Duff Beer
From Springfield
Duff Beer is a fictional brand of beer in the animated series The Simpsons. It is Homer Simpson's beer of choice. It is a parody of stereotypical commercial beer: moderately priced, average-quality, and advertised everywhere. The beer's official spokesperson is Duffman.
The show's creators appear to have designed the Duff Beer label for the making of the May 1990 episode "Some Enchanted Evening". The notes "MAKE UP BEER LABEL DUFF BEER?" can be found on p.16 of the first draft of the episode's script.
The chief competitor of Duff Beer is Fudd Beer. Homer became aware of Fudd Beer while patronizing a "redneck bar" in nearby Spittle County (in the episode "Colonel Homer"). It was later revealed to be considered very popular in Springfield's rival town of Shelbyville. Moe said he thought it had been banned "after all those hillbillies went blind", suggesting that at least one faulty batch of Fudd was laced with methyl alcohol.
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Possible inspiration
The word "duff" is common English slang for "useless" or "broken". In the United States, where the show was created, there is a colloquial expression for unpleasant flavors: "This tastes like ass." Like many other countries, discerning beer-drinkers often characterize popular domestic brews in a pejorative way (American criticize Budweiser, Australians discount Fosters, Victoria Bitter et cetera) as being mass-market swill. Clearly, the character of Homer represents the typical mindless drone who would drink whatever beer was marketed most heavily, regardless of quality, as satire of undiscriminating beer drinkers who routinely purchase "popular" (read: heavily advertised) beer. Hence, he drinks a beer that tastes like duff.
The idea for the name of the beer possibly could have come from the play "Landscape" written by Nobel prize-winner Harold Pinter. Landscape is a one act play where the leading characters, Beth and Duff, a middle aged couple sit and talk at a kitchen table, and one of the leading topics that is discussed by Duff is his job at the local brewery. The play itself is a social commentary analyzing the difficulty at which a married couple communicates, and could be considered a social commentary much on the same respects The Simpsons is and could have even been a contributing factor in the characterizations of Marge and Homer.
Another inspiration may have come from former Guns N' Roses/current Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan who in the early days of Guns N' Roses was known as Duff McKagan "The King Of Beers".
Similarities to Budweiser
Duff has been likened to Budweiser beer.<ref>"Advertising of America's Beer Companies and the Duff Corporation", The Simpsons Archive</ref>
- Budweiser has used a cartoon spokesperson named "Budman".<ref>August A. Busch & Co. of MA, Inc.</ref>
- Budweiser used a real dog called Spuds MacKenzie as a mascot to promote Bud Light. In the episode "Old Yeller Belly", the Simpson's dog, Santa's Little Helper becomes Duff's mascot under the name Suds McDuff.
- Like Duff's, the Budweiser logo has violet diagonal areas above the product's name.<ref>Budweiser official page</ref>
- Duff is the corporate sponsor to a stadium and an amusement park which parallels Budweiser's corporate parent, Anheuser-Busch with Busch Stadium in St. Louis and Busch Gardens.
- During the Super Bowl in the episode Lisa the Greek, Duff has an advertisement where Duff Lite and Duff Dry play in the Duff Bowl, which is analogous to Budweiser's Bud Bowl.
Duff Gardens
In the episode entitled "Selma's Choice", Bart and Lisa Simpson travel with their aunt Selma to Duff Gardens, a parody of the Busch Gardens amusement park, but also containing elements of Disneyland. In the gift shop, Bart spots "Beer Goggles", a sort of glasses that mimicks what drunks see. Aunt Selma appears young, feminine, and beautiful to Bart and also somehow, alters her voice. Later, they see the mascots of Duff Beer, the Seven Duffs: Sleazy, Queazy, Edgy, Surly, Tipsy, Remorseful, and Dizzy. Surly is often seen in other episodes such as when Moe's is closing down, Surly pours some of his liquid onto the street in front of it. Bart and Lisa ride "The Little Land of Duff" attraction, where they hear this song (repeated over and over):
- Duff Beer for me!
- Duff Beer for you!
- I'll have a Duff,
- You have one too!
This is a direct parody of the "It's a Small World" attraction at Disney parks. Unlike that attraction, the boats float on a brown liquid with hallucinogenic properties, which Lisa drinks on a dare from Bart.
Other Duff Gardens attractions include the Beeramid, the Beerquarium ("Home of the world's happiest fish"), the Beer Hall of Presidents, the Washing Machine ride, the Whiplash rollercoaster, singing group Hooray for Everything (who sing a politically correct version of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" and are based on Up with People), and a direct parody of Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade.
The Seven Duffs
The Seven Duffs are characters at the Duff Gardens theme park. The "Duffs" are a reference to Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, although Duff Gardens is an obvious parody of Busch Gardens. The Seven Duffs are named Tipsy, Queasy, Surly, Sleazy, Edgy, Dizzy and Remorseful. The only one that has spoken so far is Surly: "Hey, Surly only looks out for one guy...Surly!", "Shut Up" and "Take a picture, it'll last longer. Get outta here!" While waving to people at the Duff Dayz Beer Festival, "Drink Duff (covers mouth with hand) responsibly." All seven can be seen on a rotating poster in Moe's Tavern in The Simpsons: Hit & Run.
Real Duff beers
In the late 1990s, the Lion Nathan brewery in Australia produced an unrelated beer called "Duff Beer". 20th Century Fox brought legal action against the company.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The product was ordered to be pulled off of store shelves and destroyed, becoming a collectors item in the process.
Daleside Brewery in England makes a Duff beer<ref>http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/daleside-duff/5502/</ref> - Duff being Gaelic for dark, this is a 5% abv dark beer.
In 2007 a Duff energy drink was made which looked just like the beer on The Simpsons. [1]
