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Light Beer Brand Feud Turns 'Spy vs. Spy'

The battle of the light beer brands is starting to feel interminable even to some beer fans, judging from social media threads.

As all the media-connected world knows by now, the feud was set off by Bud Light’s Super Bowl spots dissing Miller Lite and Coors Light for using corn syrup in brewing.

Just days after MillerCoors launched a March Madness promo featuring a Coors Light-branded tap handle that detected Bud Light ads and triggered free Coors Lights for bar patrons, the company’s Miller Lite has fired another volley.

Miller Lite today posted two satiric ads on its social channels that seem to show actors and production workers shooting some new Bud Light medieval-themed spots, but choosing to drink Miller Lite on their breaks.

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One (below) takes place on an ad shoot troubled by a faulty snow machine. The other, “Aftermath,” specifically spoofs the Bud Light Super Bowl spot co-produced with “Game of Thrones.”

Both DDB-produced videos end with the assertion: “In the real world, more taste is what matters,” and a shot of a Miller Lite with the screen message: “More taste & half the carbs of Bud Light.”

Miller Lite will be running the spots throughout the NCAA Tournament--the brand's two heaviest advertising weeks of the year--across TV, digital and social channels.

But in a turnabout reminiscent of the classic Mad magazine comic strip “Spy vs. Spy,” Anheuser-Busch InBev was ready with a Bud Light reply video to post on its own social channels.

Called “Imitation,” that video, from Wieden + Kennedy New York, has Bud Light’s medieval king character suggesting that if Miller is “this set on imitating our kingdom,” it should also consider imitating Bud Light’s move to put its ingredients list on its outer packaging. The ad ends with screen messaging stating that Bud Light is “brewed with no corn syrup.”

In alerting the press to their latest ads, each brand offered stats. Miller Lite says it's picking up share "not only in its segment, but across the entire beer category, per Nielsen." Bud Light says it's seen "share trend improvement" in the premium light segment," per IRI.

Another suggestion: Wake us when the war is over.

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