The beer brand offered an unconventional alternative to dry January, and we’re listening.
Advertising slogans can be hit or miss, but for a few hours Monday morning, Pabst Blue Ribbon’s new social media campaign really caught Twitter’s (and our) imagination. You might even say, they gobbled it up.
Dry January, the teetotaler movement that encourages abstinence from drinking throughout the month, is in full swing, so PBR suggested an alternative activity for participants looking to wet their whistles. “Not drinking this January? Try eating ass!” the company tweeted. Needless to say, Twitter had thoughts on the new marketing campaign.
When one Twitter user asked “PBR or ass? What’s the difference?” the brand was quick to respond with two follow-up tweets: “Ask your mom” — and then (because inclusivity?) — “And dad.”
It also responded “Yep” to another user who suggested a name change for the brand to “Pabst Blue Rimmin’”
The tweets were polarizing on social media, with many users saying that they were in, — wait for it — poor taste. However, not everyone was bummed out over the tweets and were happy to laugh along.
It didn’t take long for the company to, ahem, reverse course, taking down the tweets after a few hours and issuing a statement apologizing for the content.
“We apologize about the language and content of our recent tweets. The tweets in question were written in poor judgment by one of our associates,” Nick Reely, PBR’s vice president of marketing, said in a statement to Adweek.
“In no way does the content of these tweets reflect the values of Pabst and our associates. We’re handling the matter internally and have removed the tweets from our social platforms,” Reely added.
But since nothing on the internet is really ever deleted, this moment in PBR history will live on both in screenshots forever.
Source: Advocate