Budweiser Super Bowl ad celebrates immigrants

In the last week, a number of American companies have waded into the national debate about immigration. The latest comes from a surprising source: Budweiser beer-maker Anheuser-Busch.

The ad, titled “Born the Hard Way,” tells the story of how the company’s co-founder Adolphus Busch came to America from Germany in the 1850s, enduring a perilous ocean passage, only to be greeted by jeers of “You’re not welcome here” and “Go back where you came from” upon his arrival. Why leave Germany? He has a dream of making a great American beer.

After traveling up the Mississippi River from New Orleans, Busch arrives in St. Louis, where he meets Eberhard Anheuser in a bar, and shows him a drawing of a bottle of beer. And the rest is brewing history.

The cinematic 60-second spot ends with the statement, “When nothing stops your dream, this is the beer we drink.”

The ad, which was created by the ad agency Anomoly, was shot in January before President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration last week.

But it’s a timely kick-off to a yearlong effort by the company to celebrate people who try to live their dreams without backing down in the face of adversity.

“Budweiser believes freedom and the pursuit of the American dream are nothing without ambition,” Anheuser-Busch said in a statement Tuesday.