In the 1950’s the top selling beer in America was Schlitz, “The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous”. Papa remembers that Schlitz was the sponsor of a decent movie featured weekly on Saturday Night Theater on WTMJ. By decent I mean of recent vintage. I recall mostly watching silent films and cowboy movies on television. Viewing options were quite sparse. That is what made the Saturday night movie special. I think there were only two commercials during the braodcast. That was nice also. The show’s host, Jack Brand, sat in an easy chair alongside an end table with a bottle of Schlitz and a tall pilsner glass. After introducing the movie, he’d pour a near perfect head of beer. (Papa was always disappointed because my inner self wanted him to over pour and make a mess.) But, he’d simply drink some beer from his masterpiece and it was off to the movie.

As a youngster I assumed that the #1 selling beer in the country would always survive. Schlitz didn’t. It’s decline as a major beer producer was both fast and surprising. It was my first introduction to the concept of change in the business world. They claim change is good. Such champions of regression are insensitive to the pain of a man wandering grocery aisles searching for a box of Wheaties. I have also witnessed the fall of another #1 product of 1950. As a boy on South 75th Street I lived a mere five blocks from Allis-Chalmers. It was the leader in tractor production. It also made turbines, generators, transformers and electric motors. It was a slower fade away but today at the corner of 70th and Greenfield only a plaque commemorating its role in the Manhattan Project remains of a once giant industrial complex.

Now, as to beer ads it is imprtant that you know it is widely believed that Schlitz started its decline by a decision to speed up the brewing process. Better beer by chemistry? At any rate, the taste of the beer changed. For the worse. (Proving again that not all change is good.) My memory is that an ad was devised that would halt the decline of Schlitz sales. A blind taste contest. On national television. What better venue than during a Super Bowl? With a retired NFL referee. I think the entire concept ended as vague and/or inconclusive. Schlitz sales never recovered.

Recently, the current number one beer producer of beer has ventured into promotion of an activist/political point of view in its own ad campaign. A certain amount of controversy has been stirred up. It seems reasonable to ask why do it. The intense reactions to the beer company’s adoption of a rather unorthodox approach to beer drinkers prompted my memory of that Super Bowl beer ad. That was a promotion intended to save a brand. It will be interesting to see if this 2023 beer sales promotion fosters or kills sales. One never knows what change may be happening right in front of our eyes. Is it a losing gamble to change horses (Clydesdales) in the midst of competition? Cheers.