IN RECENT years, Budweiser has taken to redesigning its labels for the summer season, evoking Independence Day with images of the Statue of Liberty or the American flag.

This year, it went a little further, replacing the word Budweiser with “America,” swapping out other parts of the text on can and bottle labels with lyrics from “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “America the Beautiful” and putting the phrase “E Pluribus Unum” in the space that usually reads “King of Beers.”

Budweiser announced the campaign, officially named “America Is in Your Hands,” last week and will use it from May 23 until after November’s presidential election. If the brand was hoping to start a conversation with its plan, it accomplished that and then some.

A gesture that felt patriotic to some felt, in the midst of a polarizing election cycle, like pandering to others. Not a few people noted that Budweiser’s corporate parent is the Belgian-Brazilian beverage conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev. The only common reaction the various parties had seemed to be the desire to express their opinions — colorfully, forcefully and with frequent assistance from the caps-lock key — on social media.