When I look at the first ad, I see a man who isn't even paying attention to the puppies he's holding. How is that supposed to make me like him?

That and I generally have a negative attitude towards ads that don't show the product doing something by itself. Selling a beer? Show people smiling and drinking it, detail its flavor/calorie content/history. Don't plop down a guy with a pair of puppies and try to use that to sell beer. For a couple of seconds I thought the ad was for the sweater he was wearing.

The second ad, then, portrays men as lazy, shallow jerks who are just
trying to get laid (not soft and sensitive at all). And it portrays women as stupid and manipulable.

Really? Where does it portray men as "shallow jerks who are just trying to get laid"? I see where you can get the "lazy" part (although I'm sure that the advertisers would just claim it as "efficient"), but the "shallow jerks who are just trying to get laid" part I'm just not seeing.

As to the "women as stupid and manipulable", I'll give you that Molson did just make that association.

Of course, if I see someone drinking Molson, I generally assume it was because it was the cheapest beer that they could stomach, and if a girl ever were to come up to me at a bar (whatever I happened to be drinking), I was generally interested to talk ... up to the point where she expected me to pay for her drink.

Messages like this one, with its underlying "she won't be able to say no!" message, as if that's the ideal state of being, make me sick to my stomach.

These ads are from at least 10 years ago... can't find anything even remotely current to talk about?

I appreciate that it makes explicit reference to the implicit social conditioning of advertising, even though it's done in this manner.

this is atrocious..

"Pre-programmed for your convenience." Thanks, Molson, but you can't really take the credit for that. It's being raised in a culture of patriarchy where we are taught that every thing we do is only important or good if it benefits a male. We're programmed already. An advert is just one more drop in the bucket.

the american way

#occupymarketing

"The second ad, then, portrays men as lazy, shallow jerks who are just trying to get laid (not soft and sensitive at all).  And it portrays women as stupid and manipulable."

I think you might be taking the add a bit too literally.  It's based on a joke, with the conceit revolving around the absurdity of the target shitty-beer drinkers presenting themselves as caricatured square-jawed Scandinavian models, wearing expensive sweaters and cradling multiple puppies.  Also, drawing the message of women=dumb because of the joke's reliance on subliminal response strikes me as a bit of a stretch.  (Which is not to say that many viewers won't draw this conclusion -- I just don't think it's implicit in the add.) [EDIT: I failed to read the 'Pre-programmed for your convenience' bit. That does sort of suck.]

I think it's totally valid to be bummed about the fact that the female-targeted adds are merely a prop, or i guess about the joke being premised on the idea of men going to bars hoping to have sex with women they don't really love on somewhat fraudulent premises.  But recognizing the add as a joke is pretty fundamental to any sort of analysis.

it's a pretty sound bet for the marketing dept, but isn't there a certain hole in the one Cosmo side where girlfriends show/force the magazine on their boyfriends?  I'm flippin through Cosmo taking stupid 'quizzes' with my girl and I see some Fabio type drinking a Molson....I'll take notice I think hehe

I'm as feminist as they come, but I'm also an advertising copywriter, so I have to agree with whoever said both ads are based on self-deprecating humor that is being lost in this debate. They both poke fun at their intended targets, as a way for us to laugh at ourselves and our own simple wants and desires, which are most definitely stereo-typed here...they have to be for the joke to work. Women love puppies. Men love women. It's a cliche joke in that it's just one step removed from an even bigger cliche, that men love football and women love to shop, but it works just the same. It is just supposed to say, ha ha, aren't we funny human creatures with base, predictable desires? It's only offensive because it's true. The creative focus is more forgivable when you look at it that way and not so literally.

Wow. I think it's more than that. These ads are just in the end and "ploy" to make women again into a product to lure men into buying bear. It "shows" women are stupid and manipulable things that are there to the consumption of men. The second ad is the True Ad. The first is just a "ploy" and show how women are there to be consumed. It's disgusting and insulting.

Rapey, misogynist, and slimy. Fuck you, ad-scum.

Who drinks that shit anyways? That is NOT beer.

Another startling example of breathtaking douchbaggery in Advertising

What bothers me the most is that even this probably won't alienate anyone. No matter how blatant misogyny gets, as a society we seem unable to do anything bu accept it.

A very fine bit of photography -- notice how the pup on the right sports a beard to match the Molsonoid, his Molsonoidness, whatever.  

There's a craft beer with an alcohol content so high that even the packaging is filled with misspellings and grammatical errors.  The mistakes are honest mistakes.  Doesn't everyone prefer authenticity -- even if impaired -- to duplicitous manipulation?  Molson zero, high alcohol brew 8.3  FTW.

Not that this makes it ok, but this is a prevalent problem throughout the beer industry. Macro brews are largely shitty products that cannot be sold based on their "merits": color, taste or scent. Under the guise of kidding around, they make men look like boobs who will do anything to get their next beer or make them think that beer will make them cooler. 

I think it's hilarious.... obviously the point of the ad is not that this will actually work as it claims. The point is that the ad stands out, meaning more brand awareness by females and males.

Umm I think you are all missing the point. It's obviously a joke. Poking fun at advertising  and everything else associated with it. These aren't two separate ads aimed at two sets of demographics it's one ad campaigned aimed at everyone. Jokes on you.

Yup. Artsy floral arrangements on this side of the world. 

I could argue that by noting that the floral arrangements are tied together with hay and not, say, silk ribbon (we do that over here, too), the woman's wants are being equated to something quaint and cutesy instead of sophisticated. You give the girl-next-door an arrangement of sunflowers and daisies tied together with hay; you give the powerful sophisticate a single orchid in a crystal vase. What does this say about the power that the implied woman holds in this ad?

I think Molson knows women will see the other ad and compare. It's meta-advertising par excellence. I think it's very obvious that if the Cosmo ad was carefully engineered, so was the Playboy one. Btw, Molson tastes like paper.

Why would everyone get their
panties all in a bunch over this? It doesn't make men seem shallow and
lazy. It makes them pretty smart, that they took the time to think up
both ads and play on them as a joke. They know that no woman is
seriously going to care about what kind of beer the guy in the sweater
with the puppies is drinking. All they'll care about is that he's super
hot, and holding puppies. No one is stupid enough to truly believe that
the beer has anything to do with a woman's attraction to that photo.
Come to think of it, I don't even remember what kind of beer he was
drinking. :P Point made.

That guy just looks like a typical Canadian drinking his typical Canadian beer to me.  And no, puppies won't cause women to be attracted to him because he is still Canadian and just can't program women to be attracted to Canadians.

Creepy.

Also weird that a) the brand assumes women think "this man drinks Molson and is sensitive, I want him and also Molson" more than "puppies!" and b) a woman wouldn't read those other magazines.  I recall being a teenager; my best friend and I would read her brothers' Maxims just because they were around.  I don't know many girls, whether they were attracted to other girls or not, who never took a peek at a men's magazine just to see what was in there.  What do men supposedly want us to look like?  What are they saying behind our backs?  Are the articles and cartoons actually as funny and clever as they say (for anyone who missed this adventure, they're all right)?

My wife calls me over and shows me this article.

"So, what do you think?  Does it make you want to drink Molson?"
"Well, not really.  But I kinda want to bang a dude who's drinking one."

This is a fun one to unpack, because it's working on so many levels at once.  Is this funny, or creepy, or both, or neither?  Myself, I go with funny and creepy both.

First, could this be straight-up non-ironic?  If so, it's really really creepy.  Second, could this be read as straight-up non-ironic?  If so, the people who are reading it are really really creepy.

And they exist.  The PUA community is all about this sort of manipulation, and at least some of them could read the ad as simply factual -- a simple psychological transaction: "We have put resources into creating a situation in which you will benefit from giving us money."

On the other hand, we can read it as funny.  But, if it's funny, who is the joke on?  Again, a number of options here, of various degrees of creepiness:

Level 0.  The ad is non-ironic and not funny.  It's a simple transactional deal in which Molson's has set up a situation in which you get laid through giving them money. 

Level 1. The joke is on the women who read the first ad -- this can go along with a non-ironic reading of the ad.  The humor comes from the idea of women being unknowingly manipulated.  In addition to the transactional thing, you also get to laugh at how you're superior to those women, because you're in on the joke, AND benefiting from it

Level 2. The joke is on men who would read the thing at Level 1.  You get to read the thing, and laugh at the poor PUA-wannabees who are reading the ad, and thinking that that would work.

Level 3. The joke is on the ad industry as a whole -- we here at Molson's are really clever, just like you, and we both know that OTHER beer companies are really trying to sell this kind of message for real, but you and us?  We're too smart for that, and we just like making fun of those silly ad agencies that would write ads on Level 0, or Level 1.  I mean, I could see us writing an ad on Level 2, but, y'know, only for OTHER people -- YOU'RE too special for that.  You and me, we're up here on Level 3, looking down on those other non-ironic folks who aren't anywhere near as clever as we are, right?

It would be interesting to know how many people who have commented on this were also out shopping on Black Friday.

"WHOOOOOOSH".. That's the sound of the joke just breeeezing over your heads.  

To the "lighten up", "get over yourselves" brigade: some people (not you, obviously) have brains so powerful that they can laugh at the ads AND they can ALSO make and read comments analyzing the ads' relation to the sexist world we live in.

what ad company is responsible for this? Please, anyone?

This is tongue in cheek. And hilarious. And brilliant.

Uh, I'm a full time curmudgeon, but I think this ad pokes fun at advertising itself: metrosexuality-cum-hypermasculinity, the precedent of the Old Spice man, and a legacy of ridiculous advertising (e.g. going back from body sprays, to colognes, to cigarettes and hair tonics) promising men they can make themselves "irresistible" to women—who in this paradigm at least, are portrayed as no more or less manipulatable than men, who in turn are thought to be wooed witless by makeup and stockings. This is a joke* about post-naive seduction, folks! Most of all, we shouldn't forget the cynical bottom line: they fully expect both sexes to talk about this, as we are here. *Yes, most people won't get it. But most people think Judge Judy is a real judge, and that there is a heaven. So, natch.

Haha, that genuinely surprised me. I was expecting the men's advert to be a naked lady or something. Something as hilariously blatant as what the men's advert actually was ("have a meta explanation for an ad targeted at women, 'cause you're smart! No way that this meta ad is designed to fool you in much the same way, nuh-uh! You're above that, drinkers of our beer! You do drink our beer, right? Right? Huh? Huh?") took me off guard.

I can't say that I don't think it's quite clever.

I can say that I think it's disgusting, relying on tired, lazy, boring and potentially damaging stereotypes, with disturbing messages regarding male privilege and the way that women are viewed as commodities to be used by men. 

'Hundreds of thousands of women. Pre-programmed for your convenience.'
'Triggering the process [...]'
'You can achieve success without putting in any time or effort.'

These phrases all leave a very bad taste in my mouth. Poor show, Molson.

It's actually an ad made to brainwash everyone.  Canadians are going to steal our puppies, sweaters, and women!  Can't you get it?!?!  Rise up and fight for your puppies, sweaters, women (and cute guys I guess)!!    

So many defenders of the ad are arguing intent. But this is advertising. It's not intent that matters, but effect. And clearly the effect is to alienate the female portion of the audience by making it clear they aren't in on the joke. The effect is to further exaggerate manufactured boundaries between men and women reinforced by media that insist we need segregated magazines and ad campaigns, and that clearly it's cooler to be on the men's side, where you get a "backstage pass" to their pathetic marketing campaign.

why there should be an ad in the kitchen

"Don't read beauty magazines they'll only make you feel ugly"!

I'm a woman.  When I saw the ad just from Cosmo, I laughed out loud.  It's funny on its own, without the Playboy counterpart.  Very obviously pandering to women to buy Molsen in a light-hearted and funny way.  The male ad seemed stupid to me, but I'm not its target audience.

What seems key here is that *both* the ads put MALE DESIREABILITY front and center.  Which is risky for an ad aimed at men!  In our culture, women are *expected* to make themselves attractive to men, and it's considered marked behavior when we don't.  But a man can't look like he's trying too hard to attract women while he's around other men, or he will be mocked as being too feminine or desperate.  So the ad company has to put a veneer of tough-guy over it so they can make their argument successfully. 

So when you go on about how sexist/misogynistic/etc. these ads are, remember that the presupposition in the ad is that it's the woman who gets to decide who she mates with.  A man trying to stack the deck in his favor by drinking a certain beer/using a bodywash/etc. is a blatant acknowledgment of that fact.  Which is a good thing.  And kind of the opposite of "rapey".

Hi Lisa

I wrote about your post in my blog, and would love to hear your response.http://workthatmatters.blogspot.com/2011/11/postmodern-beer-advertising-from-molson.html

Cheers!

- Tom.

I think it's awesome, and I'm a woman.

Hi-fuckin'-larious. Check that exposure, pushing all the right buttons to get the soc blogs in a tizzy and everyone talking.

Can we say "complicit?"

This is so.... sinister...

yet another reason to support craft beer and not this BMC crap

Molson: The Sexual Offender of Beers.

OR....... It's just a funny ad campaign that's being blown out of proportion by an overly sensitive audience. 

//So Molson was counting on women never seeing their ads in men’s magazines. //

If you seriously think that Molson gives a hoot about whether women see ad #2, I suggest your re-examine the basic principles through which you interpret reality. 

As an aside, congratulations for becoming an (admittedly belated) part of Molson's marketing strategy. 

Those puppies look miserable. Also, what is that expression on his face? He looks like he's trying to figure out what the heck is something in front of him. Not sexy. Even if he's gorgeous.

As a soft and sensitive male who enjoys Molson beer, I am outraged that they would take my individual identity and then market it in a way that makes me and my brothers look like lazy shallow jerks who are just trying to get laid. FeminiMasculinists unite against this "so called" "tyranny" of "hilarity". 

If I could speak to them directly, I'd fight fire with fire - is this the lollipop factory? 'Caz y'all are a bunch'a suckas. 

I just find this hilarious.

YEAH, SEXISM IS SO EDGY, RIGHT?

This whole exposure = profit thing is so incredibly oversimplified and insulting to the masses that it's making me feel kind of ill.

The ad is making women out to be even more complicated than we are. All I see is a hot guy and puppies drinking what? A root beer? I didn't know that was beer. When I see a regular man drinking Molsen all I'm going to think is, 'Dang. Wish I had a hot guy and some puppies.' And then I'll ask the dude I'm looking at if that root beer is any good. 

Since the buy-out by Americans and the introduction of 'chemical beer' - Canadians are flocking to the local  Micro-Breweries for real Canadian beers! Fresh, unpasteurized, enzyme filled, yeasty, strong British style Ales, light German beers - Yeast, clean Canadian water, barley, and Canadian grown hops only contents! Great Czech Pilseners at some, "Trois Pistoles" bottled in Quebec, a Barley aperitif really, and porters and Dark Ales to make Guinness cry! Stouts abound, and the greater joy is ours! O ! Canada !

I just find this hilarious.

Life is so lonely .I am a sexy and single woman at present .I need a man
who can love me back . I also uploaded my hot photos on w W
w.richsingleclub.C//o//m  under the name
of jessicasingle, CERTIFIED INCOME)..It’s the largest and best club for someong special and
seeking CEOs, pro athletes, doctors, lawyers, investors, entrepreneurs, beauty
queens, fitness models, and Hollywood celebrities.Please Check it out!I’m serious.

advertising = powerful, emotive, persausive, controversial, confrontational, and much much more. Whether we agree or disagree with the principles used matters not. The brand is being talked about. Job done.

I think mayhaps you have over looked the fact that it is meant to be funny. The stats and all are tongue in cheek and the over-analysis of it is ridiculous. It is beer- made by a company that tries to sell it's product with a wink and a bit of humor. Drink it, enjoy it, carry on...

It's absurd that anyone would take these ads seriously. Haven't any of you read Camille Paglia? Life is too short to be so humorless. The joke is that no one with half a brain reads Cosmo or Playboy and even these people know the ads are ridiculous. All that's going to happen is that a woman in a bar might see a guy drinking a Molson Canadian and tell him that she saw this fake manipulative ad in a woman's magazine and the guy will tell her the joke. They will both laugh and and talk a little more and maybe or maybe not they will find out they like each other. Many great relationships have started with foolish jokes and Molson Canadian is just trying to help out a little----and sell some beer that I happen to like.