Drunken Media Coverage of Tonight’s Debate…Brought to You by Budweiser?
As President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney face-off for the third and final presidential debate, Anheuser-Busch InBev will be working their magic behind the scenes.
For the past two decades A-B has been a major corporate sponsor of the presidential debates — since their initial involvement in 1992 when Washington University reached out to A-B for help with hosting that year’s debate. Although their donation figures are not available to the public, the beer empire is believed to be the the largest sponsor of these events.
Hints? The fact that A-B plasters its logo every chance it gets backstage, from the free food and drink for the press to souvenir mugs reminding the media of whose putting on the show behind the cameras. For this year’s first debate in Denver, A-B invited media personnel to chow down on shrimp and ribs cooked by their corporate chef and passed out bottles of their new brew batches, encouraging attendees to “Debate amongst yourselves which one is best!”
A-B InBev spokeswoman Christine Czernejewski touted, “Any time we have a good opportunity to highlight the great things we’re doing, we’re going to do that.”
Some amusing Twitter commentary from ABC7 Chicago Political Reporter Charles Thomas:
Drunken coverage of the debate? Seems like we’re not the only ones playing presidential drinking games.
