Busch Light's Hilarious Super Bowl 2023 Ad Features Sarah McLachlan And A Wolf

Who could forget Sarah McLachlan's 2007 SASPCA ad featuring her hit song "Angel" (per Canada Today). If you were watching TV in the late 2000s, you probably cried at it, and have seen it parodied at least once since then. The heart-wrenching ads were even parodied on SNL. McLachlan actually made a series of these heartstring-pulling pleas for the animal welfare charity, including a holiday-themed one. But none are as famous as the "Angel" version, which brought tears to millions of viewers and helped raise $30 million for ASPCA (per The New York Times). 

For those who are too young to remember the ad, it featured video of sad-eyed, often visibly unwell dogs and cats, alternating with cards showing upsetting information about animal abuse. In the background, McLachlan's track played before moving to a scene of McLachlan asking, "will you be an angel for a helpless animal?"

Now, McLachlan and her most famous line are back on TV, but this time in an ad for Busch Light (the same brand that got Kenny G to play for its Super Bowl commercial last year). And instead of helpless animals, McLachlan costars with Busch Guy, a rugged outdoorsman with a wardrobe of flannel shirts (per Forbes).

Busch's Super Bowl ad, shot in British Columbia, opens with a view of "The Busch Guide: Cold and Smooth Survival Skills," from which we can expect to see more lessons as the year unfolds (per Forbes). "Busch Guy" narrates a lesson from the guide as we pan out to him standing against mountains and woods. "Three things are required in the great outdoors, drink, and shelter," he says, pulling a six-pack of Busch Light out of a mountain stream on "drink" and standing beside an old-fashioned canvas tent on "shelter."

The tent opens to the familiar phrase "Hello, I'm Sarah McLachlan," as "Angel" begins to play underneath. "For just dollars a day, you can help helpless animals find shelter," she continues, over images of wildlife. Busch Guy then breaks it to her that he's not referring to "that" kind of shelter — and that she's next to a wolf. McLachlan inches gingerly away from the wolf as the ad closes out. Apparently, that was a real wolf used in the ad (via press release).

McLachlan says she can't wait to see how Busch's ad plays into "nostalgia" by harkening back to her famous commercial (per New York Post). This isn't the first time she's helped parody her famous ad; Last year she released another parody for tech company Bolt (via YouTube).