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?”. In 2008, waiting more than 8 years, they finally said “Wassup” to eachother again, being a clear endorsement of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.
“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.
Budweiser would later do their own parodies of the ads with “yuppies” saying; “What are you doing?”, and “New Jersey-ites” saying; “How ya’ doin’?” There was also an international parody which featured Yorkshire men screaming the phrase “Ey up!”, Scotsmen saying; “How’s about ye’!”, and Japanese men screaming; “Konnichiwa!”