Budweiser Parade for Soldier Slammed

Missing the point of the Budweiser Super Bowl Ad
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 5, 2014

There are some really crazy things being written all over the country, but this one tops the list. An ex-"deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy" decided to slam the fantastic Super Bowl Budweiser commercial of a soldier back from Afghanistan. Why? Because it was done by Budweiser. I had to leave this comment.

I was there when was being filmed. As a matter of fact I have a 6 minute video of this parade that lasted a lot longer. No one picked up a bottle/ can of Bud in case you didn't notice. No one said anything about drinking. Nadd didn't get off the escalator with a Bud in his hand. He didn't get into the car with one or hit the liquor store before the parade. They didn't hand out beer when the huge crowd gathered. The same crowd that waited over 2 hours for him to arrive from Fort Drum because weather delayed his flight. It wasn't an ad for Bud but was an ad by Bud for a soldier picked to represent what all soldiers and veterans deserve from us.

Here is the video I shot from the crowd. Do you see anyone holding beer cans? Do you see anyone holding up signs that say Budweiser at all? No it was all about them. The spent even more time with veterans but hey, much easier to just ignore all of that then it is to appreciate what this event represented.

Is this Bud for the Army?
Star Telegram
Philip Carter
Feb. 04, 2014

I like beer, and I’d wager that most veterans like beer too.

Budweiser placed a similar bet Sunday night during the Super Bowl with its ad “A Hero’s Welcome,” which showed a Norman Rockwell-esque homecoming for Army 1st Lt. Chuck Nadd in his hometown of Winter Park, Fla.

The ad tugs my heartstrings. Nonetheless, it should have never been aired.

The ad ignores the complicated relationship that veterans have with alcohol, obscuring how much harm booze does to veterans when they come home.

The military’s Joint Ethics Regulation section 3-209 states that “Endorsement of a non-Federal entity, event, product, service, or enterprise may be neither stated nor implied by DoD or DoD employees in their official capacities and titles, positions, or organization names may not be used to suggest official endorsement or preferential treatment of any non-Federal entity except (the services’ official relief societies).”

Under this regulation, the Army cannot legally endorse Budweiser, nor allow its active-duty personnel to participate in their ads (let alone wear their uniforms), any more than the Army can endorse Gatorade or Nike.

An Army spokesman said the ad had been vetted, and Army officials concluded that Ladd’s appearance in uniform while on duty did not constitute “official support to or otherwise partner[ing] with” Budweiser or the Veterans of Foreign Wars in the spot’s production.

Phillip Carter is a fellow at the Center for a New American Security. He served in 2009 as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy.

read more here

This video by Budweiser has interviews with veterans and how this event made them feel. It wasn't on TV so it must have been easy for Carter to ignore. After all, why bother to look into what was behind this commercial when he must have formed his opinion ahead of time? This video has been seen 826,598 times as of right now.

This is a longer version of the commercial seen during the Super Bowl.

By the way, this one has been seen 8,464,761 times as of right now.

If nothing else, millions of people thought about the men and women risking their lives to retain our freedom. They don't get to decide who they will fight. All they get to decide is if the soldier next to them is worth dying for while the other 99% of the population get to ignore them.

This is where I live. These are my friends. These are the people I spend most of my time with covering over 200 of their events. They are only 7% of the population. I know what they say when news crews show up, shoot some video hoping someone will see what they do all the time. They go home, turn on the TV and flip back and forth for all the news stations that bothered to send someone out. Then their hearts sink when a 2 hour event is reduced to a couple of seconds if they are lucky because most of the time, the video is never seen.

Budweiser has our gratitude for doing something like this for one soldier representing all who serve and for the veterans they took the time to interview for a video they didn't show on TV.