"It doesn't get any better than this..." Doug Patterson was wrong. Tasked with attracting a younger market, while still using the well-established tagline, the creative team decided to show people that it can always get better.
Created as an obvious over the top spoof of stereotypical beer commercials where "sexy babe and beer brand" was the only creative formula, the Swedish Bikini team who appeared in this campaign soon became iconic and celebrities in their own right.
They appeared on the show "Married with Children" and even on the cover of Playboy. That's when the backlash began, a group of female employees at Stroh's filed a lawsuit that charged the commercials encouraged workplace harassment. The suit was settled out f court. By that time the joke was no longer a joke, and Stroh brewers decided to end the campaign. It only ran for seven months in 1991.
See also "Swedish bikini team / Truck" and "Swedish bikini team / Golden Bikinis" for more.
Client: Old Milwaukee
Ad agency: Hal Riney and Partners, San Francisco
Group Creative Director: Patrick Scullin
Models: Peggy Trentini, Avalon Anders, Suzanna Keller, Heather Elizabeth Parkhurst and Jane Frances