A screen capture of the Corb Lund Budweiser ad.

I am calling out Corb Lund. I don’t normally do this. I try to stay positive while still being honest. I don’t normally criticize an individual over a beer decision. But today I make an exception.

Yesterday an ad was released (or at least I first saw it) featuring alt-country/punk musician Corb Lund promoting Budweiser (you can see it here). Not just promoting Budweiser, but backing their new “Alberta Made” campaign. The ad has Lund talking about Alberta values while alternating shots of Alberta scenery and Budweiser placements flash across the screen. The climax has Lund on stage wearing a Bud t-shirt and flanked by huge “Alberta Made” banners. In his tweet promoting the ad he calls Bud “our cowboy beer”.

Lund wouldn’t be the first musician to shill for a big beer company, nor will he be the last. So why bring this up? Because it is a very unfortunate combination of branding that, I believe, doesn’t look good on Lund.

Lund has built his career on quirky, wry songs that simultaneously honour and send up rural culture. It has allowed him to create a unique cross-genre appeal. I first experienced Lund when he was in the Edmonton punk band The Smalls and have been a fan of his music ever since. I am not much of a country music fan, but Lund maintains a distinct punk ethos in his songs that appeals to me.

Which is why his decision to do this campaign is so disappointing. Lund is an independent artist who has spent his career scrapping and fighting for attention. He has nurtured a brand of being the underdog working hard to reach fans of good music.

Sound familiar? Yeah, sounds a lot like a small craft brewery.

That is why his endorsement of Bud is problematic.

Aligning himself with the largest beer corporation in the world is an issue in itself. But I can at least see a defence of that decision. He appeals, mostly, to a country music crowd who are more likely to still be attached to Bud, Coors and other standard lagers of that nature. On that level it is a safe call.

Except that he is also well-known and respected by a more alternative music crowd (including me). Connecting himself to ABInbev becomes particularly problematic for that segment. Which is why it might be a mistake for him.

Further, it is one thing to hold up a can of Bud and say “this Bud’s for you”. It is another thing to participate in ABInbev’s crass attempt to re-position its American-born, global brand as Alberta made. I wrote the other day about the campaign and its repugnant attempt to link Bud to Alberta values (read here). It is fundamentally dishonest.

To associate himself with such intentional misleading risks damaging Lund’s very strong brand. Plus he is contributing to the dishonesty, which is just unsettling.

I am sure they paid him a lot of money. Good for him. I am also pretty sure this tempest in a beer mug will do little to derail his rising career – music fans won’t vote with their feet over beer. But it is one of those things that can linger. It will leave a caustic, bad taste in the mouths of many of his fans – me included – that will reverberate in the years to come.

I don’t know what it will mean, but I do know that his decision to promote Budweiser’s Alberta Made campaign marks a turning point for Lund. One that might very well mean I leave him behind. Which, after 20 years of being a Corb Lund fan, makes me very sad.