With outrage brewing on social media over an apparent “woke” advertising campaign about the role of women in beer making throughout history, increased scrutiny is being placed on Miller Lite’s marketing department.
The beer brand, which announced the campaign on March 7 but has received a flood of criticism since Monday, is facing calls for a boycott from conservatives. Miller is the latest company to be targeted for supposedly “woke” marketing, and comparisons have been drawn between the campaign and the backlash Bud Light has received over a partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Elizabeth Hitch, senior director of marketing, said that Miller Lite wanted to “recognize that without women, there would be no beer” for Women’s History Month, which takes place in March.
“We wanted to acknowledge the missteps in representation of women in beer advertising by cleaning up not just our s***, but the whole industry’s s*** while benefiting the future of women and beer,” added Hitch, who appears to have deleted her LinkedIn and Twitter profiles.
When asked if Hitch might take a leave of absence, Adam Collins, chief communications and corporate affairs officer of Molson Coors, Miller Lite’s parent company, told Newsweek: “Absolutely not. Period.
“People can take issue with our ads or our brands, but we won’t stand by as people personally attack our employees—especially given that these are company decisions, and are never made by one single person.”
In the Miller Lite ad, comedian Ilana Glazer discusses how women had historically been “the ones doing the brewing,” but of late the industry had paid homage to this by putting them “in bikinis.”
The company said when it announced the campaign that the beer industry had “alienated the very people who helped create it” with “outdated” and “sexist” advertising, including some that the company produced in the past. The commercial depicts Glazer dropping a Miller Lite poster featuring a scantily clad woman into a garbage can.
The company said it would be buying back its old marketing material, turning it into compost to make fertilizer so female farmers can produce more than 1,000 pounds of hops that would be given to 200 female brewers to make 330,000 beers.
One Twitter user described Hitch as Miller Lite’s version of Alissa Heinerscheid, vice president of marketing for Bud Light, one of the two who went on a leave of absence during the controversy over its partnership with Mulvaney. Another directly appealed to Gavin Hattersley, CEO of Molson Coors, to fire her.
Social media archives show Hitch worked her way up at Molson Coors, from a regional business analyst to her current role in charge of marketing for the beer brand.
She received a bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance from Marquette University before completing an MBA in marketing and international business at the Kellogg School of Management, part of Northwestern University, between 2013 and 2015.
Explaining the rationale for the recent ad campaign to Forbes in March, she said: “Through our campaign efforts, we’re hoping to achieve both measurable impact and feel-good vibes. While we wanted to take a tongue and cheek approach to acknowledge the past, Miller Lite is also on a larger mission to make the beer industry more inclusive for women.”
While experts have said such campaigns provide an opportunity for brands to appeal to consumers in new markets, critics have accused companies of alienating their traditional customer base.
Apparently, what passes for wisdom in American marketing departments is "we'll go woke, but we'll say 'sh*t' a lot so that our customers will like it."
Miller Lite is owned by Coors. You know what to do. pic.twitter.com/3cvVF0Izsm
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 15, 2023
Prominent conservative social media users have since decried the campaign as “woke,” and that Miller Lite had “no idea who actually consumes their products” and “apparently wants the Bud Light boycott treatment too.”
“Apparently, what passes for wisdom in American marketing departments is ‘we’ll go woke, but we’ll say “sh*t” a lot so that our customers will like it,'” tweeted Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point U.S.A.
With Bud Light sales declining rapidly in the month after it faced its own boycott calls—much of that taken on by competitors, including Miller Lite, and two of its top marketing executives placed on leave—questions are now being asked of Miller Lite’s marketing decisions.
Peter Lloyd, a journalist and author of Stand By Your Manhood, noted that in the cases of Bud Light and Miller Lite, the controversial ads had been “created by a woman,” adding: “Notice a pattern?”
But Miller Lite’s ad has received plaudits from others for being historically educative and humorous while appealing to female consumers. Ed Krassenstein, a social media personality, wrote: “Do people really think this ad goes too far? I think it’s a funny yet respectable way of honoring women.”
Is Anti-wokeness now going way too far?
Miller Lite is now under attack by many on the right for creating this ad, which pays homage to women. The ad is actually a joke about “Good $#!T.”
So many people are now accusing this of being a “woke ad” because it gives credit to… pic.twitter.com/5laXJ3Utv8
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) May 15, 2023