Buzzfeed dubs Bud Light the "rape culture" beer

Have you ever been date raped? Have you ever woken up in bed with an acquaintance with no memory of the night before (or even, for that matter, *seeing that person* the night before)? And did you find out later that he had been tasked with putting you in a cab home that night because you were barely able to stand or make a coherent sentence, but took it upon himself to get into that cab as well because he saw your semi-consciousness as an opportunity? Well? And then did you have to see his face every single day afterwards? And be constantly reminded of what happened, knowing that you were neither physically nor psychologically able to say "No" to someone who saw your incapacitation as an excuse to violate you?

Because I have. And so have a hell of a lot of other women. 1 in 3 to be exact. One. In. Three.

Professional victims? Being too sensitive? Experience what I and 33.3% of other women have and then tell me that I'm being ridiculous for having an adverse reaction to that line.

(Insert obligatory disclaimer about the fact that "yes, this does happen to men too, but that it's far more prevalent amongst women" here.)

On the surface, the distinction between the wording being "from your vocabulary" as opposed to "from her vocabulary" is significant, in that it's not necessarily "promoting rape culture" as suggested. But still remains an incredibly powerful trigger for the woman who picks up the bottle herself, reads that line, and remembers the time that "no" was removed from her vocabulary....

That time it happened to me.

Is this why 7up is not advertising anymore? Because if you made "7up yours" today, the outrage would fuel a small city?

David, I understood what I presumed was the intent of the line, within the overall campaign. I also think that we have a responsibility to listen to people who tell us that our work hurts them in ways we didn't anticipate. This doesn't require one to believe that Bud Light is condoning date rape; it can also be a realization that advertising can have unintended negative consequences to vulnerable groups of people. And it requires us to be willing to learn and grow.

I'm not interested in winning an argument here, but I sincerely hope that you can someday drop the reactionary "Americanised outrage culture" strawman. It's neither smart nor original.

Maybe, instead, you could put yourself in the shoes of someone who has been raped in the context of binge-drinking party culture. Imagine seeing a campaign that talks about having "no" removed from your vocabulary, as part of losing all inhibitions. Think about your rapist telling everyone that you wanted it at the time, and he couldn't control himself anyway, and that you just regretted your decision afterwards. While his buddies give him high-fives. With Buds in their other hands. Superimpose logo and tagline.

Isn't understanding other people what advertising is all about? Alcohol has a role in date rape, just as it has a role in drunk driving. While people are responsible for their own criminal actions, the brands have a social (and often regulatory) responsibility to at least not promote the negative consequences of abuse of their products. This isn't just me: Lisa Weser, Senior Director, U.S. Marketing Communications at Anheuser-Busch, told me on Twitter that she considered the can "an undisputable facepalm." I wouldn't be surprised if the campaign winds down early as a result of the PR clusterf*ck.

David, there's no way we're going to see eye-to-eye on this in the short term. It is clear that you have no "pity" for Angel. Which makes you not so much "pragmatic" as painfully out-of-touch, in my opinion. But everyone has an opportunity to evolve. I hold out hope for you yet.

Hey Kid Sleepy

I'm aware of what's going on with Christians in Kenya and elsewhere, but we're all in the West here, and the idea of offense and hurt is still very different between a vulnerable person who is a victim of assault and a religious group that is in the majority in the 4 nations this discussions represents. If an ad made light of killing Christians, rather than the example of taking the "Lord's" name in vain, then I would accept the parallel. But that's not what we're talking about here. It's a red herring. Let's not do that.

Instead, let's back up and look at this objectively: A major brand does a cheeky campaign. One small element of that campaign blows up on social media because it was tone-deaf in terms of current social issues and sensitivities. The brand admits it was a misstep. The chaos gradually dies down. We all learned a valuable lesson.

This is the kind of story we're all very familiar with. You can take the stand that people are too hard on brands and look for reasons to be offended, or you can say that they should be more careful because this is the age we live in now. That is a debate that we can have as professionals, and we'll all benefit from having a respectful discussion about it.

What derailed this thread, in my opinion, was David's callous dismissal of an individual victim of sexual violence, sharing her story here. This is where we've stepped outside of theoretical debate. He has, in effect, re-victimized her by saying she doesn't have a right to be hurt by the stupid line on the bottle. That's really unconscionable in my book.

Angel's comment, and what happened afterwards, is an important reminder that our work has effects that we might not anticipate. No, I don't think Bud Light's campaign team purposely promoted rape culture. But making light of "no" in that context was a stupid mistake that should have been caught by wiser heads along the approval process. For the sake of the brand, if not for the sake of people who have been sexually assaulted and the people who love them.

I'm not sure why we can't see this as it is: another opportunity to gain wisdom in advertising. Buzzfeed is irrelevant to the conversation, because there are literally millions of other places this could have happened. They just lit the match, so to speak, but the gasoline was already everywhere.

Let's maybe forget about "outrage," "offense" and "sensitivity" and instead look at empathy and being excellent to each other. It's easy to say that people are too quick to anger, and for sure there are people who cynically make a living feeding those fires. But in the aftermath, Bud Light has the opportunity to make a positive statement about their corporate social responsibility.

The question is, has David learned anything?

Nice try, David. But this is really about you being horribly insensitive to a person who reported being raped. Your attempts at flaming me don't do a thing to distract from that.

I'm happy to debate advertising with Dabitch and kidsleepy, because I respect their opinions even when I disagree with them. But you're just not worth it. At least, not based on what you've brought to this thread.

i thought those adds were for the idiot culture? Morons think it's reality. Women who think that scene is cool are just dumb, I'm sorry but what do they expect? If they don't think about things clearly then that is no excuse. Who wants to drink bud light anyway?