Beer companies who make ads about drunken driving are in a weird position, because they can’t tell you to not use their product. That would be bad for shareholder value, and someone would get fired. They have to tell you to go ahead and use the product responsibly and don’t go out and do anything dumb like die, because you have a nice dog at home who loves you.
That’s the angle of Budweiser’s new “Friends Are Waiting” video, which has garnered a massive 10 million views since Friday. When someone at a beer company nails the drunk driving campaign with a video that goes viral, you know that someone’s getting a raise. Plus, the main character was able to drink as much as he wanted, so much so he passed out at Dave’s, which is like the Holy Grail of drunk driving ads made by beer companies.
Man, Dave’s house must have been tight.
Anyway, the spot is heartwarming to the extreme, even the part at the end where the dog stays up all night worrying if his owner has died when instead he was just at Dave’s trying to make the room stop spinning.
It shows a guy sharing his life with his dog, and beer. The dog parts are very good. Take a look:
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