Miller Lite Joins Bud Light, Atones For Putting 'Founding Mothers Of Beer' In Bikinis
Bud Light is not the only beer brand to prioritize appeasing its critics over satisfying its base of mostly American men.
In March, Miller Lite introduced a marketing campaign that hoped to atone for the beer industry's past treatment of women. The initiative didn't garner much attention at the time, though has re-emerged as a viral sensation Monday.
In the ad, the brand criticizes the industry for putting the "founding mothers of beer" in bikinis. Miller Lite says it was women who first brewed beer and thus ought to be honored, not sexualized.
Here's the campaign:
"To honor this we wanted to acknowledge the missteps in representation of women in beer advertising by cleaning up not just our $#!T, but the whole industry's $#!T while benefiting the future of women and beer."
At least Miller Lite honors women, whereas Bud Light honors "women."
(Well, actually the latter honors "girls," a group in which the 27-year-old -Dylan Mulvaney includes himself.)
Still, the initiative shows how out of touch marketing departments are. Imagine working for a beer company and writing an ad chastising brands for promoting women in bikinis.
As Tudor Dixon argued last week, beers brands actually need to revert back to hot chicks in bikinis:
https://twitter.com/clayandbuck/status/1656992968253767680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1656992968253767680%7Ctwgr%5E78ebd1a196e9d16b4abe1df1c3ebb85609b9b925%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.outkick.com%2Fbud-light-dylan-mulvaney-hot-women-bikinis-tudor-dixon%2F
Dixon, unlike the marketing teams at Miller Lite and Bud Light, understands the consumer base for said brands.
They like hot chicks; not women feigning grievance.
Bud Light sales
Thereby the virality of the Miller Lite campaign is no small development. Sure, it's months after the fact. But that may not stop beer buyers from responding.
Bud Light's fiasco proves beer drinkers do not respond kindly to the politicization of their beverages.
The market cap for Anheuser-Busch has declined by some $5 billion since its partnership with Mulvaney.
In April, volumes of Bud Light declined 21.4% while parent company Anheuser-Busch recorded a fall of over 12%.
The common man still controls the marketplace. It's their buying habits that determine success or lack thereof. Corporations that irk them often suffer erosion.
We discussed in a column last week:
The government, media apparatus, and so-called influencers control the message. But the common man controls the results.
Corporations across America often neglect their customer base in favor of public relations. They mistake status for success.
Miller Lite chose status by honoring the oversexualized "founding mothers of beer."