I like beer. In fact, I loved micro-brews and Imports in college. Amstel Light was one of my favorites. And I'm still a sucker for an occasional Poor Man's Black Velvet (Guiness & Cider). Then I got a little older and couldn't handle the richer, thicker beers (or my waistline couldn't!) and got into drinking lighter beers.
Fortunately Miller Light is not my light beer of choice as their recent ad campaign mocking men for being like women is so blatantly sexist I can't even believe it is on TV in 2011. Each one of these advertisements is not only sexist but also reinforces the already limited gender roles that men get to play in our culture. The one that inspired me to write this blog, shows a man teeing off from the women's tees at a golf course and ordering a Bud Light. His friends tease him from the men's tees telling him to "man up." This one I couldn't find on the Internet.
A similar commercial shows a man ordering "any light beer" at a bar, with the female bartender commenting negatively on his choice, implying that he is wearing a skirt.
What is fascinating about this commercial is that women are actually colluding with sexism in order to enforce this limited view of men's masculinity. Men should be disgusted by this portrayal of them but women should be appalled that they are being used as enforcers of limited roles for men.
The story gets even more interesting when doing a little digging on the corporation which is now MillerCoors. Ah! It makes so much sense now. Coors has always been known in feminist circles as an anti-abortion, anti-gay company. Ironically they have a commitment to diversity in their company, which is not represented in their commercials. http://www.greatbeergreatresponsibility.com/SocialResponsibility/ValuingDiversity.aspx
Will you join me in boycotting Miller Light? And all of Miller? If you commit to boycott all of MillerCoors, there is a list of approximately 33 beers you will have to avoid. First, the domestics: Miller Light, Coors Light, ExtraGold Lager, Hamms, Icehouse, Keystone Light, MGD 64, Magnum Malt Liquor, Mickeys, Miller Chill, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller High Life (one of my personal favorites), Miller Life, Milwaukee's Best Light, Old English 800, Southpaw Light, Steel Reserve High Gravity. Now these imports, I'm sure many of you didn't know were distributed by MillerCoors: Cristal, Cusquena, Molson Canadian, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Pilsner Urquell, Tyskie, Aguila. The crafts: Blue Moon Beligian White, Henry Winehard's Private Reserve, Leinenkugal's Sunset Wheat. And finally the specialty beers: Coors Non Alcoholic, Fosters, George Killian's Irish Red, Sharps, and Sparks. Or at least write them and tell them how their advertisement hurts men and women. https://www.millercoors.com/feedback.aspx
Do it for the children, the future, a place where limits won't be set on who we can be, who can wear a skirt, or how far we can hit a ball.
