Overcoming an Image Problem

In mid-1970's America, the common opinion was that light beer tasted weak. That it was a beer for women.

The Miller Brewing Company’s (now MillerCoors) wanted to increase light beer sales. To do that, they they needed to change the way their product was viewed by the majority of beer drinkers: men.

 

Taking the debate head-on, Miller and their ad agency McCann-Erickson Worldwide focused on the message: masculine men are comfortable drinking light beer, so you should be too.

The campaign featured macho role-models, such as popular pro football players, drinking their light beer in over the top masculine ways and declaring it great tasting. Or less filling.

In the prime of the campaign, television commercials typically portrayed a friendly machismo competition between the two features/benefits, with one side of of their celebrity Lite Beer drinkers extolling its great taste followed by others who debated it was less filling.

Hilarity ensued.

The commercials then closed with: “Lite Beer from Miller: Everything you’ve always wanted in a beer. And less.”

Their “Tastes Great, Less Filling” campaign is ranked by Advertising Age as the eighth best advertising campaign in history.

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