Release and Reception
Anheuser-Busch were initially nervous of the irreverent style of the ads. Consumer testing however proved them to be very popular. The ads not only received tremendous consumer response, but also won many awards including the prestigious Grand Prix for Radio at the Annual International Advertising Festival in Cannes. The popularity of the series led to many of the commercials being traded on peer to peer file sharing networks. Bootleg recordings of the ads were sold on eBay.
In 2003, Anheuser-Busch released a collection of 20 ads on CD titled, Bud Light Salutes Real Men of Genius, Vol 1 to be sold in the company's online store Two additional volumes were released soon after. In 2005 a limited edition compilation combined all prior volumes into one release: Bud Light Salutes Real Men of Genius Volumes 1, 2 and 3.
Volume 1, Volume 2, & Volume 3 contained 20 radio spots. All versions have since gone out of print.
In late 2006, Anheuser-Busch sponsored a comedy tour titled "Real Men of Comedy" starring John Heffron, Joe Rogan, and Charlie Murphy. This tour featured the announcer (Stacker) and singer (Bickler) performing several of their famous commercials live at the beginning of the show. Stacker and Bickler performed regional versions of the spots to support Budweiser's comedy tour at radio stations and concert-sponsored venues such as Lollapalooza.
As late as 2010 American Comedy Network was producing parodies of the commercials.
Read more about this topic: Real Men Of Genius
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