Budweiser "Frogs" (found Philippine version of American beer commercial; 1995)

The Poster of the Frogs.

Status: Found

Date found: 12 Mar 2022

Found by: Cutie Del Mar

The Budweiser Frogs are three lifelike puppet frogs named "Bud", "Weis", and "Er", who began appearing in American television commercials for Budweiser beer during Super Bowl XXIX in 1995. Adweek called it one of the "most iconic alcohol campaigns in advertising history".

In 1997, Lucio Tan's company Asia Brewery brought the Philippine licensing rights to the product under license from its trademark owner Anheuser–Busch Inc. and the beer had its own commercial that aired in the Philippines from 1999 to 2000.

Premise

The commercial began with a scene of a swamp at nighttime, and a close-up of Bud rhythmically croaking his name. Later, Weis and Er join in. They croak rather randomly for about ten seconds, until Bud, Weis, and Er begin croaking in sequence, thus forming the Budweiser name. Their croaking becomes quicker as the camera pulls back to show a bar with a large neon Budweiser sign glowing in the night. The Anheuser–Busch copyright date appears on the bottom .

An alternate ending was made which was aired in the Philippines, with the Budweiser bottle and the slogan "This Buds for You" appeared on screen and during the neon Budweiser sign scene, the Anheuser–Busch copyright date was removed.

Availability

The commercial was first premiered in the United States on the day of Super Bowl XIXX on ABC, but after the Super Bowl, the commercial will later expand to other networks in the United States. It was first uploaded by SuperBowlAdMan in 2009.. The Philippine version of this ad was aired during PBA games on IBC-13, MBA games on Studio 23, and on Online Bingo Pilipino on PTV-4. Cutie Del Mar, host of Online Bingo Pilipino uploaded a clip of the March 10th, 2000 episode of the show with the commercial on March 2022. but unfortunately the video was blocked, Thankfully, It was reuploaded by RetroReelRescue.

Videos

The original US version, with the Anheuser–Busch copyright date

Alternate ending used in the Philippines, with the Anheuser–Busch copyright date removed during the neon scene and the "This Buds For You" slogan at the end.