Remember Spuds MacKenzie and the frenzy that went with him?

First things first, how about a little Spuds history?  Spuds MacKenzie was used in an advertising campaign for Bud Light beer in the late 1980s. The Spuds MacKenzie mascot and campaign were thought of by a 23-year-old art director, Jon Moore. The dog first showed up in a Bud Light Super Bowl XXI ad in 1987.

The dog, portrayed by a female bull terrier named Honey Tree Evil Eye or Evie for short, did have some controversy. Shortly after Spuds’ rise to fame it was learned that the dog, who was portrayed as male in the ads, was actually female.  The ads were also the subject of attacks and calls for censorship. Some politicians got in on the frenzy, claiming that the beer maker was using Spuds to appeal to children for the purpose of getting them interested in their product at an early age.

I remember all the bans at school about wearing the t-shirts and bringing the merch to school.  I had asked my parents for a Spuds MacKenzie t-shirt for my birthday once…I was told no way on this Green Earth was I getting a beer t-shirt!  I ended up with a Panama Jack t-shirt.

The thing is, I was about 13 or 14 and didn’t realize, I guess, it was a beer commercial. I just thought Spuds was a cute dog and wanted a t-shirt because they were popular at the time.

Well, fast forward 3 weeks later…my friends and I were at the mall. I had about a months worth of allowance in my pocket! There, I saw it, like a bright light was shining down, just lighting it up for only my eyes to see.  It looked like a golden halo had surrounded that shirt just for me! I saw it in a display in a store, there it was, that %100 cotton, size small, A SPUDS MACKENZIE T-SHIRT! The one with him on a surf board!

SIDE NOTE: You can order a Spuds t-shirt off Amazon! English Bullterrier Walks Outdoors Summer Stock Photo (Edit Now) 420755203 (shutterstock.com) I may have to order one for ole time sake.

So, I bought it, that $8.99 beautiful t-shirt I wanted so bad!  I had one problem, how was I going to keep it out of the wash so my mom wouldn’t see it? I had the perfect plan…I’d wash it after school and before she got home from work. Ohhhhh it was the most beautiful plan!

So, the next day, I wore the t-shirt to school, I ended up having to turn it inside out because it had “Bud Light” on it and we weren’t allowed to wear those t-shirts to school. I thought I was being slick by wearing a button up (which was unbuttoned) over it so only Spuds showed through.

Fast forward about a month later, I had my plan in place and successfully executed this plan of washing the t-shirt before my mom got home from work. Then one day, I threw the t-shirt in the wash, my friend came over and I got distracted….I think you can figure out how it went…Mom gets home, starts laundry and finds my Spuds MacKenzie t-shirt in the washer….I FORGOT ABOUT THE T-SHIRT IN THE WASHER!! It was the end of the world for me. Luckily it wasn’t the end of the world as I knew it, my mom told me YOU ARE, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, TO WEAR THAT SHIRT TO SCHOOL! Ok…that wasn’t too bad.

That is my Spuds MacKenzie t-shirt story.