Summary

• Cerveza Cristal created a funny yet risky Star Wars ad.
• Lucasfilm pulled a Chilean beer ad embedded in "A New Hope," citing confusion.
• Despite popularity and humor, the beer ad's unauthorized insertion into Star Wars led to its removal.

The creative mind behind one Chilean beer company's controversial Star Wars advertisement has explained his rationale for the risky marketing gamble he took in 2003. Although cantinas are prominent throughout Star Wars movies and TV shows, Cerveza Cristal, a Chilean beer company housed under the company Compañía de Cervecerías Unidas (CCU), decided to add their own alcoholic beverage directly into a special cut of A New Hope, showing Obi-Wan Kenobi handing Luke Skywalker a beer rather than Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lucasfilm didn't take kindly to the edit and pushed for its removal.

Ignacio González, who at the time the commercial was made was the director of Efex!, the production company behind the creative advertisement, explained in an interview with The Guardian that his intention wasn't to stir up trouble but rather to create a unique, humorous ad. González explained:

“I heard that some Star Wars purists were looking for me, and I don’t think it’s because they liked it. But, I’d say 99% of people were fascinated by it and understood the humour, it was very creative at the time.”

Unfortunately for González and Cerveza Cristal, Lucasfilm seemingly didn't agree that the humor and creativity of the ad meant it was fair game, and the advertisement was ultimately pulled.

Why Cerveza Cristal's Adverts Were Pulled

Despite the wittiness of the concept, Lucasfilm had good reason for wanting the ad to be pulled. In the clip from A New Hope, rather than Obi-Wan giving Luke Anakin's iconic blue lightsaber and explaining that Anakin wanted him to have it when he was old enough, Obi-Wan, with the same dialogue, handed Luke a Cerveza Cristal beer. Although the Chilean Council for Self-Regulation and Advertising Ethics (CONAR), whom Lucasfilm requested ban the advertisement, found that Cerveza Cristal did not commit copyright infringement, there were other issues with the nature of the ad.

Namely, rather than a standalone commercial, the ad was embedded into a version of A New Hope itself, almost as though the movie had originally included that very clip. From Lucasfilm's point-of-view, this meant that the beer ad had “erroneously led to believe that the film includes a reference to the product.” While it's perhaps unlikely that anyone would truly believe Star Wars included product placement for a beer company, the point was well-taken; it was, at minimum, confusing. In the end, CONAR ruled that the company was “exploiting the goodwill” of Lucasfilm “without authorisation.”

Although the advertisement was popular enough that it went viral on X in March after Elon Musk shared it, making its way even to a bit on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, it's perhaps a lesson learned. While few companies would likely make a comparable mistake now, ads can at times toe the line between humorous allusions to such a prominent franchise and crossing the line into lawsuit-worthy territory. Sadly for Cerveza Cristal, their ad had done exactly that. Although even Mark Hamill weighed in on the humor of the ad, this one Star Wars reference went a step too far.

Source: The Guardian

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