Michelob Ultra’s controversial sports ad may go global despite negative reviews

Michelob Ultra is running a spot in Mexico that is perceived negatively by 81% of viewers—and it's trying to take the work global anyway.

The commercial, from Gut, Mexico City, illustrates the intense pressure professional athletes are under in a bid to relieve it. The effort features top-performing Mexican athletes, including soccer player Guillermo Ochoa, diver Arantxa Chávez and gymnast Isaac Nuñez, struggling with their individual sports. As that happens, the voiceover, seemingly representing social media commentary, taunts them with biting phrases like, "These are not the athletes we deserve" and "The whole team is a joke." As the ad goes on, the athletes seem to give up and the words, “What kind of pressure have we been putting out there?” appear on screen. The spot then speaks to the athletes: "To find your greatness,  you need to find your joy."

The athletes chosen for the spot faced the issue firsthand, Alejandro Gutierrez, premium brands director at Michelob Ultra owner Anheuser-Busch InBev, said in an interview. Chávez, for example, scored a zero in diving at the 2012 Olympics and deleted her social media after facing harassment from the public. "It's like only 0.5% of the total population who get the possibility to participate in the Olympics, and people are being super mean to them because they didn't perform the way we wanted them to," Gutierrez said. He said the brewer is forging ahead with the campaign despite negative sentiment because the message is too important to ignore—and not just for the sake of athletes.

Noting that the majority of people in Mexico are trying to live a healthy lifestyle, he said that if the average consumer sees high-performing athletes quit the sports they love due to the pressure, "How could it even be possible for a day-to-day person to even consider starting something better in their life?”

“We’re trying to strike a balance between enjoying sports, but also enjoying life,” Gut co-founder Gaston Bigio said. “Many brands, sportspeople, the press, social media, they know how tough the pressure can be for these people. They are athletes, yes, but they are human beings and we are starting to see more and more and more often that they want to be treated as human beings, not like machines.”

The ad concludes with narrations, including "Impossible is impossible,” “Don’t sacrifice everything,” and “You are not invincible." It ends with the low-cal beer brand's slogan, “It’s only worth it if you enjoy it,” appearing on the screen.

It may take some time for the message to be heard, however. Gutierrez said the initial public reaction has been commentary aimed at the athletes in the spot, such as "You should retire" or "You're not good enough," which he said, "is exactly the [mindset] we want to prevent.” But he said that despite its research showing fewer than 20% of viewers reacting positively to the ad, the brewer will press ahead with the campaign and use it as motivation to change perceptions. 

The ad isn't just trying to change the public's thinking, but also hopes to lead other marketers to reconsider their approach to sports advertising, said Bigio, which now tends to celebrate success at all costs. Nike's long-running "Just Do It" tagline is an example of the message sports brands have been sending for years.

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"It's time to rethink and start these conversations about what new messages we want to put out there are," he said.

This is just the latest campaign to put a spotlight on the pressures athletes face. Last month Publicis launched a global campaign for Powerade that focuses on mental and physical health. That campaign stars U.S. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and is centered around the phrase, "Pause is power."

The Michelob Ultra campaign is currently only running in Mexico on social channels, TV and print, but is expected to run globally in the coming weeks, according to the agency.