OBP Featured in Adweek’s Super Bowl Coverage

A classic swing and a miss in a football game. Bud Light’s controversial Super Bowl campaign, which takes a shot at Miller Lite and Coors Light for using corn syrup, has drawn the ire of corn farmers everywhere.

Adweek followed up on the story after Miller Lite took out a full-page ad in the New York Times and Coors Light hosted a “Toast to Farmers” celebration. We may be biased, but our favorite part of the article comes in the 10th paragraph, when our very own OBP president Rhonda Ries is quoted.

If you want skip past the paywall fun, please enjoy these highlights:

Rhonda Ries, president of Osborn Barr | Paramore, an agency that specializes in working with agricultural clients and is participating in the “Toast to Famers” event, said she was “surprised” by the approach in Bud Light’s Super Bowl ads.

She explained that she doesn’t know the intention behind Bud Light’s strategy and wouldn’t want to speculate on what it was, but said the agency is “more than happy and proud to salute farmers.”

“We are advocates of farmers and at the end of the day they were caught in the crossfire, whether it was intentional or unintentional. Our clients responded to what appears to be some misinterpretation, some potential myths about the ways that food and in particular corn syrup has benefits or lack thereof,” she said. “We’re glad that our agriculture leaders, our farmer partners and everyone else in the food chain is taking a position as well.”

So, bottles up, everyone. Let’s all give thanks for farmers and what they do for this great country. Cheers.