Dr. McCoy proposed this question to the class “Why would people drink beer in a flood?” when we, if I remember correctly we had just wrapped up the viewing process of Levee’s. The survivalist in me was considering options such as they could drink the beer to quench their thirst although it is dehydrating, or even use the cans to boil water if the could start a fire to have something clean of parasites and debris the flood water surely carried.

While watching the Super Bowl a commercial came on sponsored by Budweiser with the slogan Stand By You, showing Budweiser employees in a warehouse manufacturing cans that contained water for the purpose of relief efforts. The Youtube caption for the commercial clip posted by Budweiser reads:“Since 1988, our employees have helped provide more than 79 million cans of water to cities across the U.S. that were impacted by natural disasters. But there’s more to do. By the end of 2018, our brewery in Fort Collins, CO will be joining our brewery in Cartersville, GA to deliver even more clean drinking water to communities in need.”

And currently, at the top of the public comments section, the first comment is: “Where can I buy some of this water in a can. Good source for storing water.”

This brings to memory the image Dr. McCoy passed around the class showing the “African American looters” dragging supplies behind them. The final image of Levee’s after the credits was another picture of a person dragging supplies behind them and I believe there was a case of beer on it as well. Research led me to find that unopened beer cans do float (I have not personally tested this but it seems logical). Floating cans would be invaluable for the flood victims in New Orleans to have a source of fluid that floats so that they could drag it through the water behind them and not have to carry it.

Dr. McCoy mentioned that there was some negativity surrounding those who were caught in the flood who decided to bring beer with them, but because we were not there we do not know for certain it was actually beer. It could have been cans labeled “drinking water” that still carried the beer companies logo. When people saw images of people drinking beer they could have misconstrued either the necessity these flood victims had for it, or even if they were drinking beer. Beer I would say is a symbol for Americans as having a good time. Beer brands preach this over and over to us, and I think it ultimately it influenced the negativity surrounding this issue. Naturally, I could see people questioning why people are drinking beer when they are caught in a natural disaster, instead of trying to find help or assist others.

In Roach in terms of “superabundance” and “excess production” on page 41, that in today’s manufacturing society beer companies willingly stepping up to contribute aid to natural disasters is a sign of their generosity. However, when a company feels the need to make a commercial saying “look at us and how nice we are” it doesn’t come across as genuine.  

Farther down the public comment section on Budweisers Youtube video users were posting:

“It’s great you did that but why paying 10 million bucks to advertise and brag about it? Those millions would have been more useful in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.”

“? What about Flint Michigan?…”