In the ever-more connected online and offline worlds, Death By Twitter doesn't always have to be caused by actions ON Twitter. Even marketing choices that play out in the offline world can lead to social media uproar and.... well.... Death by Twitter!
That is exactly what happened this week as Budweiser came under hellfire for its new advertising slogan. We've all seen the commercials for Bud Light, claiming it is "the perfect beer for whatever happens." Often, this is accompanied by the hashtag #UpForWhatever and commercials of silly instances like life-size Pacman games.
But this week, Bud Light took this a bit too far, adding a new slogan on some of their bottles: "The perfect beer for removing 'no' from your vocabulary for the night." Well, within 24 hours of the release, Twittersphere was full of nay-sayers claiming the new slogan promotes a rape culture.
Budweiser has since, of course, apologized on Twitter, tweeting "We missed the mark on a new Bud Light label, and we regret it."
This one seems pretty obvious to me, as alcohol - or alcohol abuse - has very strongly been linked to sexual misconduct, date rape and other instances of violence. Digging a little deeper into the executive boards of Budweiser shines a light on why the company MIGHT have been blind to this.
The team within Budweiser responsible for Bud Light is the North American branch of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the company that owns Budweiser. Well, out of 14 executive seats leading this team, there is only one woman. By the same token, within Anheuser-Busch InBev itself, there is only one female executive on a team of 16.
Don't get me wrong. I believe all people, not just women, should have a general awareness and sensitivity to not promoting the rape culture. However, I can't help but think that the gender makeup of this executive team could tell us something about how such a marketing fail occurred for the brand.
Weigh in here, guys. Do you think a more balanced exec board could lead to less marketing mistakes?
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