Super Bowl XLI Review of Budweiser Ad

In another ad that the public can and probably will read much more into than what was intended, I think this one, the only one featuring the Budweiser Clydesdales this year, is a lot weaker than ads in years past that featured the big horses.

The ad opens with a hungry young dog lusting at the display in a butcher's inner city storefront display, before being shooed away by the broom wielding meat cutter. A pup can't get a break in this town the dejected guy appears to be thinking as he wanders the streets and alleyways. As he heads down an alley, he's not welcomed by a much tougher looking mutt protecting his territory and scampers away.

As he heads down yet another street, the white dog with a bruised ego sees a parade in the distance that to him, appears to be honoring a Dalmatian. Why, that lucky, polka-dotted dog has huge majestic horses pulling him in a wagon full of beautiful women. He has his own human drivers and the people are showering the Dalmatian with confetti and band music.

That doesn't help the low sense of self worth he has, nor did the car that just drove through a mud puddle, splashing him and further injuring his fragile ego. As he continues on his journey of humility, our poor pup glances in a window and notices he has spots from the mud and grime. And an idea quickly forms in his mind... He's going to get his fifteen minutes he decides, as he quickly starts in the direction of the parade.

Making lemonade out of lemons, he thinks to himself as he takes his seat on the wagon and begins to live the good life and hungrily devour the attention. The music, the pomp, the pretty girls.... so this is the way the other half lives.

I think the ad intends to send a message that anything's possible in this world of ours, no matter how dark things look. Make the best hand out of the cards you're dealt, the optimist would say. Contrarily, the cynic says yeah, sure. They'll let him play in their sandbox until they discover his true colors and then he'll be back out in the mean streets, begging for scraps. If it were based on today's society, I wonder which scenario would be accurate.