What’s so damned funny about water, barley, hops and yeast? Apparently, just about everything. Don’t get me wrong. I love an icy cold one as much as the next guy — and that guy happens to be my old college roommate, Earl. But when I analyze how the big beverage companies communicate to the world, it’s increasingly apparent that their (not-quite-said-out-loud) message is:
“If you’re a dude, and you wanna have fun — your go-to move is to drain a few racks of [insert billion-dollar beer brand name here].”
Did you watch the Super Bowl this year? Seemed like half the commercials were for beer, and most of them were designed to appeal to a juvenile, goofball, male sense of humor. True confession: Commercials like that make me laugh. LMAO. And if that’s the goal, then…mission accomplished. I love humor that’s as bawdy, sophomoric, and jejune as it comes.
Problem is: so does my 17-year old son, and most kids like him.
And therein lies the question: Who’s the target audience for these commercials? The big brewing companies will tell you “they are aiming exclusively at adults aged 21+.” And they’ll also tell you they spend hundreds of millions on their corporate responsibility campaigns. Hey, I’m not saying they don’t.
But if you spend billions on messaging that encourages behavior that often ends up causing immeasurable human tragedy, then you justify it by spending (let’s be fair and say) one-tenth that amount on messaging that urges caution when engaging in those same behaviors — what does that make you?
The brewing companies say that makes them, “Responsible.”
But we’re not buying that, are we? Time to call BS.
Lemme lay out three undeniable facts. Tie them together as you see fit:
- Goofy beer commercials make drinking (occasionally to excess) appear (to the average male) to be harmless, dopey fun.
- These commercials are featured most prominently in programming (like NFL football) that ranks at or near the top among males 21-64 years old. This programming ALSO ranks at the top of the list for males 12-18 years old.
- Teenage drinking is out of control.
My son told me that a 2010 survey at his high school revealed that 48% of seniors had recently participated in binge drinking. The dominant number one drink of choice — of course…good ol’ brewski’s. That’s half of all teenagers between the ages of 17 and 18 drinking beer — often to irresponsible excess.
Half.
Those really funny beer commercials appear to be working. They sure make drinking a bunch of beer seem like fun!
The “drink responsibly” commercials? Not so much. Oh, well. At least they tried! That makes them good corporate citizens, right?
How about YOU? Do you think it’s irresponsible to create messages that appeal to a teenaged sense of humor, but to expect that teenagers won’t laugh?
on 17 February 2011
Respond
Great post, Rick. I think it’s important that professional communicators lead the charge within organizations away from the “bare minimum” of responsible messaging and toward a platform that’s beneficial for their business and society. It’s also important that adult consumers and advocacy groups use their market power and platforms to create space for those businesses to do profitably.
on 17 February 2011
Respond
Good call Rick! And I reckon it happens all around the world. Certainly here in Australia.
on 22 February 2011
Respond
I take issue with your logic:
Why are the corporate responsibility campaigns a failure and the beer ads a resounding success? Half of teens at your son’s school binge drink, and half don’t. What suggests that those who binge do so because of advertisements, but those who don’t binge choose responsibility independently of anti-teenage drinking messaging? If messaging is the arbiter of teenage behavior, then aren’t corporate responsibility campaigns that achieve the same result at a tenth of the cost more successful than the beer ads?