News
National Corn Growers seek talks with brewer about Super Bowl ad
A
farmer-leader with the National Corn Growers Association says they’re
continuing to reach out to the brewers of Bud Light about the negative message
of their Super Bowl commercial. Vice
President Kevin Ross from Minden Iowa says, “You know, we’ve had discussions
already with InBev. We’re going to be
chatting with those folks further on about this.”
Ross
says he and many others were surprised by the anti-high fructose corn syrup ad,
and that the brewer would call out one type of sweetener versus another. “It was just kind of shocking and
disappointing that they would attack a national corn product that’s been used
successfully for a long time, and especially on such a big stage. You know, that’s just not the type of
advertising we feel is appropriate when it hurts and industry and hurts a lot of
folks.”
Ross was at his seed dealer’s shop watching the game when the commercial played, and he says it quickly generated a response from growers and agribusinesses. “We saw the commercial, and he couldn’t believe it, and then my phone started to blow up from a lot of friends, neighbors, and colleagues that were not happy.”
Ross says a lot of corn is used by the brewing industry, including in other Anheuser Busch brands—and like the ethanol industry, the sugars feed the yeast that create alcohol, so there’s very little sugar left in the final product.
An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson gave Brownfield a written statement Monday afternoon saying, “Last year, Anheuser-Busch purchased more than 1 billion pounds of corn ingredients. We fully support corn growers and will continue to invest in the corn industry. Bud Light’s Super Bowl commercials are only meant to point out a key difference in Bud Light from some other light beers. This effort is to provide consumers transparency and elevate the beer category.”
Several other brewers including Miller Coors, which was targeted by the ad, tweeted that they also do not use high fructose corn syrup in the brewing process for brands including Miller Lite.
Listen to Brownfield’s interview with Kevin Ross here:
