Fans Don’t Abide Stella Artois Resurrecting The Dude for a Super Bowl Spot

Once upon a time, Super Bowl ads were just as important as the main event to some viewers. However, in recent years, companies began releasing them ahead of the event on YouTube. The Belgian brew, Stella Artois, has done this recently and revived Sex in the City’s Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and The Big Lebowski’s The Dude (Jeff Bridges) to assist in the effort. Fans of The Dude aren’t happy and are putting a world of hurt on Stella Artois as a result.

If you visit the official video, it sits at approximately 900 likes and 1.5k dislikes, as of this writing. Scrolling down through the comments section, users are chiming in that this is the “anti-commercial” and vowing to “never drink Stella again.” The concern expressed by these users is less about Bradshaw and more about The Dude and how he would never discard his famous white Russian or be caught dead in the bar depicted.  

Let me rewind and give the setup. Bradshaw walks into what appears to be a swanky New York bar. I assume it’s New York because the maître d’ knows Bradshaw, says it’s good to see her again and offers her her signature cosmo, which she rejects for a Stella Artois. The live orchestra stops, serving trays are dropped, patrons look on, aghast, and waiters and waitresses careen into one another in shock at this turn of events. Bradshaw is then served a Stella.

Moments later, The Dude glides around the aftermath of the Stella induced crash and approaches the bar. Like the maître d’, the bartender also knows The Dude and offers his signature white Russian. Again, the iconic character rejects their signature drink, this time, to the dismay of a lone waitress. He also mispronounces “Artois.” Moments later, the Bradshaw and The Dude are sitting next to one another discussing how “change can be good.”

RELATED – Big Lebowski: Jeff Bridges Teases The Dude’s Return

Companies have little to no compunction about co-opting popular actors or characters, be they alive or dead. Steve McQueen was resurrected for a Ford Mustang commercial some years back. Interestingly, it seems drinks are particularly inclined towards this form of advertising. John Wayne was necromanced for a Coors Light commercial and Brisk famously used Rocky, Sinatra, James Brown and Bruce Lee to sell their libations…Jeez, Brisk.

I remember how jarring it was to see James Bond shilling Heineken, which is not only gross, it’s not his signature drink. While I wouldn’t go quite as far as the commenters, I completely understand where the sentiment comes from. Though I did vow to never drink Heineken again because…bleh.

There’s actually an interesting bit of backstory to this commercial. It seems that Parker and Bridges revived their characters and partnered with Stella Artois to raise awareness for water shortages through water.org, which was founded by actor Matt Damon. The campaign, “Pour it Forward,” seeks to donate between one to 12 months of clean water to people in underdeveloped countries. These donations will be based on the amount of Stella Artois purchased.

What’s unfortunate here is the disconnect between the cause and the commercial. While the hashtag “Pour it Forward” appears at the end of the advert, along with the campaign URL, http://www.stellaartois.com/DoGood, they feel buried and probably should have been present the entire time. I think people would have been more reticent to bash the ad, if they understood it was for a good cause…at least, that’s what I want to believe.

What do you think? Does the use of beloved characters changing up their drink of choice for a commercial bother you? Does it matter that it was for a good cause? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: YouTube, Water.org

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