Boozin’ Blog

My last post was about a beer commercial. This set me off on a time wasting bit of youtube surfing as I watched a bunch of beer commercials.

My default position is to bitch about beer ads. The worst are those that are selling a life-style that in no way is realistic or even possible. When I drink a beer the only thing that’s going to happen is that I will feel refreshed, I’ll experience some very pleasant flavors and aromas and I’ll get a little bit buzzed. That’s it. I won’t gain new friends, a party won’t break out, and no pretty young thing is going to suddenly find me more attractive.

The best beer ads are the Sam Adams ads. In each ad, there is just a little bit to learn about beer or the brewing process. Jim Koch, while clearly a great promoter and seemingly a little full of himself at times, is doing an excellent job of getting the word out about good beer.

But, I’m not always judging beer ads. The truly funny ones, that manage to stay out of the toilet, are great. I realize that this is inconsistent and I’m okay with that. There is no more gained from a funny ad than a life-style ad. I like to laugh, though, so who cares. Here are some personal favorites:

And it’s not just beer ads. Here’s a particularly nice whiskey ad. Cheers!

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This comes from Canada where the marketing geniuses at Molson Coors got in some hot water over their cold beer campaign. They’ve been promoting the coldness of their beer – a claim that is completely puzzling to anyone with half a brain – and thought that it would be fun poke some fun at their potential consumers. They exploited the reputation of Torotonians as being uptight and put up billboards in Vancouver claiming that Coors is “Colder than most people from Toronto.”

Clever. Not only does it get the message across that Coors is cold – I still don’t see where this is a viable claim – plus it shows Coors is so with Vancouver in the apparent East/West rivalry with Toronto. The genius of it all is that the billboards were all in Vancouver; no way anyone from Toronto would ever see them, right? I mean, people in Canada don’t have any forms of transportation that can move them from one place to another, do they?

Turns out they do. And one of them did. A picture was taken and sent back home and an icy turd hit the fan. It seems that calling people uptight isn’t a good idea. If they really are uptight then they probably aren’t going to laugh along. If they aren’t uptight then you just wind up looking rude and ignorant.

After some loud protests the company decided to take down the billboards early.

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