Budweiser Temporarily Renaming Its Beer “America” Because Why Not?

There’s one surefire way to link your product to the land of the free and the brave — just slap the word “America” on it: Anheuser-Busch InBev is taking a patriotic tack as part of its summer advertising campaign, replacing the “Budweiser” name on its 12-oz beer cans and bottles with the word “America,” and swapping “King of Beers” for “E Pluribus Unum.”

The hope here is that customers will lump Budweiser in with apple pie and baseball as something that is inextricably linked with the American experience. Starting May 23 and running through November, AB will peddle the new packaging along with other appeals to patriotism as part of its “America is in your Hands” campaign, the company announced today.

That includes things like the Star Spangled Banner lyrics scrawled above the A-B crest, which will be transformed to show the letters “US” instead, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes. Other cans appear to have some of the lyrics to “This Land Is Your Land” on the bottom of the label as well.

“We are embarking on what should be the most patriotic summer that this generation has ever seen, with Copa America Centario being held on U.S. soil for the first time, Team USA competing at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Budweiser vice president Ricardo Marques said in a statement.

In even more patriotic packaging, the company says it will peddle Budweiser cans and aluminum bottles later in May with an image of the Statue of Liberty’s torch, timed to its Team Budweiser support of Olympic and Paralympyic athletes.

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