (Bud Light uses rice.)
Trade groups for corn farmers weren’t laughing. The National Corn Growers Association promptly tweeted that corn farmers were “disappointed,” with its head of communications telling CNN, “It was a punch to corn farmers right in the gut. It was damaging to corn, and it leads people to believe that corn is a bad ingredient.” One farmer tweeted a video of himself pouring a can of Bud Light down a sink.
Anheuser-Busch adopted a conciliatory tone, noting that it uses corn in many of its other products and saying, “We fully support corn growers and will continue to invest in the corn industry.”
