Finance time

The commercial was a LONG way from Budweiser Clydesdales and Dalmatians.

The plot: A guy stops by a convenience store to pick up a six-pack of Bud Light — as well as lip gloss, batteries and a pornographic magazine. Things quickly go downhill. A cute girl walks up — "Jim? Jim Scott? I haven’t seen you since prom!" — and is instantly scandalized. Jim tries to beat a hasty retreat but is taken hostage by a pistol-wielding robber. TV crews show up, identifying him by name as the "local porno buyer."

You won’t see the ad on TV. Not in this lifetime. Anheuser-Busch, maker of Bud Light, couldn’t get this ad past the network censors, even if it wanted to do so. (It doesn’t.)

Instead, the ad was made to live only on the Web. Quietly unveiled in February after the Super Bowl, "Magazine Buyer" was a "secret" spot, available at first only to viewers who had text-messaged Anheuser-Busch and then logged on to BudBowl.com.

The commercial is a prime example of how companies are using the Web to venture into edgier territory as they try to grab the attention of elusive and increasingly distracted consumers.

The loose, largely unregulated ethos of the Web allows mainstream brands like Bud Light — America’s bestselling beer, backed up by $500 million in measured advertising over three years — to try racier content.

"There are many more vehicles available to advertisers which accept advertisements that push to the edge, if not go off the edge of a cliff," said Dan Howard, professor of marketing at Southern Methodist University.

Numerous big advertisers have used the Internet to explore the boundaries of good taste. In 2006, electric razor maker Philips rolled out a website called shaveeverywhere.com. The site encourages "male bodygrooming," i.e., shaving … but not the face.

Anheuser-Busch has been evaluating its ability to push the envelope online as a way to build buzz among a target audience. For Bud Light, that’s guys ages roughly 21-27.

One Internet-only ad from 2007 portrays "Scott" seeking forgiveness for making a naughty video with a lady friend, and then selling it to a chain of video stores to pay for lap dances. Scott resolves the situation by getting a robot named "Apology-Bot 3000" to deliver a Bud Light to the lady.

But a Bud Light commercial called "Swear Jar" may be the granddaddy of all Internet-only ads. The plot: Office workers have to pay a quarter for every curse word, with the proceeds going to pay for Bud Light. The result: rampant and ferocious — albeit bleeped-out — cursing.

The commercial swiftly went "viral" after its 2007 launch. It has been viewed more than 12 million times on the Web, a level of exposure that a lot of TV advertisers would love to have.

Rather than passively watching, Web surfers seek out or make a decision to click on an online video. Advertisers covet that engagement.

"You’ve got to go on the Internet and look for that ad, find it and then watch it," said Howard paydayloans. "Who’s going to do that? People who want to, who have heard it’s a great commercial."

Keith Levy, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president of marketing, said in a statement that the "Magazine Buyer" spot carried on the company’s tradition of sending outrageous humor onto the Internet.

A-B tested the "Magazine Buyer" concept extensively to make sure adult consumers appreciated the humor, Levy said.

Apparently, they did. Even though the video began its life as a "secret" spot on BudBowl.com — an A-B website that requires visitors to enter a birth date showing they are 21 or older — it quickly migrated to YouTube. It has been viewed more than 700,000 times.

Of course, testing the bounds of appropriateness doesn’t just happen on the Internet.

Hardee’s, which became infamous for ads featuring Paris Hilton washing a Bentley and another woman riding a mechanical bull, continues to use sexual innuendo. But Hardee’s, the St. Louis-based subsidiary of CKE Restaurants, is not alone. Quiznos’ TV commercials now make risqu

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