I submitted a protest via their “contact us” site; here’s their response:
July 02, 2013
Dear Bud,
Thank you for getting in touch with us and sharing your concerns about our Independence Day commercial. All advertising, especially beer advertising, follows certain guidelines – from the TV networks, the Beer Institute (a beer industry trade organization), and our own internal guidelines. The Beer Institute Advertising Code says, “Beer advertising and marketing materials should not include religion or religious themes.”
We agree with that and try to adhere to these guidelines. While we understand your objection to the omission of the phrase “by our creator” in other circumstances (after all, they occur in the Declaration of independence which Samuel Adams signed and helped author) we believe it would be outside our industry guidelines to invoke those religious words in a beer commercial.
We do appreciate your writing to us to express your concerns and for giving us a chance to address them. We hope that you will write to us again in the future with either positive or negative feedback. We truly do rely on consumers to be the judges of our work.
Sincerely
Todd Bellomy
Consumer Relations
Looks like I’ve had my last Adams; hell, Leinenkugel’s good for me.
Leinies is good!