Thanks @pat I’ve screenshotted it for whenever I buy beer next. I’ve bought Becks, Modelo and Stella in the past.
No reason for me to give them my money when there are plenty of brands that don’t endorse trans ideology.
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I do.
My personal company and the one I am GC in is no longer pulling any of their products (and we pulled quite a bit). They had sweet deals with us too. Quite a few other trucking companies have also told them to get bent.
So now they will be forced to pay much higher rates elsewhere cutting into their profit margins even further.
Best of luck to them.
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Weird how Butt Light is seeing a huge drop in sales and these other brands are, like, hey good idea!
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Smirnoff has been doing this for a few years now.
I don’t comment on these topics much, but the overall theme of this is something I’ve noticed in alcohol marketing a while ago. I always found it interesting:
- Companies assume their core buyers will buy no matter what, so they instead advertise to a complete different type of buyer/person than their traditional demographic.
Examples: Manly dudes drinking Mike’s Hard Lemonade or some type of fruity seltzer around a campfire. They know girls are buying this stuff up, but they want to normalize it for self-conscious guys. So they’re trying their best to make it seem totally normal to show up to a guy’s night out with a sixer of Passion Fruit hard seltzer. Hence, also, the name Bud Light Seltzer. It has nothing to do with Bud Light and is just a separate Anheiser Busch product, but by saying “Bud light” in the title it seems okay for guys to drink it. (Rather than calling it Sally’s Fruity Spiked Bubbles or something that would actually be more fitting to the product).
Jim Beam is trying really hard to sell itself to the younger generation and alternative lifestyles. “Wherever Jim Beam is welcome, you will be too” is their new slogan, as they show eclectic youngsters with nose rings and alternative clothing enjoy their liquid spirits. Again, they know their “regulars” are buying up their stuff no matter what, so they advertise to attract new customers completely outside of their typical demographic.
I think it’s interesting the shift from talking about the qualities of what is sold (the same is true for cars), and instead show groups of carefully chosen people using the product. The truck commercials have men with just the right amount of scruff, washboard abs under a tight flannel, and a knowing smirk as they drive like assholes across a dirt trails (that are probably meant for quiet hikes). They show young, hip people traversing across town for a night out in a Toyota Corolla, enjoying tacos and shenanigans. Nothing about the car itself (remember when they used to tell us about the horsepower, MPG, and other features?), but now they focus on the type of person who drives it so you can imagine yourself to be like this cool person as well.
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Not related to Bud Light, but I just have a hard time understanding all the trans stuff being debated right now.
I think all but the most extreme agree that trans adults should have the same rights as other adults, that trans women shouldn’t be allowed in women’s sports, and that minors can’t consent for things like sex, getting a tattoo, getting married, removing / modifying genitals.
Maybe I am way off base? It seems basically everyone I’ve talked to IRL agrees to these things. Is all this debate for a tiny percent of people who disagree?
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They’re gambling on everyone being trans one day.
It’s a tiny percent now.
Intentional?
Maybe they’re hoping for some “too big to fail”-type bailout money.
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Those that think trans people should be able to do whatever they want and vocally support mutilating children are not being stomped in the mud and ruined as they should be.
And this is why these ideas continue and are perpetuated.
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There’s a theory behind the “there’s no such thing as bad press” idea. Goes like this:
Suddenly, everyone is talking about a company, brand, or person. Later, when whatever the controversy was about fades away, people are left with the memory of that company/brand/person. It’s more front-of-mind which may lead to more people using the company, buying the brand, or seeing the person’s movie or whatever.
Have to admit, I’ve heard “Bud Light” more often in the last few weeks than in the last 10 years. People following the story and those that have strong opinions won’t be influenced, but the lay public may decide to buy some beer in 6-12 months and think, “I hear about Bud Light a lot…”
That’s the theory at least.
I fall more into this camp:
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Kind of reminds me of a story I read about prescription drugs: They advertise the heck out of the ones that don’t work very well. No need to run million-dollar ad campaigns for proven, trusted standby drugs. (Lower profit margins there anyway.)
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Seems you are right: MSN
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I’m no marketing guru, but that sounds like smart advertising to me. I don’t think you need to be an ivy league educated VP of Marketing at Bud Lite to also know that you should not carelessly alienate your customer base while also reaching out to new potential buyers.
Showing young people with a nose ring and clothes from Hot Topic or depicting some Chad in a pickup truck isn’t going to alienate very many people at all. That’s a whole lot different than endorsing a cult, which is probably a good way to describe the ideological adherents to transgenderism today in 2023.
Could you imagine Toyota putting out a commercial featuring some Scientologists? You know, just show them getting audited, then driving in a Yaris over to do some exteriorization before gathering around a picture of L. Ron Hubbard while holding hands and smiling.
BJ’s Wholesale could sponsor a fundamentalist Mormon influencer who could post on social media about how great BJ’s is for saving on supplies for his six wives and 27 children.
Why wouldn’t Ford Motor company try to appeal to communists and democratic socialists more directly? Think of all of the blue F-150’s those guys could buy!
Sarcasm aside, endorsing transgenderism when you’ve got the entire Democratic party and multi-media establishment aggressively pushing this ideology on every child they can is a sure-fire way to alienate a whole helluva lot of people. As it turns out, a lot of the same people who didn’t give two hoots about cross-dressing adults hanging out together have serious, serious problems with suggesting to children that they might be, can be and even should be members of the opposite sex.
We don’t want any of that near our children. Not even a little. Not even in Boston, Massachusetts.
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I agree. The tactic is to usher in a new demographic while not pushing away your current customer base. The mistake is to misjudge what would push away your current customer base.
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Kind of their target demographic for at least the past two decades.
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I was at a single A game this weekend and it was the same. People waiting in line, once they saw it was Bud products turned around and went to the other cart.
I’m not exactly sure what you mean, but if it’s that most people take the stance I do, it does match what I’ve experienced IRL.
Could be a distraction or another way to divide the public. The CEO is “ex” CIA.
Yeah, they want their products to be like a lifestyle or identity.
Imo, they’re giving way to much weight to the quality of their product.
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