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Sexism in BigBeer ads: A 21st Century myth

3/29/2016

 
According to published reports, last week's MillerCoors distributor convention in New Orleans was notable for announcing the beer company was "modernizing" its marketing. What did they mean by that? Well, apparently it just dawned on these guys that "gender roles have changed." The marketing brain trust for Coors Light and Miller Lite informed distributors that women should no longer be objectified in light-beer ads; that marketing beer only to frat boys is passé; and that women beer drinkers simply cannot be ignored. 

There was no report on how the audience reacted to this "insightful" embrace of the obvious. After all, these distributors are already sensitive to women's issues, having abandoned wet t-shirt event sponsorships and the like long ago without need of MillerCoors' hectoring.
Where are the sexist BigBeer ads?

Just to confirm our suspicions that the beer industry has evolved, we spoke to several beer folks and asked them to cite current examples of sexism in beer ads. We got blank stares. Nobody could name a single recent BigBeer ad that treated women in a token, objectifying, or sexist way. Not from Budweiser, Bud Light, Corona, Coors Light, Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra or anybody else. When pressed, the best most could do was to cite examples from a decade or more in the past, like these two from, of all places, Miller and Coors...
Two real low points in sexist beer advertising.
The cunning aspect of MillerCoors announcement to distributors was its attempt to portray Anheuser-Busch as "less modern" in its marketing. In particular, the un-subtle message was that Bud Light is still engaging in frat-boy-oriented sexist ads. But that simply isn't true.

We are certainly no fans of Bud Light's current or prior campaigns. Our gripe is that neither the "Bud Light party" nor the "Perfect beer for whatever happens" efforts are effective advertising for the reasons we've stated. But the ads are not in any way sexist. They may promote the same brand that 25 years back featured Spuds MacKenzie flanked by busty party girls, but Bud Light's ads have long since abandoned sexism. Doing so, in fact, well before Coors Light's twins bounced into view.
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The simple fact is that BigBeer no longer engages in sexist advertising on TV. Our informal investigation of the matter suggests the practice ended about the turn of the century. By implying otherwise, MillerCoors is employing a red herring argument in a self-serving bit of grandstanding. This sort of showboating is normally written off to an insecure marketing executive's need to seem brighter than his audience. But it's not harmless in this case because overt sexism actually is still rampant in the beer business, and it's going on pretty much unchallenged.
PictureSexism in beer? Yup. It's just not where you think it is.
Here's the sexism!

Imagine the uproar if BigBeer ran a sexist ad like this: A raging bitch with a tramp stamp is looking for a nooner. But instead of a thong remover, the crazy bitch with her double-ds ends up getting a bitch slap. 

Woah. Social media would come alive with the harshest of criticism. Boycotts would be quickly organized. It'd get ugly fast.

But this sexist marketing gambit is anything but hypothetical. Every underlined word in that make-believe ad is actually a brand name in a real-world brewery... in each case, a craft brewery. The labels on the bottles--which represent the primary communications medium for these brands--embrace and promote sexism with a boldness and disregard for propriety no BigBeer brand would dare employ.

Want to end sexism in beer marketing? Keep calling out the many craft brewers who continue to profit from using blatant sexism to sell their beer. Shame on them.

Of course, that would take courage, not grandstanding.


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Blue Moon pays for 30 seconds, but uses just six

3/21/2016

 
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One of our consistent bits of advice to beer marketers is simple: sound advertising is always based on real differences in your beer. Without this distinctiveness, there is nothing to persuade someone to try your brand. 

Too often, smooth-talking Mad Men seduce gullible clients into a different approach. They push unrelated, entertainment-based "big ideas." They promise that celebrities (see "Bud Light Party") or movie-set thrills (see the James Bond action now thankfully in Heineken's past) are enough to deliver advertising success. But while these showy efforts may be big entertainment ideas, they're certainly not advertising.

We never bothered to wonder what would happen if a beer brand decided to spend half its ad on pointless entertainment, before getting to its product-distinctiveness story. Perhaps we should have.

Here's Blue Moon taking this peculiar approach...
Imagine how the audience will respond in their heads to the first 18 seconds of this ad which, remember, will appear without any clue as to who the advertiser is.

Spoken over visuals of cut-out paper-city scenes, we hear the announcer's voice:

"When I have an idea brewing, anything's possible." 
(Sounds like an ad for a financial services company.)

"Start where it all began."
(Huh?)

"You think about where you've been." 
(Ah, yes, it must be a financial services ad!)

"You decide where you're going." 
(And I need the right broker to get me there, right?)

"You consider the flavors." [We see oranges falling.] 
(Wut? Flavors? I thought we were talking about investments.)

"And then you bring them together to create something new." 
(I am so lost.)

Any viewers who haven't given up by this point--and we figure that's definitely the minority--finally get the product-distinctiveness claim. The notion of beer and the brand name are introduced with just 6 seconds remaining as we hear what makes this brand distinctive: "artfully brewed with Valencia orange peel and a touch of coriander."

In journalism, this is called burying the lede.

​In advertising, it's called wasting half your money... or more.

​Like a neon sign on half-power.
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    The Author

    Dan Fox is a real beer guy.

    For more than half his 30-year career at ad agency, Foote, Cone & Belding, he ran the Coors Brewing account. Leading a group of dozens of advertising professionals, Dan also personally wrote the Pete Coors "Somewhere near Golden, Colorado" commercials, designed the Coors NASCAR graphics, authored sales-convention speeches, and most important of all, formulated marketing strategy for virtually every Coors brand, including Coors Light, Keystone, Killian's Irish Red and more. His proudest achievement? "Our team had every Coors brand growing at once."

    Over his advertising career, Dan was personally involved in the analysis, planning and creation of thousands of ads for a variety of products and services. By way of this blog, he freely shares his expertise about what works, and what doesn't, when it comes to selling beer.

    If you're in the beer-marketing business--or just interested in the subject--you may want to read what "HeyBeerDan" has to say.

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