Hasta La Creative!

Back in February, W+K launched “The Bud Light Party” campaign with a Super Bowl spot starring Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen, promising the campaign’s light-hearted satire of American politics would continue through November. At the beginning of the month, the campaign continued with Rogen and Schumer proclaiming their support for gay weddings, which they say are “just like any wedding.” Now the pair are back to tackle “Equal Pay” in a new, 30-second spot, which, like its predecessors, never quite finds its comedic voice. 

Like its predecessor, the spot sees the brand taking a popular stance on a relatively non-divisive issue. When Rogen says “Women don’t get paid as much as men and that is wrong,” Schumer adds, “And we have to pay more for the same stuff.” An alarmed Rogen then calls his mother, yelling about she has to pay more for a car than dad.

The approach, which seems to be a pattern now, is a different one than the Super Bowl spot at the campaign’s inception, which was a more generic parody of the American political process. We could see a return to the former as the general election approaches and dominates news headlines. Whatever approach W+K chooses to take going forward, we hope the agency and the “Bud Light Party” comedians can find the humor in it going forward. Given the talent involved, this campaign has had a disheartening lack of laughs thus far.

“The Bud Light Party is about bringing people together and sparking national conversations around timely topics,” Alex Lambrecht, vice president, Bud Light at Anheuser-Busch said, in a statement. “In our newest spot, Seth and Amy have a colorful banter surrounding the matter of equal pay—which the Bud Light Party proudly supports.”

To the brand’s credit, it is to some degree putting its money where its mouth is, donating a dollar to workplace equality organization Catalyst for every time someone uses the #CheersToEqualPay hashtag on social media.