Remember the Budweiser frogs? They were the unlikely stars of a wildly popular '90s ad campaign that had more plot twists and turns than a daytime soap opera. So what happened to the hapless amphibians?
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00:00The Budweiser Frogs.
00:05Remember the Budweiser Frogs? They were the unlikely stars of a wildly popular 90s ad
00:10campaign that had more plot twists and turns than a daytime soap opera. The three frogs — Bud,
00:16Wise, and Ur, of course — went through lots of trials and tribulations during their run,
00:21from getting caught in an ice storm to surviving multiple assassination
00:25attempts by a vengeful lizard named Louie.
00:28I'm no electrician, but that has got to be dangerous.
00:31Oh, my. Bud?
00:34Louie was not happy that the frogs were chosen a star in the commercials instead of him,
00:38but Louie eventually got his big break, replacing Wise.
00:42Two frogs walk into a bar, one of them does this.
00:45Ow! Slap the punk!
00:47The Budweiser Frogs' reign over the TV landscape more or less came to an end in 1999,
00:53while the frogs — and Budweiser — were criticized for making beer more attractive to
00:57children. That wasn't the reason for their demise. According to Bob Lackey, then vice
01:02president of brand management at Budweiser's parent company, Anheuser-Busch, most of the
01:07beer company's mascots had a short lifespan by design. Lackey told The New York Times,
01:12"...the lifetime of our icons is about two years."
01:15News of their firing was delivered courtesy of yet another Budweiser TV ad,
01:20in which Louie explained that they were getting the X.
01:23"...we got canned. They want us off the rocks by the end of the day."
01:27While it's often said that all Budweiser tastes the same because the same strain of yeast has
01:31been continually used in the brew since 1876, the company definitely prefers an innovative approach
01:37to its advertising. Budweiser's ad campaign featuring the beer-loving frogs was developed
01:42by Darcy, Masius, Binton & Bowles, an ad agency with roots going all the way back to the early
01:491900s.
01:50"...here's Bud in your eye."
01:52The firm is also responsible for teaming Santa Claus Up with Coca-Cola, the Skittles slogan
01:57Taste the Rainbow, teaching candy lovers that an M&M melts in your mouth, not in your hand,
02:02and so much more. As for their beloved Budweiser frogs, they were designed and
02:07constructed at the studio of legendary special effects artist Stan Winston, who created effects
02:12for movies like Jurassic Park, Aliens, and the Terminator franchise. Additionally, the first
02:18Budweiser frogs ad was helmed by Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski,
02:23who went on to win an Oscar for Best Animated Feature for his film Rango.
02:27With such an impressive pedigree, it's no surprise that Budweiser's ad campaign
02:32was such a huge success. Although the hapless amphibians did pop up in CGI form in a British
02:38Bud Light ad in 2017, there are no official plans to have them return in the U.S.,
02:43as of the making of this video.
02:45The frogs weren't the first time Budweiser got ad ideas from the animal kingdom.
02:49They were long preceded by the Clydesdales and original party animal Spuds McKenzie.
02:54Plus, there's also this spot, featuring some very thirsty ants.
02:58So how did Budweiser follow their famous frogs? Successfully, with the also iconic
03:04Wassup Guys in 2001.
03:06And the popular Real Men of Genius campaign was hot on their heels in 2003.
03:20For the 2025 Super Bowl, Budweiser is going back to the animal kingdom with a familiar
03:25favorite — with First Delivery, a spot featuring a young Clydesdale eager to join the team.
03:31A horse walks into a bar, and...
03:36And what?