September 2, 2010
Whassup? was a commercial campaign for Anheuser-Busch Budweiser beer from 1999 to 2002. The first spot aired during Monday Night Football, December 20, 1999. The ad campaign was run worldwide and became a pop culture phenomenon. The phrase itself is a corruption of the phrase “What’s up?”.
The commercials were based on a short film, entitled “True”, written and directed by Charles Stone III, that featured Stone and several of his childhood friends – Fred Thomas, Paul Williams, Terry Williams, and Kevin Lofton
“Whassup!” won the Cannes Grand Prix award and the Grand Clio award, among others. In May 2006, the campaign was inducted into the CLIO Hall of Fame.
I would think that ‘whaazzaaaaaaaaaaaa’ would’ve been more apt. Somehow “Whassup” just doesn’t sum it up well enough