Miller Lite’s Cheeky Super Bowl Ad Swipes at Michelob Ultra and Features an 836-Character URL

Game day is almost upon us, and that can only mean that it’s time for the brewing megaliths to start taking petty swipes at one another. Who among us could forget the #Corntroversy between Molson Coors and AB InBev that unspooled in 2019, following the latter’s disingenuous attempt to play off the pop cultural stigmatism of “corn syrup”? That series of ads seemed to reawaken a classic feud that had been simmering on the back burner for years, and writers on the craft beer side of the spectrum in particular seemed filled with schadenfreude to see teams of lawyers mobilizing to nitpick about ad language.

This year, it seems that Molson Coors is going on the offensive with its new Miller Lite ad for the big game, taking direct aim at the (incredibly successful) Michelob Ultra while pointing out a fact that many consumers still don’t seem to realize: The two beers are only separated by a single calorie, despite Mich Ultra’s considerable success at marketing itself as more “health” oriented. To be extra petty, Miller Lite is launching a contest to coincide with the airing of AB InBev’s Michelob Ultra ad, in an effort to distract viewers from watching said ad. The task they’re giving you to busy yourself with? Typing a “ridiculously long, calorie burning Big Game URL” into your web browser in that moment, in order to win some free Miller Lite. Apparently, the company calculated that it would take the typing of 836 characters to achieve that very goal.

It’s a cute, quirky challenge that is fitting for our digital era, but perhaps more importantly (in our view) it’s in service of a statement that is objectively true—Miller Lite is significantly more flavorful than the bone dry Michelob Ultra, something that we experienced for ourselves in our blind tasting of 30 cheap macro lagers. With that said, they’re both far better than the abomination that is Bud Light. Perspective, folks.

You can see the full “ridiculously long” URL in the commercial below, and will apparently be able to find it in newspaper ads if you actually want to visit the contest site during the football broadcast. Understandably, the company is trying to prevent copy pasting from being a successful strategy here, so you’ll have to fire up your fingers if you want that free beer. This is what Mavis Beacon trained you for—this is your moment.

We look forward to seeing what sort of equally petty rejoinder AB InBev will respond with.