Do You Notice the Crucial Declaration of Independence Phrase Missing from This Samuel Adams Commercial? (UPDATE: Possible Explanation)

Editor's note: See the important update at the bottom of the story that may explain the omission.

--

Samuel Adams beer naturally lends itself to patriotic ruminations. After all, nothing says independence like a beer named after one of our Founding Fathers. In fact, you may have noticed a new commercial by the beer company that even uses a recitation of the Declaration of Independence. But have you noticed a key phrase is missing?

That's right, the words "endowed by their Creator" didn't make the cut.

The commercial features a bartender pouring a draft Samuel Adams Boston lager and explaining why the brewery named the company after the founder.

"Why name a beer after Samuel Adams? Because Samuel Adams signed the Declaration of Independence," the bartender says. "He believed there was a better way to live: all men are created equal. They are endowed with certain unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Smooth, flavorful, we bow to no kings. Samuel Adams Boston lager: declare your independence."

Here's how it airs:

The actual phrasing should go like this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Blaze readers may remember that the president had a habit in late 2010 and early 2011 of doing the same thing:

By the way, you may be wondering why "endowed by their Creator" is such an important phrase. Well, as scholars will tell you, rights granted by God shouldn't be taken away -- rights given by man can change with the wind.

--

UPDATE:

A reader forwarded an alleged explanation he says he received from Samuel Adams regarding the omission. According to the forwarded email sent by Edward S., Sam Adams decided to cut the "Creator" phrase because it violated the Beer Institute's guidelines on not using religion in commercials.

From the purported explanation:

The Beer Institute Advertising Code says, “Beer advertising and marketing materials should not include religion or religious themes.”

We agree with that and try to adhere to these guidelines. While we understand your objection to the omission of the phrase “by our creator” in other circumstances (after all, they occur in the Declaration of independence which Samuel Adams signed and helped author) we believe it would be outside our industry guidelines to invoke those religious words in a beer commercial.

Sure enough, according to a section on the Beer Institute's website, the group does discourage such a practice. You can see it below listed as number seven:

While for many that may not excuse the decision, it may at least explain it. After all, the counterargument could simply be that if a company is not going to adhere to a quote -- especially such an important one -- then why use it at all?

TheBlaze has reached out to Samuel Adams for comment but has not heard back.

[related]