What?! No more half-naked ladies to sell you beer or cheeseburgers or soda or cars or WHATEVER else? These last few years have (kind of) seen the decline of ‘bro’ culture and have been in favor of more refined advertising that includes women instead of making them the object of the sale. In May, the Australian beer brand, Foster’s dropped its long-running ‘Good Call’ campaign (that involved a lot of Bro-y advice and scantily-clad women), and in July launched the humorous, ‘Why the hell not?’ campaign. This campaign includes women and appeals to a drinking scenario with mixed-sex interactions (not just bros chillin’ with bros and looking for the ladies…duh). Foster’s marketing team believes “…male attitudes have shifted from ‘laid-back and carefree’ to one of ingenuity.” Interesting… 🙂

Idea-people for the new marketing campaigns of these now bro-less, or less-bro, brands think that staying relevant is more important than boobies. The Lynx Effect (The Axe Effect for us over here in ‘Merica) has also ditched its Maxim Magazine style advertisements in favor of a more put-together, mature message. The brand, which is owned by Unilever, has even teamed up with the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) to raise awareness about male suicide rates. This change from man-boy humor to ingenuity and maturity is a tactic to stay relevant for the new generations that are coming of age and will be big consumers for these previously bro-y brands. What sells nowadays for just about everyone? Peace, love, experiences, adventure, and making an impact. It’s those damn Millennials again!

Pretty much in general, the shift has been toward not alienating women and every other demographic, which, SURPRISE, is a huge audience with lots of spending power. Limiting a brand to a bro image can go sour quickly, as brands like Burger King and Volkswagen learned a few years ago with creepy and kind of rude ad campaigns directed (like laser-point directed) at the young, stereotypical frat boy demographic. News flash: if you’re only trying to appeal to that crowd, you need to constantly top the last outrageous, usually body-bearing commercial you made. How far is that going to get you? Ad agencies have found that creating a more inclusive vibe is going to appeal to a lot more people, and probably even to those former, or current, bro culture lovers as well.

Sources:

Here, here, & here