I usually describe the experience of taking my first class in Women's Studies as having blinders removed. It was like gaining peripheral vision that I didn't know I was missing; I started noticing all these things in my day-to-day life that really, really weren't right. It gets pretty exhausting, but anger is a motivator. As evidenced by the fact that I started this blog.
However, de-blinder-ing aside, one thing I didn't need feminism to notice was the blatant stupidity of beer commercials. My brother Julian loves to make fun of the fact that they always advertise how cold their beer is... but isn't how cold beer is up to the purchaser of said beer? Also, some of these beer companies peddle glorified mood rings in the form of color-changing cans that indicate coldness. Julian points out that you could just as easily touch the can, and get a much less black-or-white answer to how cold your damn beer is.
That particular brand of stupidity aside, beer commercials are also front-runners when it comes to blatant and unapologetic sexism (which I always noticed, but it didn't always piss me off like this). On the one hand, they perpetuate the "stupid, beer-drinking man" trope. One company (incidentally, the same one that has the color-changing cans) made a commercial which features a man coming home from work to his girlfriend/wife/whatever dressed in sexy clothes, enticing him to the bedroom. However, he gets distracted by the beers in the fridge, and is completely oblivious to his SO's advances, even going so far as to extinguish one of the candles she had lit with the bottom of his beer can while remarking that it's a fire hazard. Guys are obviously supposed to find this funny (and I suppose women are too), but I just find it stupid and insulting to everyone involved, including potential customers of this beer company. This contributes to the larger issue of what I like to call ManJokes. I will probably bring this up again later, but basically ManJokes use a few narrow stereotypes involving men to try to make people laugh. ManJokes are most prevalent in Father's Day cards, and yes, beer commercials.
While insulting what beer commercials perceive to be the majority of their customer base, they also alienate other potential customers: women. All women. I can't think of a single beer commercial where a woman has been the sole beer-drinking subject (although I'm sure at least one exists... right?). I noticed that lately Corona has been inclusive with its minimalistic commercials (the ones on the beach), and that's a step, but beer is usually portrayed as a "manly drink" to a fault.
Lately, Miller Lite has been airing a series of commercials that go as follows:
MAN: Hey, can I get a light beer?
FEMALE BARTENDER: Sure, do you care how it tastes?
MAN: Nah, I don't care.
FEMALE BARTENDER: *hands man nondescript beer bottle* Well, when you start caring put down your purse/take off your skirt and ask for a Miller Lite.
The man then reveals that he is actually carrying a purse, or wearing a skirt, or whatever, and the audience laughs (in theory). The commercial ends with a deep male voice imploring the audience to "man up."
Watch them for yourself.
This is incredibly problematic, for a variety of reasons:
1. By using a female bartender, the commercial is trying to seem less sexist and confrontational.
2. In associating men's lack of preference for beer and how it tastes with femininity, Miller Lite is totally alienating potential female customers. The "man up" assertion just confirms this even more.
3. The men in these commercials are portrayed as effeminate and wimpy. I don't think I have to explain why this is bad.
I could probably write an entire dissertation on sexism in beer commercials, but I won't. Point is, if you search "beer commercials" on youtube, your sensibilities are more than likely going to be offended. Personally, the first one that comes up makes me want to vomit. And then kick someone in the nuts.
Am I planning on pioneering a one-woman crusade against Miller Lite, or beer companies in general? No, I am not. I just find it enlightening that our society thinks it's okay to have commercials like this air, and that people behind it don't seem to see a problem with it, or think it's a bad idea.
But know this: I am a lady, and a fuckin' classy one at that (hah). And I like beer. Yes, I LIKE it. I don't just drink it to get drunk or because it's all that's available at the parties I attend. I actually enjoy it. There are plenty of women out there who do. And it would probably be in these companies' best interests to stop alienating half of its potential customers.
But that's just my two cents.
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