Budweiser Is Now Insulting Wine Lovers

Food Republic•Updated: Jan. 28, 2016 9:29 pm EST

In its quest to become cool again, domestic beer giant Budweiser has adopted an almost Trumpian offensive strategy, hurling insults at groups it sees as being at odds with its core audience. First, Bud poked fun at craft beer fans with a hotly debated TV commercial during last year's Super Bowl. Now, in the lead-up to this year's Super Bowl, the company is taking aim at a different group: wine drinkers. Check out this recent jab on Twitter:

If you're thinking of pouring a glass of wine, think again. #ActLikeIt pic.twitter.com/eQNrinhBrM

— Budweiser (@Budweiser) January 26, 2016

If the intent was to stimulate dialogue, well, it worked. Responses on Twitter have touched on all sorts of issues, including gender roles ("Football is for men! Manly men who drink beer! Not women with stupid emotion feelings! Men who are DEFINITELY secure!"), religion ("Even Jesus chose wine over water....") and human resources ("fire your copywriters"). Oh, and several folks replied with images of vomit.

Whether this type of antagonizing rhetoric will help Budweiser reach its marketing goals remains unclear. But if the beer business is anything like politics, then the short-term results could be surprising. It's worked for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, anyway!