Tecate Proposed A ‘Beer Wall’ During The Presidential Debate

For most of the 2016 presidential election, Republican nominee Donald Trump had boasted about his promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and force Mexico to pay for it. But after Trump got cold feet and didn’t ask Mexico’s president Enrique Peña Nieto to pay for it during a meeting, the promise has fallen from the headlines. During the first presidential debate of the 2016 campaign, a Mexican beer company put the issue front and center with a hilarious commercial.

On Sept. 26, 2016, Tecate, a Mexican beer brand owned by Heineken, reminded Americans of Trump’s divisive promise by running an ad during the presidential debate on Fox News, Univision, and Telemundo networks. The ad mocked Trump’s plan by proposing a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border that invites people on both sides to come together over cold cervezas. “The time has come for a wall. A tremendous wall. The best wall. The Tecate beer wall,” the ad says. “The wall that brings us together. This wall might be small, but it’s going to be huge.”

Tecate sees the ad as a positive way to engage consumers during a divisive political season. “Tecate is using beer as the great unifier in developing a fun, lighthearted, and clever commercial where friends from two bordering countries share a couple of Tecates over a wall,” Felix Palau, vice president of the company, said in a press release. “Tecate is acknowledging an ongoing conversation, while raising a glass to beer’s uncanny ability to bring people together in a positive way.”

Jay Benjamin, former CCO at Saatchi New York, had a very Trumpian reaction to the spot. “This is a tremendous idea for Tecate. It really is the best idea. We worked with the best clients and hired the best people to work on it. Only the best. It’s terrific.” At the end of the ad, Tecate asked viewers to share their thoughts on social media with #TecateBeerWall. Here’s how Twitter reacted: