“Brut slaps… and twins”: Hypercommercialized sports media and the intensification of gender ideology

Miller High Life launched a marketing campaign in 2011 positioning the beer as “The Official Sponsor of You.” Combining the targeting of male sports fans, datamining of loyal consumer behaviors, relationship marketing, and the celebration of intrusive marketing techniques (in this case corporate sponsorship), the campaign invited consumers to register at millerhighlife.com to receive a check for $1 (or a coupon for Miller merchandise, or a donation to a veteran’s group) and a personalized “contract” with the consumer’s name. A television commercial explaining the campaign aired on sports programming in February and March 2011. In the commercial, the Miller Delivery Man, played by actor Wendell Middlebrooks, visits homes to offer Miller fans their sponsorship contract. Foregrounding the economic tensions of the recession, the ad explicitly addresses issues of class. As the Delivery Man approaches one modest home, he says directly to the viewer, “The High Life is tired of a bunch of superfly, overpaid athletes getting all of the sponsorships, so we’re sponsoring real folks instead,” and hands out novelty contracts to one man watching television sports with friends and another working on his pickup truck (“Thanks for living the High Life, bubba”).