2007 Superbowl Ads Review: Bud Light Gorillas

Bud Light Beer

Dani's Druthers: 1.5 of 5 Daisies.

I love commercials with animals in them, so when I saw the Bud Light gorillas I hoped I was in for a treat. I was sadly mistaken. Though the conversation was true-to-life, I was really hoping for more action or excitement. It seems the whole of the commercial was just banter that really wasn't clever or entertaining.

I kept hoping from the instruction to 'make the leap' that a gorilla would be soaring through the air, perhaps wrestling with the Bud Light guy and 'getting' the pretty girl. Then waving to his buddy who is still in the exhibit, as he leaves with his Bud Light and the pretty girl. Think of it as recompense for what happened to King Kong.

Instead, two gorillas sat on their haunches and talked. The Bud Light guy went by, the pretty girl got her picture, and the commercial ended. Lame. Lame. Lame.

One of the gorillas commented he had been working out the plan for 3 years. I guess from the banal banter, how long it took to concoct such a simple plan, and the lack of follow-through that we are to assume gorillas are not very bright. Since the world-famous KOKO is a gorilla that understands spoken English and uses sign language to communicate, I am thinking this is a sad and clearly wrong implication to make. My hopes for the commercial would have been more true to their actual intelligence than what was portrayed in the commercial, and if I may say so myself, would have been much more entertaining.

I have to wonder what 'sign language' KOKO would use with the writers of the commercial.

With the tremendous cost of airing an ad during the Superbowl, and the level of competition there is to be the 'hit' of the ads, I am more than disappointed in this commercial. It should have been held to a higher standard by the Anheuser-Busch powers that be. Whatever they paid for the production and airing of this commercial, they surely will not make up for it in sales linked directly to the commercial.

Ifilms showcases Superbowl commercials on their website, and the Bud Light Gorillas ad may be viewed there, along with all of the other Superbowl XLI commercials.