TODAY IN CULTURE WAR: Bud Light and Leaf Blowers and the Super Bowl

Join me as I work to (1) be funny (2) maintain my professional facade.

I was writing a big long Take on the 2024 election and Men and Guys, but I am putting that to a side because I have fallen over.

I have fallen over because of a new Super Bowl ad from Bud Light. A colleague pointed it out as a particularly rich text on the culture war…and, yeah, no kidding.

Well, friends…

[salute] Senior masculinity correspondent to the stars reporting for duty.

Now, look. Beer commercials have always targeted dudes. To wit: the genuinely funny “Real Men of Genius” ads. And let us not forget: AAAAND TWIIIIIINS.

But this ad is more complicated than toupee jokes or boobs. Let’s talk about the layers.

First off: Dylan Mulvaney, the aftermath.

This is what we’re really here to talk about, right? For those who don’t know: Back in April 2023, Bud Light did a promotion with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Dylan posted a video of herself promoting a Bud Light sweepstakes and showing off a can the company sent with her face on it.

This pissed off some people on the right. One notable response: Kid Rock posted a video in which he shot an automatic weapon at some cases of Bud Light. His take: “Fuck Bud Light and fuck Anheuser Busch.”

Sales plummeted, and they stayed down throughout 2023, according to Harvard Business Review, which posted an in-depth analysis that’s really worth your time if you’re curious.

One of their theories is that Bud Light’s buyers are, as a whole, pretty middle-of-the-road politically, which is probably what made the boycott so intense.

The idea is that a more liberal beer brand (Heineken is an example they give) wouldn’t have alienated many of its already-liberal drinkers with this kind of a partnership. A more firmly conservative brand, meanwhile, wouldn’t have done the partnership.

Those brands, in short, can afford to take political stands that align with their consumers.

Bud Light, meanwhile, is both a behemoth and middle-of-the-road. It’s trying to appeal to everyone, but in reaching for young and progressive drinkers, Anheuser Busch overshot and alienated a bunch of people on the right.

Which brings us back to “Big Men on Cul de Sac.” The simplest read of this: Bud Light is trying to tell people: No, it’s okay, calm down, we’re still into old-fashioned cis dudes.

And in doing that, the brand is practically in Guy Drag – beers and lawnmowers and dads and unnecessarily complicated gadgets and grilling. (To be honest, I’m a little stunned Tim Allen isn’t here.)

To me, the idea here is simple: men men men calm beige suburban setting guys men dudes picket fences men dudes men we are not making any statements, period. Laugh and move on.

But ohohoho joke’s on you, Bud Light. I’ve got a Substack and I move on from NOTHING.¹

Let’s go to our next layer.

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Secondly: leaf blowers.

Hey guys. Are your Husqvarnas shooting Bud Lights, or are you just happy to see me?

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I can restrain myself. There’s some obvious symbolism going on here that we can all handle like adults. So let’s talk about what this ad is doing. It’s positing that two men who can really handle their leaf blowers can also liven up a party, which, I dunno. In my experience, a party is well and truly over if a couple of guys get their leaf blowers out.

[deep breath] OK. I can talk intelligently, and not point out that these are cordless leaf blowers, and those units just usually don’t last that long.

Nope. I can do this. I can be mature.

[pause]

But also if your leaf blower stays on for more than four hours, consult a doctor no no no stoppit Danielle.

But with regard to realism, I do find myself wondering: could a leaf blower actually shoot a beer? It seems like it would be a hell of a job for a blower. Hell of a … job. For a- nope nope not writing a punchline nope nope nope I love my paycheck and want to keep it nope.²

Anyway, whoever catches those beers, best not open ‘em immediately.

I’m sorry but I’m not. Let’s move on.

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Shane Gillis

Let’s talk about the lawn chair guys. One of them, in all his face-tatted glory, is Post Malone. And one of them is Shane Gillis.

Shane Gillis, for the uninitiated, is a popular stand-up comedian. He has a show on Netflix. A glance at the trailer tells me that the show, Tires, is about a bunch of people – mostly dudes – who work at an auto parts store. (Five dude points.)

But really, a lot of people know Gillis – and this is what I remembered him from – from that time that SNL announced he’d be joining the cast, then promptly ditched him after people surfaced examples of him being racist on his podcast. And then some examples of him being sexist. And using a homophobic slur. After that, SNL said ok know what, no way, not him.

Since then, he’s had a successful career anyway, with cable specials³, the aforementioned Netflix show, and even an SNL hosting gig. Full circle baybee!

To me, a plausible read is that Bud Light is getting the best of all worlds – not only casting a cancel culture victim, but one who’s been once again deemed acceptable by the very place that triggered his cancellation – and that kind of casting doesn’t happen by accident.

It’s a wink to people who will catch the significance, and if they don’t, it’s just another guy in a beer commercial.

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Post Malone

I’ll be honest – I’m not sure what to read into Mr. Malone. But maybe that’s the point. Sure, he’s been controversial, being accused of cultural appropriation in his hip-hop music. But over time, he’s proven to be ecumenical. He’s collaborated with Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen and Beyonce and Taylor Swift. He’s a guy lots of people will know and like from something.

But maybe everything is simpler than I’m making it. Maybe Bud Light is saying thank you to a loyal friend – one who, after the Mulvaney blowup, went on Rogan and chugged a Bud Light.

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The neighborhood.

It’s…very white. I can’t imagine that’s by accident.

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The grill

I think it was Carol Gilligan – or was it Betty Friedan? – who talked about the use of grills and cookouts to perpetuate the mythos of the American family and the subjugation of women and their inherent power ok I am not well-read enough to continue this joke.

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Peyton Manning

I write this newsletter after-hours, people. I don’t have time to research niche topics I’m not into, like “touchdown completions” and “quarter-backs” and “football.”

My basic understanding of Mr. Manning is that he’s a big deal who threw a lot of footballs real hard, and also he had no scandals that rose to the level that I would have heard about and remembered them. Seems like inoffensive perfection! America! Leaf-blowers! Yay team! Leaf blowers! BLOW THOSE LEAVES, AMERICA!

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UPDATES AND LINKS

New year, new beat! I’m now a White House correspondent, my friends. I join NPR’s illustrious team of talented White House reporters, and I’m honored and a little intimidated. Stay tuned.

Why Trump’s tariff promises will be hard to keep. This was posted well before the Mexico-Canada kerfuffle. However, the point stands for the next tariff threat he makes: tariffs can’t (a) bring in revenue, (b) boost American industry, and (c) act as a bargaining chip at the same time.

Trump’s executive order barring transgender girls from girls’ sports. This explains what’s in the order, but I want to highlight a quote that I found striking. A White House official told reporters on a call, “I know that there are going to be stories that say this has to do with banning transgender sports or something about that. And this has nothing to do with that.” Now…of course, it will most definitely keep transgender girls out of girls’ sports. But the White House is being very careful to say they’re in fact being fair to those girls…by calling them boys and saying they should be accepted on boys’ teams. I’ll be curious how those cases play out.

Trump’s pushing an anti-“gender ideology” agenda…but what does that even mean? Gender ideology was always a political phrase — a slogan Trump loved on the trail. But now, the administration is trying to give that slogan policy and legal definitions. The results are messy. I’ve been talking to federal workers and contractors affected by the push to get “gender ideology” out of federal government. They’ve said the orders have caused them everything from confusion to fear.

Biden’s last-minute ERA push. Remember this? Why did he wait until the literal final days of his presidency? What was he doing? I still don’t know.

YOUR OLD-INTERNET JOY FOR TODAY: Benedict Cumberbatch reads Sol Lewitt’s letter to Eva Hesse. Did I know of either Sol Lewitt or Eva Hesse before I heard this letter? No. But it doesn’t matter. It’s one artist writing to another about creativity and the need to stop sitting there ruminating and instead just go DO SOME SHIT. Hell yeah. Great energy for all of us. (NOTE: There’s a lot of yelling in this video. Yelling of swears. Do not watch/listen aloud at work.)

1. This is true. Evidence: Amy Sorenson told me in high school at a church youth group retreat that “Hey Kurtzleben! when you dance, it looks like you’re humping the air.” As a result, I have not moved my pelvis while dancing in more than two decades.

2. You might say I’m not taking this joke to completion.

3. In writing this, I spent part of an afternoon poking through his specials, and some of his stuff is in fact pretty funny. NUANCE.