The “Bad Boy” of Beer Gets Banned

Do most people look at foul-language in an ad and make an assumption about the brand or the product? For example if Nike’s hugely successful 1988 “Just Do It” ad had incorporated foul-language into the ad rather than those three iconic words, would it be just as successful as it is today? Would the brand be considered edgy and badass or would it have been seen as too dark and tough, alienating regular consumers? The answer is it probably would have never been as successful as it is today due to the fact that trends, views, and even values edge and flow with time.

As a shoe company, Nike wanted to stand out from the crowd, but back in the mid to late 80s, rap and rock lyrics were under fire for using foul-language and explicit content. Nike would have never dreamed of using that type of language in their ads for fear of being censored by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). The PMRC was created to address what certain people felt was inappropriate music and messages for youth to listen to (Schonfeld, 2015). The PMRC would target musicians from all backgrounds and eventually hearings were held in 1985 that would ultimately lead to the creation of the infamous Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics sticker being placed on what was deemed “offensive” sexual and/or violent lyrics (Schonfeld, 2015). It’s no wonder Nike stuck to more relaxed messaging as they surely did not want to rock the boat with the PMRC.

But times have changed and so has the way advertisers and even consumers see ads. Recently the British based pub and brewery chain BrewDog had one of their billboard ads banned by the UK’s independent governing and regulating authority known as the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) (Marketing Week, 2020). The ad uses the “F” word with the BrewDog product standing in for some of the letters in the “F” and the ad lets consumers know that “BrewDog Beer Is Now Carbon Negative” (Marketing Week, 2020). However, the aggressive ad was already running in three locations in London prior to being banned and the company itself is known for hard hitting, edgy marketing as part of its overall brand image that consumers know and love (Marketing Week, 2020).

The ad was pulled due to the fact that the ASA cited that it could be found offensive to some people. This is not the first ad that BrewDog has had banned by the ASA and most likely it won’t be the last one either (Marketing Week, 2020).

What do you think? Do you think that ads that use foul-language today are viewed as edgy and badass or do we still tend to associate these types of ads as being fringe products/brands and will consumers see it the same way? As time moves forward, values, concepts and even the way our parents viewed the world has changed from how we view the world today. An ad that might not have been run just a mere 35 years ago, might be considered today. As Marketing Week (2020) mentioned, the fact that the BrewDog ad was pulled is not necessarily a bad thing considering the publicity that surrounded the pulled ad, bringing attention to their message about climate change and the fact that being censored is keeping in line with the brand’s original image of being a “bad boy beer.” Advertising along with the world has changed and brands need to remember that what worked well a decade ago, may not work well now and adjust accordingly.

References

Marketing Week. (2020, November 20). Brewdog, L’Oréal, Specsavers: 5 things that mattered this week and why. Retrieved from https://www.marketingweek.com/brewdog-loreal-specsavers-5-things-that-mattered-this-week-and-why/

Schonfeld, Z. (2015, September 19). Parental advisory forever: An oral history of the PRMC’s war on dirty lyrics. Newsweek Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/2015/10/09/oral-history-tipper-gores-war-explicit-rock-lyrics-dee-snider-373103.html