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.
