melody tran

What does the beer in your hand say about you? Something to think about next time you're at the bar. CC License.

As if there wasn’t enough to worry about when going out on the weekends. According to an article on Adage.com, studies have shown that beer preferences have a correlation to personality type. Of course, this does make some sort of common sense, but I was surprised as to the major differences between fairly generic beers. The article, for example, states that people who drink Bud versus people who drink Bud Light? Completely different. And it’s not just the calories, either. Who would’ve thunk it?

Bud drinkers are “grounded and practical” while their lighter counterparts have “frat-boy like personalities, particularly when it comes to personal risk-taking.” However, Bud Light-ers are generally easier to get along with and less likely to…buy organic products?

Amazing how your whole lifestyle can be determined through the kind of beer you choose to drink. It’s studies like this one that advertisers anticipate. To have a detailed profile of your target market is to have the ability to reach your target in the best possible way, and it’s definitely illustrated in the differences in beer ads.

If you think about it (and I hate to burst your bubble, enthusiasts), there really isn’t too much of a difference between cheap beers. Yet their advertising boasts these ridiculous claims and people actually stay loyal to a brand. One of my friends has been loyal to Busch heavy for years and would only buy Busch, until recently. When I asked him what the difference between Busch and, say Keystone heavy was, he shrugged and said, “I just like Busch.”

It’s amazing to me that beer culture is so grounded in brand loyalty. That’s the ad industry’s doing. Especially among college students, cheap beer is cheap beer. But what kind of cheap beer you buy says something about you. Are you a Busch drinker? Perhaps you love the ‘Stones. Or, God forbid, you drink the Natty. Natty Ice.

We all do it. We all judge people by the beers in their hand.

Even at cramped parties where I am pressed up uncomfortably against a wall and a stranger desperately trying to breathe, I have received comments like, “Oh, you’re rocking the Bud Light, I see.”

In fact, two summers ago, I was at a party and there was a keg of Bud Light and this stranger came up to me and said, “Why are you drinking that shit?”

I looked at his beer of choice—Heineken.

“Why would I pay more than necessary to drink…Heineken?” I asked him.

“It’s better. Way better than Bud.” And then he promptly offered me one.

Because I am a good girl, a responsible girl, I declined the offer. My mom told me never to accept drinks from strangers.

But the difference between Bud Light and Heineken is small—little to none in my opinion other than the price. The marketing, though, for Heineken positions the beer as a “better” beer, a “higher quality” beer. And maybe it is, a little.

Now, I’m not picky about my beer, I’m not a beer connoisseur by any means. But I did choose the keg of Bud Light over the 30-rack of Natty in the fridge. Does that mean I’m fratty like? I don’t think so. But Heineken boy, he chose to spend extra money (in addition to the $5 he already had to pay to get into the party, he bought a 12-pack of Heinekens).   According to the AdAge.com article, he loves his “brand badges,” and he’s a “poser.”

I’ll be honest here: I judged. That is exactly how I perceived him to be, and as a result, I avoided him for the rest of the night. Who was he to tell me my beer was shit anyway?

Like I said, it’s okay, though. We all do it. People try to fight it, say it’s a terrible thing. I used to be one of those people. But as I continued on in my advertising education, I realized that it’s a losing battle. The media, not just in its advertising, has shaped the American culture especially to be a judgmental culture.

We have studies on beer preferences and personality. It helps the marketers define who they’re reaching, understand who they’re talking to. It creates brand loyalty. It creates niches.

And then we pass judgment on people in other niches. It’s a continuing cycle and as long as there’s media and advertising, it will exist. I suppose it sounds like a terrible thing. In some ways, it is.

But in other ways, it’s fascinating that we can be convinced that one cheap beer brand is better than another cheap beer brand, that we will continue to hand over our hard-earned, barely existent wallets over to these franchises that monopolize off of figuring out what our collective personality is and telling us they understand.

And we love to be understood.

Big Apple Coalition of Reason ad to be displayed in NYC Subway systems

Today, twelve New York City subway stations will adorn several advertisements touting the headline, “A million New Yorkers are Good Without God. Are you?”

These ads, part of a month-long campaign sponsored by a coalition of multiple atheist organizations called the Big Apple Coalition of Reason, are meant to inspire Americans, according to an article on CNN.com, and make them realize that they are not bad people if they do not believe in God, or deities of the like. MTA officials say that the ads follow all guidelines put out for advertisements in the subway.

The real question I have. Was this ad campaign a smart decision?

Me, personally, I have no religion. I respect those who do—many of my friends follow a religion. To each his own, as they say. I have nothing against religious groups advocating their beliefs to the general public.

But I suppose I was always under the impression that atheism meant a disbelief in deities of any sort. That’s how the Miriam-Webster dictionary defines it. So when I read this article after I saw it on my Twitter-feed, I was slightly confused, for two reasons: a) Are the atheists turning into a religion? b) If atheism is the disbelief in deities, and fundamentally about not having the concept of deities being pushing onto people, isn’t this campaign, with a headline as forward as it is, slightly contradictory?

Who knows, I could be pulling this out of my ass, but from over here, this ad campaign seems paradoxical.

The headline reads like a challenge. I’m sure the Big Apple CoR didn’t mean for it to sound that way; in fact, from what I read in the article, they just wanted to spread awareness. Awareness of what?

Their lack of religion? The fact that religion isn’t the end all and be all of existence? Those are all values I, as someone without a religion, can appreciate.

But even if I can appreciate those values, I am not sure making subway ads to spread these values was the best advertising move ever made. People are already skeptical of religious advertising; it seems to go against the grain of the purity of religion—or at least the pure connotation associated with religion. Is it wise to use religious advocacy tactics to spread the word about…well, not having a religion?

On the one hand, it’s a clever headline, and it’s a great place to have an ad. Subway advertisements, in my opinion, are underrated. You are able to reach a multitude of people just because they have to be waiting in that one spot for their train to arrive. Especially in a city like New York, subways are a great place to reach a mass audience. The headline is thought-provoking, clear, and straight-forward.

Perhaps a little too forward. On the other hand, would advertising the values of not having a religion be seen as a step towards becoming an organized religion? Is the name of the Coalition of Reason too offensive towards established religious groups?   Sure, the ad headline isn’t offensive. But is the name of the coalition offensive?

I’m not too sure. As someone who doesn’t follow an organized religion of any sort, I don’t truly have an idea of what is and what isn’t offensive, I’m completely taking a  guess at what might offend me if I were a follower of a specific religion. However, one thing I am sure of?

This ad campaign is a bold move. Bold moves catch attention. If that was their goal, the Big Apple CoR subway ads definitely will deliver.