Budweiser's long history of Super Bowl commercials featuring its Clydesdale horses is confusing enough (how does this sell beer, anyway?) without the weirdly homoerotic overtones of this year's ad. You know the one: A young steer and a Clydesdale pony meet cute one day on a pasture. Divided by a long white fence, they trot, play and nuzzle to the extent they can before they're separated by the horse's beer-hauling boot camp, or whatever sad social imperative Budweiser has imposed on the animal this time around. They're reunited three years later -- fully grown and both prone to slo-mo, soft-focus flashbacks of frolicsome youth. "Nothing comes between friends," one observer says to another as the steer, all massive horns and defiance, busts through the barrier to be with its Clydesdale pal now leading the Budweiser stagecoach. "Especially fences," replies another.
Friends? Fences? Seriously? Sorry, fellas, this looks like a little more than friends. Judge (and vote) for yourself after the jump.
Considering how Budweiser originally planned to kill the spot before a Facebook poll saved it (but not before it "received a different cut"), I think it's safe and reasonable to assume one of four things is happening in this ad:
1. The horse and the steer are just a couple of childhood buddies literally chomping at the bit to reunite. If only they could get wasted like their schmaltzy, Bud-swigging human counterparts.
2. We're watching a straight romantic relationship between a female Budweiser Clydesdale (itself pretty radical, and probably a first) and a big, virile steer who will stop at nothing to consummate their simmering interspecial hots (again, probably a first for the brewing giant). The dudes at the end -- standing conspicuously in front of the semi-majestic Green Screen National Park -- were tacked on in post-production to tamp down the sexual subtext.
3. We're watching a gay romantic relationship between a more typically male Budweiser Clydesdale and a big, virile steer who will stop at nothing to consummate their interspecial hots. The dudes at the end were tacked on in post to tamp down the homoerotic subtext.
4. Everyone and everything in the commercial is gay -- including the dudes, who were tacked on in post to drive home the political subtext.
In other words, maybe the world got the Focus on the Family resistance it wanted from the unlikeliest of sources. Or... not. Let your voice be heard.