WESLEY & Why Did Budweiser Put Him in a Newspaper Ad?

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: A colleague sent me an unusual advertisement for beer that utilized Wesley’s comments. Printed at the height of the Temperance Movement, it apparently was an attempt to make Wesley an advocate for their beer. However as my colleague Al DeFilippo points out, it was quickly challenged as inaccurate. For more on this interesting debate, as well as insight into Wesley’s own personal habits see my colleague Al DeFilippo’s posts below:

John Wesley Budweiser Beer Ad

by Al DeFilippo, October 24, 2015.

This post is the result of coming across a Budweiser Beer advertisement. In this advertisement for Budweiser, John Wesley, the 18th-century, founder of the Methodist religion was portrayed as an advocate of beer drinking. This John Wesley Budweiser Beer ad was run nationally, during the summer of 1908. The John Wesley Budweiser Beer ad pictured is from Nevada’s Tonopah Daily Bonanza which ran from 1906 to 1929.

In the John Wesley Budweiser Beer ad, the portion of the advertisement dedicated to John Wesley indicates that John Wesley once declared in one of his sermons: “Without bread and wine the strongest bodies decay… bread and wine keep up our natural life.” Another portion of the John Wesley Budweiser Beer ad indicates that John Wesley once criticized a book published by a Dr. Cadogan. In his criticism of the doctor, John Wesley is reported to praise the use of fermented liquor as ‘one of the noblest cordials of nature.’ The John Wesley Budweiser Beer ad goes on to portray that in a John Wesley pamphlet titled, ‘Primitive Physic,’ John Wesley advises his followers to: ‘Drink water only when it agrees with your stomach; if not, good small beer.’

At first reading, I was somewhat confused. Why was this advertisement mentioning John Wesley? Was it a reflection of a more religious time in America’s history, one where they honored those who clearly influenced the successful founding of this great nation? Or was it something else? It soon dawned on me that the timing of the John Wesley Budweiser Beer ad occurred in the heart of the American Temperance Movement that was painstakingly attempting to outlaw spirituous liquors in the United States. The thought began to sink that Budweiser was attempting to battle the growing movement that was attempting to end the sale of liquor, beer and wine in the United States…

The Vile Brewer’s Slander

On August 19, 1908, the edition of the religious paper, The Western Christian Advocate, a publication originating in 1834 and published from Cincinnati, Ohio, printed a rebuttal to this John Wesley Budweiser Beer ad. The title of this editorial answer to the advertisement was A Vile Brewers’ Slander. The arguments against this John Wesley Budweiser Beer ad argument are listed in great detail. Below are some of the key points from the article.

“Of course, it is very easy to point out that, even were all this true, Wesley was born more than two centuries ago, (now three centuries), and lived and wrote in a day when comparatively no one recognized in any adequate degree the evil of drink. It is easy, too, to point out that Wesley was a pioneer in recognizing the drink evil and that his utterances upon many points connected with the drink evil would be considered radical even today.”

The article about the John Wesley Budweiser Beer ad doesn’t stop there. The writer quickly points out that:

“The brewers’ advertisement makes three references to Wesley’s writings. Each of them is a falsehood or a misrepresentation amounting to a falsehood.”

I quote from The Western Christian Advocate as the writer dives into each of these…

Read more at about John Wesley Budweiser Beer Ad at … http://www.francisasburytriptych.com/john-wesley-budweiser-beer-ad/

Responses by can be found at the link below from Dr. Kenneth Kinghorn, Professor of Church History and Historical Theology, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky; Dr. Ben Witherington III, Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary among others … http://www.francisasburytriptych.com/response-to-john-wesley-budweiser-ad/

Here is gist of their comments:

Kenneth Kinghorn:  “Wesley was, of course, strongly opposed to ‘spirituous liquors’ (distilled liquor) which has a high alcohol content. He drank some ‘small beer,’ which is very low in alcohol content. Regular beer had a higher alcohol content–perhaps safer than some water sources.

Ben Witherington: “What you seem to be missing in regard to Wesley himself,  is that ‘spirituous liquors’ is a term for strongly alcoholic beverages, for example, whiskey.   It is not a term for wine or beer.   Wesley did not oppose low alcoholic beer for wine or consumption.  He was not a teetotaler.  You are right of course that the Bud ad was an attempt to co-opt Wesley in the age of prohibition, and head off it’s passage.”

 

Check out Al DeFilippo’s … http://www.francisasburytriptych.com/author-bio-al-defilippo/