Rolling Rock Wants You to Hate It's Beer Ape

beer+ape.jpg

In the "so horrifically bad it just might actually be good but not really" category is a recent campaign from Rolling Rock that consists of online, billboards and TV spots which urge people who hated a recent "beer ape" commercial - which never actually ran except for placement on YouTube - to email Rolling Rock's VP of marketing to complain. We saw the billboards but hadn't yet seen the video on YouTube which Adverlicious tipped us to. While the commercial itself is over-the-top stupid, 1,024,265 have viewed it and 791 people have commented on it. Like it or not, that's fairly decent play for any YouTube placement. The question, as always, is, will this foolery actually sell any beer?

Ariel wonders what sort of trouble Rolling Rock or its agency might find itself in since it's not such a a kosher thing, according to some, to place alcohol ads online where age verification isn't possible or where viewership hasn't been age-restricted in some way. Certainly there's plenty of beer and liquor ads on YouTube but the real question is who uploaded them? The person's account who uploaded this Rolling Rock video is less than one month old. Hmm. Lawyers, talk amongst yourselves.

Written by Steve Hall    Comments (13)     File: Commercials, Online, Outdoor, Strange, Television, Video     Nov-29-06  
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Comments

Thank you for this post Steve!

I really enjoyed the video.

The energy and enthusiasm is infectious and it's got a good beat.

A+ viral.

btw-is my connection or is adholes down?

Posted by: arthur on November 29, 2006 04:31 PM

Wow. Kindof reminds me of the "rejected spots" idea GSP did for Bud a couple years ago.

What???

This just in, the writer on both projects...IS THE SAME GUY!

Indeed, A+ spots CAN become A+ viral. Just give it a couple years.

Posted by: Diet m on November 29, 2006 04:35 PM

Frankly Budweiser would be better off spending the money figuring out how to make the beer taste as good as it did before they bought the brand and turned it into just another generic American beer. Too bad.

Posted by: Ad guy on November 29, 2006 05:41 PM

Meh. AB didn't get the Latrobe, PA brewery in the sale of Rolling Rock, which doesn't give me hope that the beer won't be made into yet another horse filtered brew like the rest of their lineup

Posted by: Aaron Weber / alphamonkey on November 30, 2006 12:05 PM

Can we PLEASE STOP pretending in the viral video sweepstakes? Of course it wasn't rejected for TV, it's just another stupid attempt to fake like we're being viral. Just put out a fucking spot that says "VIRAL SHIT - NEVER INTENDED FOR TV - TRYING DESPERATELY TO BE HIP" on it and be done with it.

FUCK YOU, ROLLING ROCK, TROLLING COCK, BOWLING SCHLOCK. God, I hate advertisers. Fucking assholes.

Posted by: Pissed Mother Fucker on November 30, 2006 12:13 PM

Can we PLEASE STOP pretending in the viral video sweepstakes? Of course it wasn't rejected for TV, it's just another stupid attempt to fake like we're being viral. Just put out a fucking spot that says "VIRAL SHIT - NEVER INTENDED FOR TV - TRYING DESPERATELY TO BE HIP" on it and be done with it.

FUCK YOU, ROLLING ROCK, TROLLING COCK, BOWLING SCHLOCK. God, I hate advertisers. Fucking assholes.

Posted by: Pissed Mother Fucker on November 30, 2006 12:16 PM

I want to see a 200ft Beer Ape go on an alcohol-fueled rampage of destruction and mayhem in Second Life.

Posted by: daveednyc on November 30, 2006 01:12 PM

isn't that spot more than a wee bit derivitive of the snl spoof spot for "shmitt's gay" with adam sandler and and chris farly. i'm all for the idea of a beer ape (how could you not be?), but at least put him in an original context. oh yeah, smart way to drive traffic to there website via an opt-in viral, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,

Posted by: jared on December 1, 2006 12:46 PM

isn't that spot more than a wee bit derivitive of the snl spoof spot for "shmitt's gay" with adam sandler and and chris farley. i'm all for the idea of a beer ape (how could you not be?), but at least put him in an original context. oh yeah, smart way to drive traffic to their website via an opt-in viral, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,

Posted by: jared on December 1, 2006 12:48 PM

isn't that spot more than a wee bit derivitive of the snl spoof spot for "shmitt's gay" with adam sandler and and chris farley. i'm all for the idea of a beer ape (how could you not be?), but at least put him in an original context. oh yeah, smart way to drive traffic to their website via an opt-in viral, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,

Posted by: jared on December 1, 2006 12:49 PM

isn't that spot more than a wee bit derivitive of the snl spoof spot for "shmitt's gay" with adam sandler and and chris farly. i'm all for the idea of a beer ape (how could you not be?), but at least put him in an original context. oh yeah, smart way to drive traffic to their website via an opt-in viral, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,

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