Molson Canadian scores Canada's favourite viral image of the moment #anythingforhockey

Via Molson

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Molson asks: Are you on a "Guyet"?

Beer advertising for men has always had a certain dufus appeal. This new campaign for Molson's 67-calorie beer is no different:



From Strategy:

Jean-Yves Beaudoin, assistant marketing manager, Molson Coors, says that the campaign is different for the brand because it’s aimed more at a mindset and a lifestyle than a demographic. 

“‘Guyet’ is a way of life.  It’s not about indulging in crappy food all the time, it’s about exercising properly so you can rationalize eating things you love, like burgers with bacon,” he says of the insight behind the campaign.

Which is the way lots of us live, but why brand it just for men? Lots of women I know like burgers and beer, and still try to balance their intake with healthy activity.

The obvious answer is that it's not an easy sell to get guy's guys to be seen drinking lower-calorie beer. At least, that's how I deconstruct the challenge given to the creative team at Rethink.

The key line: "This isn't some diet — and this isn't some diet beer"

Presumably, they have research to show that the men they want to sell to don't want to admit to being on a "diet" or drinking "light beer". Instead, they exercise hard and eat hearty, while drinking a lower-cal beer that in no way compromises their masculinity.

Pretty strategic advertising, actually. Even if it doesn't have the most progressive take on gender.

O Canada played on beer empties

It's Canada Day Weekend, hosers. And here's our national anthem performed on beer bottles, cans and kegs:



Have a good one, eh? (And thanks to Ryan for the tip - via HuffPo.)

Postmodern beer advertising from Molson?

This is kind of hard to believe, but also quite remarkable.

After years of serving up ads that insinuiate that drinking their brand of beer will make you attractive to the opposite sex, Molson has decided to go meta.

The above ad, according to Sociological Images, appeared in Cosmopolitan. Just look at that sensitive, but ruggedly manly, dude with the adorable puppies and matching sweater and cap. A fine catch for any heterosexual woman! And look here! He's drinking a Molson!

While not very credible in its forced cuddliness, this ad probably went unnoticed between all the photoshopped boobs and bums that make up most of the ads in a women's mag.

But then someone caught wind of the other side of the campaign, that ran in FHM and Playboy:

Copy:

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF WOMEN.
PRE-PROGRAMMED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE. 

As you read this, women across America are reading something very different: an advertisement (fig. 1) scientifically formulated to enhance their perception of men who drink Molson. The ad shown below, currently running in Cosmopolitan magazine, is a perfectly tuned combination of words and images designed by trained professionals.  Women who are exposed to it experience a very positive feeling.  A feeling which they will later project directly onto you. Triggering the process is as simple as ordering a Molson Canadian (fig. 2).
…
Extravagent dinners.  Subtitled movies. Floral arrangements tied together with little pieces of hay. It gets old.  And it gets expensive, depleting funds that could go to a new set of of 20-inch rims. But thanks to the miracle of Twin Advertising Technology, you can achieve success without putting in any time or effort. So drop the bouquet and pick up a Molson Canadian…

Sociological Images editor Lisa Wade (a respected blogging ally, I should disclose) was offended by the ruse, writing "The second ad, then, portrays men as lazy, shallow jerks who are just trying to get laid (not soft and sensitive at all). And it portrays women as stupid and manipulable."

But I think Molson was on to something here. And it has to do with the nature of the trick.

There is no way any male reader of those magazines would take the "Male" ad seriously. It is a parody of the many "how to pick up girls" ads that have been gracing those kinds of publications since the '60s.

It also needs to be seen in context of the culture of pranking Millennials have grown up with. While some women might be offended by the goofy trick, others may get as much of a laugh out of it as the men.

What do you think?

UPDATE: Åsk, from Adland, tells me this campaign is old. Like, real old. (It's always good to know the internet's longest-running ad blogger!)

Happy Canada Day!

It's a day off, so here are a bunch of YouTube videos that give insights into Canadianness:

























Please feel free to add links to other videos in the comments below, eh?