Earliest Commercials
Often called by different names such as Wassup, Wazzup, Whassup and Whazup, these were a series of Anheuser-Busch Budweiser beer commercials. The original Whassup ads ran through 2002. The first spot aired during Monday Night Football on December 20, 1999. Its signature catch phrase became a joke talked about on talk shows, parodied on Web sites and in films and TV shows, and came up in songs. It was also mimicked in non-Budweiser commercials.
The commercials were based on the short film True by Charles Stone III that featured him and childhood friends talking on the phone and saying “whassup?”… Read the rest “Earliest Commercials”
History of Beer
The exact historical time frame of beer is debatable. Experts have placed beer’s creation as being between 7,500 to 10,000 years ago. Historians do agree that beer was probably developed independently in several different cultures, beginning with the Sumerians in southern Iraq (Mesopotamia) which is the earliest known civilization in the world. It’s definitely known that beer was part of the daily diet of Egyptian Pharaohs over 5,000 years ago.
The first chemical evidence of beer dates back to 3500-3100 B.C. in what is now Iran. That makes beer the oldest drink known to mankind.… Read the rest “History of Beer”
Film Parodies
The film Scary Movie (2000) heavily parodies the horror, slasher, and mystery genres including the movies Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The movie plot centers around a group of teenagers who one year after accidentally killing a man are stalked by a familiar masked movie madman. It parodies the Budweiser Whassup ad in one scene.
In the 2012 film That’s My Boy starring Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg the phrase is used as a recurring joke. There were also multiple occurrences of Budweiser product placement throughout the film.… Read the rest “Film Parodies”
Ads with Animals
The Budweiser commercial referred to as We are not Alone or Wassup Aliens aired during Super Bowl XXXV in 2001. It featured an alien masquerading as a dog. While the Super Bowl in 2000 had one 30 second ad named Whassup Girlfriend, the brewer went bigger in 2001 with two ads of 45 seconds each. This one was created by the ad agency DDB and is the more epic of the pair, replacing the guys on the phone with a dog and aliens.
Wassup! Parrots is a crowd favorite among fans.… Read the rest “Ads with Animals”
Additional Ads
Here is a collection of the famous Bud Whassup ads from 1999 to 2018, mostly in chronological order. Included are some parodies and surprises at the end. The Wassup ad campaigns ran in much of the world and became a pop culture catchphrase.
In 2008 Chuck Stone III made another version of the ad with the same cast, called Wassup 2008. The 2-minute short film was heavily critical of the presidency of George W. Bush and was a clear endorsement of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.
In 2020 a commercial named Whassup Again Budweiser aired in Canada during Super Bowl LIV.… Read the rest “Additional Ads”