Ugh. Those Miller Lite man-up commercials. Commercials celebrating the joy of sexism, the inability of women to appreciate beer, and the intense shame of being thought of as "womanly." It really, really bothers me that are there enough people out there being swayed by these commercials that they’re considered valid marketing.
For those who still aren’t sure what I’m talking about, here’s a synopsis of every commercial in this ad campaign: Man walks up to a bar, orders a light beer. Attractive, busty female bartender asks him “more taste or less taste?” holding up a Miller Lite and a generic light beer. Man orders less taste, or says he doesn’t care. Woman says something scathing about his fake tan/skinny jeans/speedo-style bathing suite/etc. and tells him when he “fixes” this (i.e. “when you decide to change out of that man-thong, come back and I’ll give you a Miller Lite.”) Voice-over says “Man up!” and tells you to buy Miller Lite. The first iterations of these commercials were even worse – featuring men wearing skirts or holding purses. Apparently the outcry on these was enough to have them pulled, but not enough to do away with the “man up” campaign.
Things that piss me off about this ad campaign:
1.) It is implied that women have no taste in beer, because only if you “man up” will appreciate the “superior taste” of Miller Lite. Excuse me, but I have FINE taste in beer (my weakness for Bud Light aside.) I know a hefe weizen from a Belgian white and a stout from a black lager. I know my local microbreweries. I will give you a lecture on the proper way to pour a Guinness, and stop ordering them at a bar if they’re poured wrong. I am a woman, and I have perfectly good taste in beer. And me and my good taste in beer do not like Miller Lite.
2.) The obvious attempt to make these commercials more acceptable by casting women in the bartender roles. Just because a woman says it doesn’t mean it’s not sexist.
3.) Transphobia. This was much more apparent in the earlier commercials with men in skirts and carrying purses, but it’s still here. All the commercials put down men who step outside of traditional gender roles by doing things like using bronzer or wearing skinny jeans (implied to be women’s jeans by the bartender.) The commercials portray this as something to be shamed. It’s not as apparent as the sexism (see my next point,) but it’s there.
4.) The implication that there is something terribly, terribly wrong with being feminine. We are talking about an entire ad campaign based around the “truth” that it’s bad to be feminine or in any way "womanly," and that you should definitely want to “man up” and be more masculine, because that is better. I realize that this is the implied message of many, many beer commercials, but to express it so blatantly kind of sickens me.
So in conclusion: Miller Lite, you suck. And I am even less likely to drink your beer after this ad campaign than I was before (not that I was likely to drink it anyways, see aforementioned Bud Light weakness.) Your beer is not good, and your sexist advertising is worse.
