flickr/Gage Skidmore
Was Budweiser's America campaign inspired by Donald Trump's presidential campaign? Trump thinks so.
Yesterday we told you how Budweiser, first brewed here in St. Louis, is changing the name on 12-ounce cans and bottles to America to literally become synonymous with the Land of the Free.
See also: This America’s For You: Budweiser Launches Patriotic Redesign for Summer [PHOTOS]
Budweiser
"America Heavy."
People couldn’t help but associate Budweiser’s temporary new name with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” especially since the beer will be on store shelves through the 2016 presidential elections.
Now Trump is explicitly taking credit for the new name. On Wednesday, the cast of “Fox and Friends” laughingly asked Trump in a phone interview whether he’s the inspiration for the line of America beers.
"Donald Trump, do you think you had something to do with Budweiser changing the name of their beer over the summer?" asks co-host Steve Doocy.
"I think so,” Trump responds. “They're so impressed with what our country will become that they decided to do this before the fact.”
Here’s video of the interview:
Budweiser didn’t mention Trump in its grand reveal of its summer redesign on Tuesday. Ricardo Marques, vice president of Budweiser, said the name is inspired by “the most patriotic summer that this generation has ever seen, with Copa America Centenario being held on U.S. soil for the first time, Team USA competing at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
But even if Trump isn’t directly responsible for America beers, many have attributed the overt messaging to the Trump effect on the presidential campaign.
“If we think of the U.S. presidential election season not only as a grand exercise in democracy, but as a vast proving ground for how to sell a message to millions of Americans, then Trump’s campaign is surely being studied by every marketing agency in the country,” writes Ryu Spaeth for New Republic.
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at LToler@stlmag.com or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
