Apparently, the entire beer industry doesn’t know who their target audience is.
A Miller Lite video released in March for Women’s History Month is going viral as Bud Light continues to suffer fall out after it partnered with transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney.
The ad, which has been widely shared on social media, features comedian Ilana Glazer and vows to incorporate more “gender equity” in Miller Lite advertising. It also is on a mission to turn “sexist” beer advertising into fertilizer to be used by female brewers to grow hops.
It seems Miller Lite doesn’t understand their audience either. pic.twitter.com/TXGoEPYzbw
— Mythinformed (@MythinformedMKE) May 15, 2023
During the clip, Glazer says that over the centuries “women were the ones doing the brewing.” She adds, “How did the industry pay homage to the founding mothers of beer? They put us in bikinis.”
As she continues walking through images of scantily clad women in beer adverts, she says that Miller Lite is on a mission to clean up this type of advertising for the whole beer industry.
The audience is then walked through the way that composting these ads will happen, to ultimately be used by female beer-makers.
Glazer ends the video by saying, “So here’s to women. Because without us, there would be no beer.”
This advertisement has confused many. Bud Light became a casualty of the culture war when it sent Dylan Mulvaney a beer can with his face and celebration of “365 days of girlhood.”
Since the partnership went live, Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev have suffered tremendous blowback, including a drop in sales, boycotts from both sides of the aisle and an initial drop in market value.
In the wake of the viral Miller Lite video, some have incorrectly assumed it was released recently. In truth, the video was part of a Women’s History Month campaign and is currently unlisted on Miller Lite’s YouTube channel.
Commentator Graham Allen tweeted, “Did NOBODY learn from Bud Light’s COSTLY mistake? Miller Lite just dropped this WOKE advertisement!!! When will these beer companies learn????
Did NOBODY learn from Bud Light's COSTLY mistake?
Miller Lite just dropped this WOKE advertisement!!!
When will these beer companies learn???? pic.twitter.com/Zhbja6v77x
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) May 15, 2023
Since going viral, people have begun looking at who might be behind the advertisement.
Miller Lite’s senior director of marketing Elizabeth Hitch told Forbes in March that her brand played a “contributing role” to sexism in the past.
“We’ve been collecting our and other brands outdated, old sexist ads, displays and posters for months. We have been buying and removing any pieces we could find on the internet,” she proclaimed.
Hitch also said that the idea behind the campaign is to “recognize that the beer industry as a whole hasn’t recognized women or given them the credit they deserve.”
She adds that although they can’t change the past, Miller Lite can help “rectify the damage that was done alienating women from beer.”
In another interview from early March, Molson Coors Beverage Company’s chief marketing officer Sofia Colucci told Ad Age, “We’ve also made [Miller Lite] more inclusive by bringing more beer lovers in. From our “Open and Proud” platform for the LGBTQ+ community to our Latino efforts with J Balvin. And some really amazing work to be more inclusive with women that you’re going to be seeing next week.”
Colucci was referencing the Women’s History Month video that has now got the brand in hot water.
However, it seems that the brand expected this reaction in light of the Bud Light saga.
Only two months after the campaign went live, the video has been scrubbed from Miller Lite’s social media. Instagram comments have also been disabled on the campaign ad.
