The Sam Adams beer brewing company finds itself in a brouhaha after removing a crucial word from the Declaration of Independence in their recent television ad released around July 4th….you know, the day our nation celebrates that actual, glorious Declaration of Independence statement, that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” That day. That Declaration of Independence.
They removed that terribly offensive word…..Creator.
You do know that the original Sam Adams, the one the company is named after, was one of our Founding Fathers and helped write and sign the Declaration of Independence, right? Ok, just to be clear on the irony here….
Evidently the word, “Creator” is deemed a “religious” word in the hollowed halls of the Beer Institute….and the Beer Institute states: ‘Beer advertising and marketing materials should not include religion or religious themes”. Furthermore….”the Advertising and Marketing Code is a model of responsible industry self-regulation.”….
But let’s review. The Declaration of Independence (the real one….not the one that’s a model of responsible industry self-regulation) states that men are “endowed with certain unalienable Rights”….one of which is the “pursuit of Happiness”, which was the POINT of the whole ad. Beer is happiness! And, by God (oops), it’s our RIGHT to drink beer and be HAPPY and, by God (oh no, not again!) it better be Sam Adams beer!
So…if these rights are “endowed”…..who endowed them? Sam Adams and his buddies were pretty clear about WHO endowed our rights. And it wasn’t the Beer Institute.
Cherry picking the good sound bites out of the Declaration of Independence to suit a beer advertisement is just the latest of a string of selective interpretations of that precious document. Popular culture, even delicious beer companies, should not be deciding which parts of the Declaration of Independence are fun and catchy slogans for an advertisement and which words are icky and complicated and possibly offensive to other selective intrepretors of the Bill of Rights of the Declaration of Independence. You know….those selective intrepretors in the White House and Congress.
Next thing you know, people will want to get rid of whole amendments!
Imagine that!
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