*This website is not endorsed by, affiliated with, maintained, authorized, or sponsored by Coors Light or the Coors Molson Brewing Company. The athletes pictured here are in no way affiliated with Coors light. Aside from Amy, I’m not even sure if they like it.
The evil genius of marketing and propaganda Edward Bernays began his career in 1927 by strategically hawking Lucky Strike cigarettes to housewives, the majority of whom didn’t smoke. Supported by doctors, the spin was meant to encourage women to use cigs as a substitute for food. Simultaneously, he used sneaky imagery placed in mainstream publications to promote thinness as a beauty standard. The campaign was a huge success; Lucky Strike made a big ol’ pile of nicotine stained cash and women everywhere began to cough & shrink.
His next great milestone in his proverbial quest to give women lung cancer happened 2 years later. Feminism was starting to simmer in kitchens across America but for women, public smoking was still taboo. Bernays exploited that social climate, nicknaming cigarettes “Torches of Freedom.” He hired a group of thin (but approachable) actresses to chain smoke on a float in the New York City Easter Parade. The campaign was another big triumph; women started lighting up wherever they wanted. Cigs were now burned into the female psyche as symbols of their new “independence.”
Modern marketing & advertising continued on using Bernays’ psychological techniques and “pack mentality” theory but people started catching on. Marketing scrambled to stay one step ahead in this never-ending game of cultural cat and mouse. In the late 60s, “edgy” or “alternative” started to be cool and agencies began harnessing counter cultures, producing things like “The Un-Cola” 7up campaign (yeah, way cooler cause it’s not cola…
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THEN, like a rebel alliance, millennials came swooping down and flipped the script. The cis male-centered power moves created by Darth Bernays were rendered useless, leaving Mad Men in the dark, especially in the Beer industry. Forever committed to peddling masculinity, Beer companies had never overtly targeted women with their ads, and often used sexy female imagery to boost sales to their #1 demographic, 18-49 year old men. But then, they got punched in the wallet.
Women currently own 51% of the wealth in the US, and companies are chomping at the bit to get the demographic. Coors Light, my personal favorite, was the first big beer company to gamble on the changing demographics, with the “Climb On” campaign. With hints from the new playbook, the campaign features subtle imagery of women climbing mountains side by side with men, with progressive-ish slogans (example below.)
So, real talk, BIGFOOT can’t fuel the van with government cheese alone. We need schmoney. Alignment. Coors Light is a natural fit 🤷♀️.When the mountains are blue, our hearts are warm and familiar. I have been drinking Coors Light for like 20 years. It’s the perfect beer for skating; so crispy and refreshing. In the A.M.T. (After Me Too) world, we’re calling the shots. Gone are the days when women sat at home chain-smoking Lucky Strikes. Where others see obstacles, we see opportunity. Our mountains build resilience, Coors Light. Whatever your mountain, climb on.
