For fear of attracting the attention of our managers, we haven’t tried this in the offices of the Post-Dispatch.

But the Bud Light marketing folks at Anheuser-Busch Cos. wanted to depict what happens in an office when a swear jar is introduced — 25-cent fines for each cuss — and workers are told a case of Bud Light will be bought with the proceeds. A-B introduced an online-only commercial called ”Swear Jar” late last year, and watched it go viral, bouncing across the Web and attracting those elusive 25-30 year old office-dwellers that Anheuser-Busch covets.

The video, sporting plenty of bleeped-out profanities, has now been watched 12 million times on sites such as Youtube. It has never aired on television, and probably never will. But on Saturday, it hit the big time; the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded ”Swear Jar” the Emmy Award for “Outstanding Commercial.”   

Anheuser-Busch took it as evidence that its advertising and marketing programs are working — and that America’s biggest brewer can nimbly navigate the Web and attract young adults.

The Swear Jar ad spread almost entirely through word of mouth, and its impact is now that of a TV spot that has aired for three to six months, said Bob Lachky, executive vice president of global industry and creative development. 

“That’s an amazing feat,” he said.

When A-B’s marketing decision-makers first saw the commercial, they were pretty sure it wasn’t appropriate for television. But “it inherently grabs your attention,” he said. ”We knew it was a good idea; we just didn’t know on a taste level whether it would play.”  

But executives thought Swear Jar adhered nicely to the irreverent personality of the Bud Light brand. A-B knew Swear Jar was “going to catch people,” said Lachky. “When you put something and you post it (online) and it’s strong, it lives forever.”