Excellence in Advertising: Rainier Beer

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      Before God invented Netflix and PVRs, you had to sit through a battery of commercials every time you turned on the idiot box. Most of them made you wonder why the hell Philo Taylor Farnsworth didn’t also invent something to block out commercials. Like Netflix or PVRs. 

      But occasionally, a television ad struck gold to where you’d sit through a seven-hour Cannon marathon to see it again. And now, thanks to the magic of YouTube (which we can thank God for inventing) you can relive the magic at the touch of a mouse. Here’s today’s nomination for Excellence in Advertising.

      Despite what Boogie Nights might have led you to believe, the ’70s were a simpler time, when McDonald’s provided free coke spoons in all of its restaurants, red meat didn’t cause colon cancer, and drinking and driving was only illegal if you puked on a police officer's shoes.

      Speaking of drinking and driving—or should we say riding while ripped—imagine the uproar today if some suit in a corporate boardroom stood up and suggested that a moving motor vehicle would be a great centrepiece for a spot about beer.

      But back in the day—which is to say the ’70s when the Raaaaiiiiinnnnneeeeerr Beeeeeeeer ad first aired—drinking and driving went together like alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver.

      Trivia buffs might be interested in learning that Rainier was brewed just down the I-5 in Spokane, making it one of the Pacific Northwest’s finest white-trash offerings. These days, it’s produced under contract in Irwindale, California.

      That of course means that it's now about as mountain fresh as the plains of Abraham. Yes, sadly, a lot has changed since the '70s. The brilliance of this ad, however, hasn't.

      Comments

      1 Comments

      Carl Spackler

      May 10, 2015 at 6:24pm

      So awesome! Plus they had those ads that were like Marlin Perkins show with the giant beer bottles running wild in the woods!