The Wokewashing Of Bud Light, Starbucks & Miller Lite | Mark Normand

Duration: 15:04 2952 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

In this discussion, Mark Normand critiques the recent marketing strategies of major brands like Bud Light and Miller Lite, labeling them as examples of "wokewashing" that prioritize forced inclusivity over genuine entertainment. He specifically addresses a controversial Miller Lite commercial featuring Dylan Mulvaney in bikinis within a museum setting, arguing that while women have historically been objectified in advertising without consequence, modern campaigns are now lecturing audiences about the morality of such imagery. Normand finds this tone-deaf approach problematic because it assumes consumers want to be shamed rather than entertained, noting that these ads often feel like somber educational exercises rather than fun brand experiences. He contrasts this with older commercials where women were objectified freely without backlash, suggesting that current corporate sensitivity has created an environment where humor is sacrificed for political correctness. The conversation extends to Starbucks' advertising efforts involving a fictional Indian father accepting his son's transition as a daughter, which Normand views as equally forced and inauthentic despite the positive message of acceptance. He argues that while supporting transgender individuals is commendable, using such sensitive topics solely to sell multi-billion dollar products feels manipulative and lacks genuine humor or warmth. The speaker highlights how these campaigns attempt to align with progressive values but fail because they ignore their core demographics; for instance, he doubts Dylan Mulvaney will resonate with the traditional beer-drinking audience that Bud Light relies on. This disconnect leads to a cycle where brands take risks on controversial ideas only to face backlash and be forced into damage control measures like hiring new executives or launching unrelated initiatives such as camouflage bottles for military families. Normand analyzes the long-term impact of these marketing missteps by comparing them to historical advertising successes, citing the "Got Milk?" campaign which revitalized milk sales through a clever, entertaining concept rather than social activism. He points out that while brands like Nike and Gillette faced temporary dips in popularity due to controversial campaigns involving Colin Kaepernick or sensitive gender roles, their strong product quality eventually allowed consumers to look past the controversy over time. However, he warns that for companies with less loyal followings, such as Bud Light after its association with Dylan Mulvaney, recovery may take years if they cannot pivot back to entertaining content. He suggests that any press coverage is beneficial in a saturated market, and perhaps these brands are underestimating the power of controversy when paired with quality products. The dialogue also touches on the economic realities behind progressive branding decisions, referencing data from an e-commerce expert who noted that Victoria's Secret suffers financially by abandoning traditional body standards to align with specific social movements. Normand argues that shareholders will eventually demand a return to profitable strategies if "woke" initiatives continue to hurt sales, as seen in the case of bigger girls not selling clothes effectively for certain retailers. He draws parallels between Lil Nas X's calculated branding move of coming out while holding a number-one record and these corporate stunts, suggesting that some controversy is necessary but must be managed carefully without alienating the primary consumer base. Ultimately, he concludes that brands need to find a balance where they can express progressive values in ways that are funny and engaging rather than preachy or offensive. In his final assessment, Normand questions whether there should ever be an "unfunny" limit on advertising if it is entertaining for adults over 21, noting the hypocrisy of restricting humor while allowing other forms of expression. He speculates about the potential value of limited-edition Dylan Mulvaney cans and compares adult-oriented marketing tactics to Harry Potter's release of mature covers to appeal to older readers without appearing childish. The summary ends with a reflection on how these cultural shifts represent a fever breaking in society, where brands are struggling to navigate between genuine social progress and commercial viability. Normand maintains that while the intent behind many of these campaigns is good, the execution often fails because it ignores what makes people laugh and buy products, leading to unnecessary corporate turmoil for both sides of the political fence.

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but that's the other thing is uh I I talked to Schultz about this I think when the Miller Lite ad came out he's like look I get it women started Brewing first but can't we just have fun can we just enjoy beer that's the real problem with the ads it's not like I don't think a lot of people like [ __ ] women put them in bikinis ah it's just like I I'm just getting lectured here about a [ __ ] poison that I want to drink to forget about my job you know well it's I think one of the main problems people obviously just seem like such humorless Pricks yes yes exactly not Charming no Charming for the people that haven't seen especially the British people haven't seen this Miller Light ad it was basically snuck in under the radar at the same time as the Dylan Mulvaney thing and I think it the lady that's presenting it is maybe a LGBT person too yeah and she's walking through a museum and saying women brood beer and how did we reward them we rewarded them by putting them in bikinis and it cuts to a 1990s ad of two girls mud wrestling in the middle of the street and it's like you buy Miller Lite and you're into girls mud wrestling or whatever which is true people that drink Miller like probably are yeah into that sort of stuff and then the ladies castigating anybody that thinks that's cool and he's like we're committed to changing the and you just think I think a lot of things first off I think how [ __ ] tone deaf do you need to be about your own audience yeah how [ __ ] confident do you need to be in your share price and your sales figures oh yeah and how little fun are you exactly so humorless I know like why can't uh progressiveness and inclusiveness be fun too like what also not to be this guy but what's so bad about bikinis like aren't all these women on only fans very empowering you know I thought that was empowering like hey we're taking our sexuality back we make money on it we do what we want that's empowering I'm allowed to objectify myself but you're not allowed to objectify me I guess but it's not like we we tased a woman and knocked her out and put her in a burlap sack and then said you're in this bikini commercial or we'll kill you you know she I'm sure thousands of women auditioned and we're like I got it I got the Miller Light ad with the twins well do you remember Diet Coke that yes all of the women looking out over that I'm looking forward to becoming skinny fat in middle age and being able to point at that and say that was what caused me to lose my gains I was objectified I didn't want to be seen as a sex object yeah not just a piece of meat it's so funny how bad I want to be objectified I would love a woman to objectify me but I guess it's a supply and demand they get it so much that they're like I'm annoyed I've got no objectification left to give Mark I'm afraid there's no more yeah it's uh it's so [ __ ] weird man I just I really hope that we're around the corner from something that's going to be different in terms of like cultural memes because I'm kind of exhausted of it as well I think what I think a lot of people are and I think it's almost like a fever breaking like these Bud Light and Miller Lite and the Starbucks and the Starbucks thing the Starbucks is uh it's pretty great it's a old Indian guy and he gets a call from his son so the sun pops up on the screen and he's like ah damn and then in comes his new daughter so that the son transitioned so the daughter comes in and he's like you know he's all angry and the mom's like come on be nice and he's like you know what you're right let's get a coffee and that's the ad so he's accepted as trans daughter they bond over going to Starbucks yes exactly but it's just so forced and I think it's great that he's accepting his trans though that's great and it's I'm all for the love and everything I want everybody to get along fake Indian man is accepting his face exactly to then go and shamelessly shill a multi-billion dollar yes Enterprise exactly and my my joke was he's I think he's really mad because his brother did the operation you know the the Indian doctor but yeah I I just think it just feels forced and again why can't it be a funny ad like if it's cool with trans person a person transitioning but like make it fun why does it have to be so somber and and educational dude the Miller Lite the Bud Light thing they're releasing uh so this earlier on Bud Light is set to launch a line of camouflage aluminum bottles that promote the folds of Honor program which provides educational scholarships for family these have fallen and disabled and American military service members and First Responders the New York Post response reported so basically there is just this permanent flip-flop between the two now the Bud Light thing the relatively very unpopular opinion for me to say I feel bad for Bud Light because that was evidently a small influencer campaign that some portion that some advertising exec somewhere that's not in no position but isn't the [ __ ] owner right and isn't the shareholders and isn't all of the people that do most of the things some small portion that didn't have sufficient oversight decided that they were just going to Chuck this set of cans to Dylan Mulvaney yeah not realizing how badly it was going to go down and now two huge big dick marketing execs have been fired this has been halted and now they're trying to do all of this backtracking stuff so even within that and I don't think that Dil Mulvaney is going to tap into the core demographic of but like even within that what you see is the desire for people on both sides of the fence to become offended like immediately yes yes you want to have this knee-jerk reaction to be able to go see see this [ __ ] woke washing these cucked [ __ ] leftist organizers they took our beer exactly like they took everything and I don't deny that it's a [ __ ] shitty idea it's a shitty advertising campaign that doesn't Target the right people and I don't think that Del Mulvaney should have been used but I do also think that going does this represent how long has Bud Light been around probably [ __ ] forever right is this really oh finally here's the mask off that shows that they were the America hating leftist cook CCP sympathizing bastards that we thought of all along well you say that if somebody says one accidentally slightly untoward racist thing that that doesn't color their entire history but you're not necessarily prepared to give the same that's good that's good great freedom to the other side great call Great call so you're saying to the to the people angry about the the new Trans guy or translated being their sponsor you can't just judge it all on one commercial yeah yeah I completely agree and if you like Bud Light just keep drinking it but that's a good beer it's a good beer and it's very popular what was it they had uh the Bud Light has reportedly told wholesalers that it will buy back unsold cases of beer that are passed their expiration date uh 23 down year on year sales last week wow and they're doing um camouflage print in an effort to boost sales they're doing all sorts of stuff so there I mean [ __ ] dude can you imagine being I don't know the CEO or the chief MD or whatever of Bud Light I'm waking up one morning and going uh like looking at your phone and being like so we're trending oh brilliant What for yeah it's not brilliant sir right right but what about the whole any press is good press is that just is that a myth because this is the most press you can get it's all we're talking about it's all any I mean any Comedy Club but someone's drinking a Bud Light it's boom right to you joke joke how can this not be good does Bud Light know something we don't know and then every other beer company in Starbucks and all these other Dove are doing it so is there something we're missing or or is this just a huge [ __ ] up I think it's a [ __ ] up okay so I have a friend who has spent a lot of time doing e-commerce and they've split tested bigger girls and they've split tested girls that are fit and he told me we have all of the data bigger girls don't sell clothes yeah so when you look at Victoria's Secret someone that's trying to undo their CIS heteronormative patriarchal misogynistic presuppositions of what a woman's body shape is supposed to be like they are paying a price with that Top Line and their bottom line and eventually some shareholders somewhere that owns [ __ ] 15 of the company is going to look at a report and say what's going on here and you go ah no sir it's this you see it's this really cool social movement that we're a part of at the moment it's like it's real it's super Progressive yeah it's very good you know for the the Gen Zed uh 15 to 18 sort of left and he's going to say get [ __ ] where's put the girls that sell clothes money so there is some criticism like get what go broke uh I have a friend that's done a [ __ ] ton of analysis on this and the Gillette ad from a few years ago didn't didn't impact long term didn't impact their positioning and a couple of others I'd love him to run the stats back on these and see what happens longer term I think really huge Brands like a Bud Light or a Nike Nike with uh Colin Kaepernick tons of people took offense to that campaign I wear them every single day yeah first off when it's a product if the product's good you kind of don't care I don't care and secondly if it's a big enough brand over a long enough period of time people forget true you know but like it may take them it may take them five years probably won't but it may take them five years to get themselves back and we realized that we made some mistakes with this thing and they'll be back selling Vision soon enough of course of course it's a it's a fun blip in the whole thing we get to trash it and make fun of it but I do appreciate the swing they took a swing they seemed like they were the first one to try it and it was a big swing and it [ __ ] up but sometimes you gotta try a crazy idea and sometimes it [ __ ] up like like got milk got milk was huge what's got milk got milk was this ad milk was just going down in America everybody hated milk it just people turned on it got milk was this one ad where a guy's eating a peanut butter sandwich and it's all close up and he's watching a movie and he's like and the phone rings and he's like oh hello and it's like you've won the million dollar prize just gotta answer this one question and that whatever the question was was about dinosaurs and they show his wall and it's full of dinosaur posters he knows everything about diet he's got dioramas and all this [ __ ] and he's like and they're like we can't understand you you lost and then it goes got milk like a milk glass of milk would have gotten the food down right huge ad campaign people at t-shirts got milk just Billboards say got milk milk skyrocketed it it went through the roof and it changed everything milk stocks have never been higher huge milk stocks so I think Bud Light was like it's so crazy it might just work so I think you take a shot every now and then that's kind of fun yeah I I don't know man again with the delivery let's say that they'd and this would be an interesting question to ask you know the most Ardent like Matt Walsh I'd love to ask Matt Walsh hey Matt had it have been funny are entertaining yeah what would you have thought like would it have been because we said is there a joke that's so offensive that it should never be told if it's funny no I agree right so if an advert is entertaining and good should it have not been put out you go well there's probably some limits because it kind of creates uh role model you know talking about kids and positioning and [ __ ] like that but it's about 21 plus in this country pretty much every state in order to be able to drink uh so I don't know it had it been had it been entertaining but it was just yeah I wondered I wanted to find this out um can you imagine how much you could sell a Della novaney can of Bud Light for because there was only six pack of them that was ever created if she started oh huge money yeah crazy that's like that monkey nft you know that's gonna be very new board eight yeah Dylan yeah but I do think there is they were tapping into something the right way I think there's controversy can lead to huge numbers and huge sales like trying controversy when you're a beer brand I guess not but like Lil Nas X you know that guy blood yeah he's not gay I heard so I'm not gay he's not gay it's just all uh uh adding on to his his brand Google this is Lil Nas X and A lot of people hate him because he's gay he's a devil guy he's against conservative values Christian values Lil Nas X came out as gay being the only artist to do so whilst having a number one record but you're saying I'm saying that was a branding move very smart marketing very smart little nazx came out this game the last day of pride month whilst he was number one that seems feels very calculated Lil nasak says music industry wants lgbtq plus artists to be gay without being gay this is pretty good no it's just what I heard I'm not saying wants to be more gay prove it yeah blow me yourself in here yeah I saw him uh I saw him perform at Austin City Limits oh wow last year like the that's one of those things you know when you see you've been to see a ton of bands and the the shows are between a thousand and two thousand and it's like about it's like a normal band right and then you go and see a performance like a little Nars X thing and the guy's sprinting off stage to do [ __ ] costume changes and [ __ ] in between songs and it's all choreographed and it's dance numbers and then he comes out and he's on a harness and he's flying through the air and there's a helicopter and like all sorts of stuff you go oh okay this is different yes yeah this is something else this is no longer a musical exact rendition this is a [ __ ] like this performance art right right and I think I think which genius about him is Bud Light you have to go Bud buy Bud Light and people see you drink it at a bar and everybody makes fun of you this you can put in your iPod and your your earphones and you still sell the song but you don't have to be seen with it no public branding yeah did you see when Harry Potter first came out and it was super popular and people hadn't read it but adults didn't want to be seen in public reading a children's book oh they released adult covers of Harry Potter so that it looked less children genius uh so I wonder whether people are going to get Koozies over their Bud Light yeah this is Corona yeah yeah yeah yeah well they should do this for Kitty porn just put a a an adult woman on the cover and then there you go all right that's my last Kitty porn pedophile joke because it's getting a little weird what's happening people if you enjoyed that then press here for the full unedited episode and don't forget to subscribe peace