Spuds MacKenzie (real name Honey Tree Evil Eye) was a dog featured in an advertising campaign for Bud Light beer in the late 1980s. The dog was named marketing dog of the year in 1987 when he first showed up in a Bud Light Super Bowl ad. By the end of the game, Spuds was a marketing success. The dog, a Bull Terrier, existed not without his share of controversy. Shortly after Spuds' rise to fame it was learned that "he" was actually female. The "controversy" was spread through the media. At one point Budweiser employees concealed "Spuds" from cameras, so as to hide her female genitals while she urinated. Because of the popularity of the ads, they were the subject of attacks and calls for censorship by temperance-oriented groups. In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, along with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, charged that Anheuser-Busch was pitching the too-cool-for-monogamy-and-sobriety dog to children. Although the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found no evidence to support that allegation, the ads were dropped. Spuds died of kidney failure on May 31, 1993 in North Riverside, Illinois at age 10. An urban legend had Spuds dying of electrocution while filming a commercial in an Aspen hot tub. Another urban myth includes Spuds dying from being thrown from an airplane when his parachute failed to open while filming a commercial.
Cultural References
- The character Slurms MacKenzie ("The Original Party Worm") from the television series Futurama is a parody of Spuds, as is Santa's Little Helper's stint as "Suds McDuff" on The Simpsons.
- On an episode of Family Guy, while at a spring break celebration, one character sees a Bull Terrier which he replies to and says, "Hey look, it's Spuds MacKenzie". The dog attacks him.
- In an episode of The Golden Girls, one of Sophia's boyfriends (played by Mickey Rooney) is said to have been caught spray painting "something obscene on Spuds MacKenzie", on a billboard of Spuds'. Sophia claimed he was simply making Spuds anatomically correct.
- Spuds made two cameo appearances in the 80's comic strip "Bloom County." First as a presidential candidate running against Bill the Cat and Opus, and then again during the strip's "female crisis" where he revealed to Opus that one member of Bloom County's all male cast was actually a female in disguise, but passed out from alcohol intoxication before she could reveal who it was.
- In his late 1980's anti-'sellout' anthem, This Note's for You (the title of which parodies Budweiser's This Bud's for You ad campaign), Neil Young says he 'ain't singing for Spuds'
