Boycotting Is a Slippery Slope

Edited for accuracy.

 

From time to time there I see articles promoting boycotting breweries that are bought by big breweries (the Zombie Beer post was shameful btw). Always considered this US vs. Them mentality ridiculous. Now BA gets bashed for taking money from ABI Ads.

You reap what you sow..

 

Game, set and match

 

I marvel at advertising, wondering exactly how big corporations quantify the value of huge advertising budgets. I know the expenditures likely are hugely effective. At the same time I am very wary of advertising in general, and really worry when my wife and I sing ad jingles on our daily walks. Well, maybe not that last part....I think more and more consumers know what they want, find ways to ignore the incessant subliminal messaging and learn about products on their own. Advertising is part of freedom and is a product that all need not purchase.

 

Just as an FYI, advertising is a method of getting attention. It is believed to be effective when sales increase following a major campaign and necessary when competing for attention with other similar products. Indeed the more similar the products the higher the frequency of advertising for individual brands is likely to be. But advertising isn't particularly effective if people don't want to repeat something they may have tried or the ads are about something they don't need or want. So the repetition of jingles, etc. is primarily to keep things memorable for existing customers.

As for subliminal messages they are actually the least effective kind of advertising since being subliminal (below threshold of recognition) they tend not to be even noticed.

While advertising won't go away in the near future there are plenty of instances where big advertising campaigns have produced little effect (e.g., the Edsel Ford) or even blowback (e.g., the recent Bud Light campaign that was dropped that had included the line "Removes the word 'no' from your vocablularly for the night).

 

Must be why half time at the Super Bowl with its ad breaks is a show in itself.......

 

Yep. That's part of why some buy time to do an advert on that evening.

Also, if the advert is imaginative enough it gets repeated elsewhere, often for free. Think Mean Joe Greene and Coca Cola, or the Apple "Why 1984 won't be like 1984. "

 

Sounds like something (EvenMore) Jesus would say!

 

First and foremost let me say I respect the people who run this forum. I know first hand how challenging that can be. In that light, the owners of the forum should feel free to manage it however they see fit. To the naysayers and anyone on the fence, let me compare our relationship to the beer world to that of the rest of the world. - I love my family but I don't love everything they do. I support my friends when they make bad life decisions. I certainly do not agree with my employer but I trade my hours for dollars. Some of those dollars I use to buy the best beer I can find. Is that beer tainted because of my income source? Well I feel like I have digressed...
Cheers!

 

IMO, boycotting well crafted, quality beer is effectively limiting your own freedom of choice. I choose to boycott bad beer.

 

I as well respect Todd and Jason for being early and quick with enough technical expertise to get this site up and going. And for keeping it up and going for 20 years. But I don't give them credit for being the smartest beer folks out there. There are many on this very site whose opinions I respect more. They finally hit the wall with commenting one way, and taking the money with the other hand. I don't take their rights to profit and make a living lightly. But when you see Todd post 14 times on one thread, I think they realize maybe they crossed a line. Therefore the slippery slope has been slidden down, and as shakespeare would have said now thou protesteth a bit too much. And mind you this, I'm one who believes in capitalism and believes that until the product changes there is no reason to be against big companies just because they did enough business to get big. But if you profess one side, then you need to stick to it. Imho

 

BWAHAHAHA!

This guy wins.

 

One of the things that I find interesting is the EITHER/OR ... GOOD VS BAD mentality of so many posters out here (clearly not most) . IMHO, Most of what happens in the the world is in the realm of 'shades of gray'; Perhaps 99% of what goes on is.

It's so easy to look at one single event, and bash someone for not being perfect, or holy, or 100% true to their word (I'm NOT saying anyone is or isn't, btw). Find me someone out here who fits that bill? If you think you are that person, please, please speak up. I would like to meet you, because you are perhaps the first person in history.

(Speaking to the perfectionists) Really people; come on. Been there, done that. It's time to grow up (children often see the world in GOOD VS BAD) and embrace reality: there is no way to stand for anything (as clearly Todd is) without dealing in shades of grey.

I have always had great respect for this site, and those that run it, and I STILL do. (No, I'm not blowing smoke up anyone's ass).

Todd: if anyone out here doesn't get it, too bad. It's like what one of my most respected craft beer breweries founders has stated: "The one's who are meant to get it, will get it." PERIOD. Let the rest of them just be.

 

I certainly respect your decision to accept advertising revenue from ABI as I respect any small brewery to sell to ABI. We live in a free society (and small brewers have to pay healthcare and put kids through school too) and even if ABI cuts off supply of a certain hop to small brewers - if you're good at what u do, I believe u will come up with an alternative solution. Consumers have beer choices and its just beer!! I draw the line on media content, not on something so insignificant over which breweries you accept advertising from as this is a life luxury, but when one chooses to accept revenue from groups supporting hate or inequality like the organizations promoting violence and hate in Charlottesville this weekend. I just want a great publication like Beer Advocate to thrive and survive. Cheers

 

Ok so is the decision to not run ABI ads a personal choice, or a business choice in that a few BAs threatened to drop their subscriptions? Seems in a past post you mention you acquiesced to some BA pressure. It also seems to me that even here they would be the minority, but again your Ad space IMO isn't a personal endorsement. So ad money vs losing a few subscriptions. So if you have replacement advertisers it's of no significance,,, until they're acquired by ABI. You see the slope where this could go looking ahead. At least in my area I don't see ABI as predatory, might not be true elsewhere.