Not Even Justin Timberlake Can Save Bud Light Platinum

Last year’s splashiest new beer launch was Bud Light Platinum. Anheuser-Busch InBev blanketed the airwaves with ads for its beverage, which comes in a sleek, dark-blue bottle and has 2 percent more alcohol than its mother brand. Almost immediately, the new brew became the subject of ironic fascination in the blogosphere. “Tastes weird, more filling, sells like crazy,” Amos Barshad wrote on BuzzFeed in a piece entitled, “The Triumph of Bud Light Platinum, Millennium Party Fuel.”