Budweiser's marketing knows more about America than...
I love America.
Not just because I own iReallyLoveAmerica.com, and not just because I was born here. Not because we are wealthy, which makes everyday life so much easier, and certainly not because of the fascination with national self-loathing practiced by our entertainment-media-academia-complex And not because America has a spotless history, because She doesn't.
It's because America is the World-Wide Beacon for Freedom. And #FreedomIsBetter
Our largest beer brand, Budweiser, gets this, even if the left-side of the political world does not.
The Olympics started this week. I really enjoy watching and participating with my family, cheering on the American athletes in their quest for doing their best and bringing home Gold for their country. Oh, and because my beautiful bride Loves Watching the Olympics!
We just came back from Vacation, and when I made a quick run to the store to stock up on essentials after a 10 day trip, I stopped, mid-stride, at the beauty of this Case of Beer, and the more I looked, the more I loved it!
What I saw first in the cooler was the side of the packaging: Red and White Stripes as background for Lady Liberty to hold up her Flame, similar to the Olympic flame. In America's case, the flame is the light of Liberty for us to enjoy. I stopped in my tracks. And looked in, mesmerized.
On the end of the case I saw the familiar shapes and script font of the Budweiser can, but something was different. The first words I read on can printed on this bold, blue end, just below the large blue script were these light silver block letters :
E PLURIBUS UNUM
Which is Latin for "Out of Many, One", the motto of the United States of America.
I choked up a bit, right there in the isle of Albertsons. And I opened the cooler door and peered in further. It took me a minute to figure out that instead of the word "Budweiser' in blue script, they wrote "America." And, I Love America!
I investigated further, comparing the cases with this styling to the other ones, pulled out a 12 pack and headed home, even more pumped to be an American and have an Olympic Team to cheer that night.
When I got home and pulled out a can, it just kept getting better. The next phrase I noticed was
Indivisible Since 1776
240 years of Freedom! Budweiser, or at least their marketing and packaging peeps, is blowing me away!
I set up the can to take some pictures, both that first night and into a 2nd one. (I opened the 12 pack to get out a can, not noticing I opened the end with the straighter alignment on the packaging, so the 2nd Night I went back and sifted through the cases and brought home an 18 pack, all aligned and pretty.) With every picture, I noticed more and more about the Freedom Story pictured on this can of beer.
A seal adorned the epicenter of the can, with "US" in beautiful bold, encircled in a seal by the words
"The United States of America"
US. That means you and me. Us. We. Together. One. We, my fellow American's, are an Us. And our Us is due to shared values, not shared ethnicity, nor any other other tribal affiliations. Shared values, like Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Possessing shared values and culture as Americans is the only way that Out of Many, we can be One. E PLURIBUS UNUM.
It wasn't until halfway through getting my eldest daughter to help me take the pictures that I noticed the iconic lines from our National Anthem to the left and right of the seal:
Land of Home of
The Free The Brave
Freedom and Bravery are co-dependent. Normally, as my counselor best-bud would advise me, co-dependency is super-bad. In this case, these two traits are part of those Shared Values that do their magic by allowing our American "Many" to become "One." Freedom is not for the faint-of-heart. She requires the Brave to defend and remind and uphold her.
After we took some great pictures, I finally noticed the Lyrics from Woody Guthrie's 1940 folk song, "This Land is Your Land" at the bottom of the white portion of the can's face:
"From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream
Waters, This Lake Was Made for You and Me."
America is big. Our geography is diverse, as my family experienced as we drove from the Gulf Coast to the Rocky Mountains in just the last few days. And it's those wonderful Shared Values that allow us to enjoy the Freedom and Providence of being given such a land. If we didn't have these Shared Values, then our factions and differences would empower our tribal tendencies and we would instead create "Many, Out of One."
Try doing that in your family. Sit down for dinner one night and everyone there emphasize all your differences. Demand that everyone be hyper-vigilant to ensure that no one offends anyone else's sensibilities, and that everyone strictly adheres to everyone else's preferences. And everyone bring up the resentments you have with everyone else, current or past. Loudly! It doesn't take very long before the words are pitched in angered tone, and the needle on the Grievanceometer is pegged in the red zone, about to burst.
You don't get to stay an "US" very long by practicing "Many, Out of One." That's a shared value of folks us are now former friends, not one of a free and enduring nation. Let's stick with the original motto: Out of Many, One.
This is why the practice of Identity Politics is so unhealthy and divisive. It separates, even if the person practicing them says they are for unity: Even if the speaker is sincere in their desire for unity, the practice of Identity Politics will result will in division, not unity.
Back to my adventure on this can. Oh the subtlety and technique of the Packager and Design Artist. I finally noticed the sliver block letters on the bottom strip of can, with the ending tagline from our Pledge of Allegiance:
LIBERTY & JUSTICE FOR ALL
Freedom has survived these 240 years in America because we have striven and fought for these words, these Shared Values, to be true and truer still in America: Liberty & Justice for All! And they are.
I'm proud of Budweiser for getting this so right! (Oh, and Budweiser isn't even owned by an American company anymore, but they are still an American-loving bunch with this can!)1
#FreedomIsBetter #EPluribusUnum