Miller Lite launched a marketing campaign for Women’s History Month in March that railed against beer ads focused on bimbos in bikinis — but appears to have made efforts to maintain quiet about it following Bud Light’s disastrous Dylan Mulvaney tie-up.
Miller Lite’s Women’s History Month campaign, titled “Bad $#!T to Good $#!T,” was posted on March 7, pledging to scrub up the brand’s past of sexist ads objectifying women — as an alternative supporting female brewers by donating fertilizer they’ll use to “grow quality hops.”
But just two months after the campaign’s launch, the video is nowhere to be found on Miller Lite’s Twitter or TikTok accounts.
Comments for Instagram posts on the campaign have been disabled, with no previous comment publicly visible.
The video of the ad on YouTube, meanwhile, is “unlisted” and doesn’t appear on the beer brand’s channel page, or in YouTube’s search results or suggestions.
Within the “Bad $#!T to Good $#!T” ad, actress and comedian Ilana Glazer shares a “little-known fact” that “women were among the many very first to brew beer — ever.”
She continued: “Centuries later, how did the industry pay homage to the founding moms of beer? They put us in bikinis. Wow.”
As she walks through a room plastered with years-old Miller Lite ads full of women in tight-fitting or barely-there clothing, Glazer says “it’s time beer made it as much as women.”
As of Monday, nonetheless, the simplest strategy to view the ad was through the social media posts of critics who were busy roasting it.
It’s unclear whether the Instagram comments section had been scrubbed, or if the YouTube post was listed publicly before having its privacy settings modified.
In Miller Lite’s “Bad $#!T to Good $#!T” campaign, actress and comedian Ilana Glazer shares how the beer brand is trying to right past wrongs of sexualizing women in ads by donating fertilizer to female brewers to make hops.Miller Lite
It also stays unknown if the campaign video was previously posted to Twitter before being taken down. As of Monday, The Post couldn’t find “Bad $#!T to Good $#!T” on Miller Lite’s Twitter account.
Miller Lite maker Molson Coors defended the campaign in a press release to The Post on Monday.
“This video was about two things: worm poop and saying women shouldn’t be forced to mud wrestle so as to sell beer. Neither of these items must be remotely controversial and we hope beer drinkers can appreciate the humor (and ridiculousness) of this video from back in March,” an organization spokesperson said.
Miller Lite’s “Bad $#!T to Good $#!T” campaign was posted one month before trans social media star Dylan Mulvaney shared a custom Bud Light can the brand sent her along with her photo on it.
The Bud Light can, which was never for public sale, was intended to have fun Mulvaney’s “365 Days of Girlhood,” but as an alternative served because the catalyst for Bud Light’s downward spiral, with nationwide sales down 23.4% versus a 12 months ago within the week of April 29.
“Today, Miller Lite is on a mission to scrub up not only their sh-t, but the entire beer industry’s sh-t,” Glazer says within the March 7 ad, referencing the fertilizer Miller Lite can be donating to female brewers to “grow quality hops. Miller Lite has been scouring the web for all this s-it and buying it back, so that they can turn it into good sh-t for ladies brewers. Literally, good s-it.”
“So here’s to women,” Glazer says because the ad ends, raising a can of Miller Lite. “Without us, there could be no beer.”
On Monday, the two-month-old video began attracting the eye of social media users.
“Miller Lite has joined the woke cult,” Twitter user Citizen Free Press tweeted alongside the campaign video on Monday morning. As of three p.m. that afternoon, the video had greater than 3.1 million views.
“That is what happens when 20-something gender studies majors invade corporate boardrooms and wage woke crusades against their very own consumers One other fallen one today — R.IP. Miller Lite,” media personality Benny Johnson tweeted in response to the campaign.
The campaign video is “unlisted” on YouTube, meaning it doesn’t appear on the beer brand’s channel page, or in YouTube’s search results or suggestions.Miller Lite
“Miller Lite saw the Bud Light disaster and decided they needed their very own woke beer ad. These firms are broken & do not know who actually consumes their products,” one other user tweeted, although the Miller Lite campaign was posted before Bud Light spiraled into controversy.
“Im just going to quit drinking at this point,” one other user replied, as many others nodded to the slogan, “Go woke, go broke.”
On YouTube, comments suggested that between Bud Light and Miller Lite’s recent marketing moves, “we got 2 of the most effective examples of getting no clue who your customers were … Now notice how I said ‘were’ and never ‘are.’”
“This makes me wish to go buy more Yuengling,” one other commenter said.
Miller Lite’s “woke” campaign was released one month before Bud Light spiraled into controversy over its ties to trans social media star Dylan Mulvaney.Dylan Mulvaney / Instagram
In a timely marketing move, Yuengling leaned into patriotism with the discharge of limited-edition red, white and blue cans in support of veterans.D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.
Meanwhile, Yuengling has positioned itself to scoop up Bud Light — and possibly now Miller Lite’s — ex-customer base with the timely release of limited-edition red, white and blue cans to support veterans.
One other Twitter user called Miller Lite’s campaign “the most effective industrial ever for Yuengling.”
While the Miller Lite ad has seemingly escaped harsh criticism until now, Bud Light has continued to make headlines with declining sales and axed marketing execs.
Most recently, a second Bud Light senior marketing executive has been placed on leave following backlash and calls for a boycott over the brand’s recent partnership with Mulvaney.
Now, Bud Light isn’t the one beer in maker Anheuser-Busch’s portfolio suffering. Budweiser and Michelob Ultra sales were down 11.4% and 4.4%, respectively, the week ending April 29, in response to Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ data.