This tongue-in-cheek ad, meant to be the fantasy of men -- literally -- shows two women in business suits eating lunch at a beautiful outdoor cafe when they start arguing about whether the beer tastes great or is less filling (recalling the classic ads from the mid 1970s-1980s).
The campy ad immediately has them pulling each others' clothes off (revealing enhanced breasts) and wrestling in their bras and panties in a nearby fountain to melodramatic music.
The scene is interrupted by two men sitting in a bar saying, "Now that would make a great commercial!" The other chimes in, "Who wouldn't want to watch that?" Two women look on with baffled looks.
The ad closes with a continuation of the action, where the women throw each other into a cement pit as one grabs the other and -- completing the male fantasy with a lesbian reference -- says, "Let's make out!" The TV version ends there, but one version that was shot but not aired shows the women then kiss (sort of, the angle is bad). The kissing version is available on the internet.
The ad, which tries to offer a nod to women, nonetheless did not fair well with them.
USA Today reported Miller received 400 e-mails, with the debate running 50-50 for and against, says Miller Lite spokesman Ron Acosta. Most of the complaints were from over-40 married women with families. The NFL got a "handful of complaints," says spokesman Brian McCarthy. Executives at ABC, Fox and CBS reported no problems.
Advertising Age critic Bob Garfield called the ad "an abomination." His colleague at Adweek, Barbara Lippert, wrote: "Let's face it: No one ever went broke overestimating the visual stimulation of pneumatic boobs and lesbian scenarios." Lippert rated the spot as "worst" for the beer category in 2003, noting "It was more about hostility, about tuning out women for soft-porn caricatures."
