Budweiser Frogs
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The Budweiser Frogs are three life-like puppet frogs named "Bud", "Weis", and "Er", who began appearing in American television commercials for U.S. Budweiser Beer during Super Bowl XXIX. They are part of one of the most well-known international alcohol advertising campaigns[citation needed]. They were created by Greg Gorman, the long-time brand manager for Budweiser. The commercial was directed by Tom DeCerchio, the director of Celtic Pride.
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[edit] Bud, Weis, and Er
The commercial began with a scene of a swamp at nighttime, and a close-up of Bud rhythmically croaking his name. Later Weis and Er join in, thus forming the Budweiser name. The camera pulls back to show a bar with a large neon Budweiser sign glowing in the night. The commercial is often listed among the best Super Bowl advertisements in history, ranking at #5 at MSNBC's list [1]
[edit] Louie, Frankie, and the Ferret
After the initial ads generated great interest, new creatures began making appearances in the swamp. Beginning at Super Bowl XXXII, two wisecracking chameleons who spoke with Brooklyn accents made their debut. Louie was irritated by the frogs' incessant croaking, and jealous of their success, while Frankie was his more rational, even-tempered friend. Frankie apparently socialized with the frogs and was puzzled by Louie's animosity towards them.
Later installments in the series documented Louie's enlisting the assistance of an inept ferret hit man to do away with the frogs by attempting to electrocute them. Louie briefly replaced Weis in the Bud-Weis-Er cheer, but the other frogs revealed to Louie that they could speak with a complete vocabulary and that they knew all along about his plot against them.
The Budweiser Lizards later displaced the frogs entirely and continued appearing in television and radio advertisements into the early 2000s, though they no longer appear on Budweiser's web site as of early 2007.
[edit] Trivia
- One of the most widely circulated computer virus hoaxes of the late 1990s warned of a Budweiser Frogs screen saver that concealed a virus that deleted the entire contents of the computer's hard drive. See BUDSAVER.EXE. (Details at Snopes.com)
- The Budweiser Lizards have been depicted in special paint schemes on Budweiser-sponsored NASCAR race cars and in neon signs displayed in tavern windows.
- In The Simpsons episode "The Springfield Files", the advertising campaign is satirized. The three frogs get to say their names twice, but after the second "Weis", before "Er" can say his name, a giant alligator emerges from the swamp and eats them all in one bite, after which he proudly exclaims: "Coors!"
- The Center for Science in the Public Interest waged a campaign to censor the popular frogs.[citation needed]
