Published in the Pawtucket Times on July 23, 2001

Everyone knows that sex and humor are used every day to effectively advertise products, ranging from blue jeans, CDs, perfumes and colognes, to America’s youth. Now an advertising firm is seeking new outrageous ways to pitch beer for their Fortune 500 client.

Anheuser-Busch, Inc., the maker of Budweiser beer, is known for its fun and humorous commercials to sell Bud beer by using computer-generated talking lizards and young men yelling “Whassup.” But the Washington, D.C.-based AARP and senior advocates across the country found Anheuser-Busch’s new radio commercial using elder abuse to pitch its beer to be unacceptable. The nation’s largest senior advocacy group, representing 33 million older Americans, called the radio ad portraying a young woman abusing and exploiting her elderly infirmed husband, “offensive” stating that it just goes so far.

In “She Married Steven Buck Simpson,” a young woman gleefully talks about how she is physical, emotionally and financially abusing her frail elderly husband. Here’s the text for the commercial spot describing the abuse intergenerational relationship:

“Last year I married oil tycoon Steven Buck Simpson. He was 93. I was 22. And it was true love, hmm, or so I led him to believe until the wedding. After that, I fired his lawyer and cardiologist. I let his house insurance lapse, alienated him from his children, and sent him out for a walk so I could get freaky with the pool boy. Umm, I deflated the tires on his wheelchair, soaked his dentures in turpentine, and hid his oxygen.”

“Let’s see. I replaced his blood pressure medication with Red Hots, fed him high fat, high cholesterol foods. And finally, liquidated 100 percent of his assets into a Swiss bank account, dropped his dog King off at the pound, and left the country in his private jet, where I promptly renewed my membership in the Mile High Club.”

At this point a m  a states, “Ooh, ooh man that’s cold!” With the sound of a cap being popped off a beer bottle, an announcer responds, “But not as cold as Bud Ice. Ice brewed for a smooth crisp, refreshing taste. Bud Ice, there ain’t nothing colder. Anheuser-Bush.” Quite a way to sell a brand of beer.

When the commercial, playing in several markets, caught the attention of AARP the group’s president Esther Canja, wrote to CEO August A. Busch III of Anheuser-Bush, informing him of her disappointment that the beer company would “make light” of the very serious aging issue of elder abuse.

“Elder abuse is not a joking and your message to the contrary is most inappropriate.” Canja bluntly told the CEO noting that the incidence of elder abuse is increasing at an alarming rate. She cited a National Elder Abuse Incidence Study that estimated that 450,000 older persons are abused or exploited each year.

“While humor has its place, your ad goes to far,” Canja said, urging Busch to withdraw the offensive ad from the marketplace. “You certainly would not sponsor a commercial that portrays a parent physically abusing a child or even mistreating a family pet,” she added.

In Rhode Island, senior advocates were also incensed about Anheuser-Busch’s radio commercial. “This ad, which is so corrosive to the well-being and dignity of our seniors, crosses the boundary from humor to just plain bad taste,” Kathleen S. Connell, AARP Rhode Island director, told the Times. “I join AARP President Esther Canja in calling the company to scrap this piece of junk,” she said.

Adds Rhode Island Ombudsman Roberta Hawkins, of the Alliance for Better Long-Term Care, the Anheuser-Busch commercial is unacceptable.” The well-known Rhode Island senior advocate stated that elder abuse, although not publicly acknowledged by the media, is a widespread and a tragic problem. “If you spent your days the way we do listening to horrible situations just like the ones you think are so funny, your opinion of this commercial would change,” she added.

An e-mail writing campaign initiated by Bill Benson, a former deputy assistant secretary for aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and president of the Maryland-based Benson Consulting Group, during his July 13 Washington Radio Report, has finally caught the attention of the St. Louis, Mo-based beer company.

Benson e-mailed his weekly radio report, “This Bud’s Not for You” to hundreds of his colleagues informing them about the offensive commercial. Word spread like wildfire across the Internet. After numerous attempts to contact Anheuser-Busch, the company finally responded with a written statement. Bill Etling, a spokesperson for the company stated, “It is never our intention offend anyone with our advertising. Anheuser-Busch has discontinued use of this ad and has no plans to use it in the future.”

As the dust settles after Anheuser-Busch’s recent public relations fiasco. Benson hopes that the beer company will reexamine who they choose to write their advertising. “I am sure that they are clueless about how people would react. I bet you this is the last time that Anheuser-Busch uses radio advertising to take jabs at vulnerable seniors,” he says.

“It is clear that the combination of senior advocates and the use of the Internet to spark an e-mail writing campaign nipped Bud in the Bud,” Benson said.