I’ve lived there for a bit, but that was in the 90s. People had other issues.
Are these the kind of right-wing men that like to call everyone else snowflakes and moan about cancel culture? They don’t feel ‘seen’ by their favourite beer brand now? Not enough representation?
I’ve said elsewhere that adverts whether they’re good or bad won’t sway me to buy something. 
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Is miller lite not for girls anyway
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Advertising often uses the idea of archetypes, and that is really true for mass-market American beer. Bud Light is in that class of American beers that have evolved to taste as little like beer as possible, and be consumed more or less as a non-sweet alternative to the likes of Coca Cola that happens to have ~4% ABV. Absolutely no one is drinking that beer because they like the taste of it as beer. There are now umpteen thousand regional craft beers available, all around the country.
People who buy Bud Light buy it because it is what they bought last week, because they always buy it. If Bud Light had an archetype for their marketing, it was probably something like ‘Bill, 34 years old. Watches a lot of sports. Thinks of college fraternity days as best years of his life’. Bill was buying Bud Light because that is what he bought when was living at Sigma Nu off-campus, etc. Somewhere along the line Anheuser-Busch seems to have taken Bill’s brand loyalty for granted, assuming they could just try and gain additional market share by adding different demographics (ones that probably doesn’t drink much beer, or wouldn’t drink Bud Light because those twats at Sigma Nu used to drink it sitting on the bench in front of the frat house while verbally abusing passersby they didn’t like). Bill may not call anyone a snowflake and moan about cancel culture, but he probably voted for Trump at least once, and Bud Light isn’t the beer he used to drink at the frat anymore.
The other archetype is probably someone like Cathy, married to Bill, and drinks maybe 1-2 out of every 12 pack - and often is the one who picks up the beer at the grocery store. Cathy doesn’t really like beer either. Cathy doesn’t buy Bud Light because she likes the brand image, she buys it because that is what Bill drinks. Cathy voted for Trump in 2016, but may have voted for Biden in 2020. Bill probably doesn’t know that.
That tone-deaf marketing by Bud Light has put something like 15% of the total premium beer market into play (Bud Light had about a third total, by far the largest), in a category where a marketing campaign that adds 1% total share is a career-defining success. The two competitors in the segment that have profited are Coors Light and Miller Lite.
Miller Lite is trying to get Cathy to buy Bill a different beer, now that Bud Light isn’t his default. Bill will watch that advertisement, think it is funny and not much else. Cathy will look at Coors Light and Miller Lite, and say ‘why not’? Bill won’t have a problem with it, Cathy feels ‘represented’, and Bud Light loses that little bit of market share.
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Jeez…
The beer market in the US has grown up in the last decade or so, but the dominant market still appears to be the segment in which the defining characteristic is that beer should not taste like beer. I think its difficult to overstate how dominant the traditional big 3 in this category are - Bud light, miller lite, and coors lite. There are esoteric reasons a beer drinking will gravitate to one over the others. Sometimes it is geographic (I knew several people after college employed by AB to basically troll bars in chicago and Milwaukee trying to convince people to switch to bud products becaue Miller is dominant in those upper midwest regions). Sometimes it is familiarity, like you describe. What it almost never is though is a legitimate taste preference, because, again, the defining characteristic is that they dont taste of anything. That makes a transition (oh er) for someone backed into making one, pretty easy to tolerate.
So why is this relevant? Miller know this campaign is a two-for. You have described how this might work for a portion of the market who are looking for a new “doesnt taste like beer” beer to switch the Miller. They also know a lot of that market will be turned off by this, but that is the genius. They are banking on those consumers turning to the only option they have left - Coors Lite…a brand owned by the same company.
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and one with enduring brand loyalty from the alt-right crowd, due to the Coors family’s extensive financial support for far-right politics for over a generation. Coors Light goes right, Miller Lite goes for the left.
Yeah, cool. Still don’t understand what is so divisive/controversial about that particular ad. No idea why this would make anyone stop/ start buying anything.
Because the right is cartoonishly reactionary and there is nothing more certain than this producing a hysterical over reaction from a segment of that population with them being egged on by RW politicians and Fox.
Only this week Ted Cruz was calling for a congressional hearing into Budweiser’s [whatever] due to the Dylan Mulvaney stunt.
It isn’t particularly, it is sending a deliberately fuzzy signal. Miller Lite isn’t going to offend anyone, it isn’t ‘woke’ but it isn’t against it either. Without the context of that 15-20% market share suddenly being available, it doesn’t make much sense.
Thanks. Understood. The US has completely lost its collective marbles.
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I mean this whole thing kicked off because Bud Light sent a tik tok star a personalized can with her face on it. That’s it. That is the controversy.
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Yes, I know. Makes you wanna shoot it, right?
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After buying $100 of it, so I can really shoot the shit out of it
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Well, I feel my masculine identity is threatened, dammit! Of course I am going to shoot it!
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To be fair, there is a bit of that going around.
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That happened a long time ago
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Couldn’t read the article. But from what I’ve gathered, this might be the most compelling argument for Brexit yet.
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am I the only person who buys beer because I like the taste and nothing else?
AKA…I don’t buy light beer, because it’s shit.
Parallel49 Brewing - East Van Lager
Guinness
Driftwood Brewing - Fat Tug IPA
Parkside Brewing - Dawn Pilsner
Stanley Park Brewing - Trail Hopper IPA / Noble Pilsner
Granville Island Brewing - Winter Ale
all local brewing companies, because the big brand beers taste like shit.
Side note, American beer marketing has always pandered to the basest of morals. this counter-culture anti-establishment is just…weird.
If women really want to change how they are portrayed in marketing, they wouldn’t do the ads. But society has taken an ever bigger trent towards the “importance” of how people view themselves and their social media ratings. Doesn’t bode well for equality amongst the sexes, IMO.
Example, this is one of my former co-workers. spends more time in front of a camera than at her job
Yeah, there is a reason why that Bud Light marketing exec is out of a job. Most of the counter-culture anti-establishment types are drinking better beer, or don’t drink beer. Bud Light did do a decent amount of trade in gay bars etc, but that is not a huge segment. They must have been chasing 0.3% of the market or something.