Pabst Blue Ribbon Will Carry America Out of the Reccession
Pabst Blue Ribbon, or PBR as it's so affectionately called, has seen its sales rise 25% this year despite a crippling recession and price hike that brought a case to "$1.50 more than MillerCoors' Keystone, $1 more than Anheuser-Busch's Busch and Natural brands, and 50 cents more than Miller High Life." Hipsters, it's long been known, have led the charge in making PBR such a powerhorse in the shitty piss-water beer market. But when did this all start? Years ago, Ad age reports.
Back in 2004, Pabst executed a highly effective word-of-mouth campaign that made the long-declining brand an "ironic downscale chic" choice for bike messengers and other younger drinkers who viewed the beer as a statement of non-mainstream taste. PBR sales surged by nearly 17% that year, and have climbed at single-digit rates since, until this year, when the recession sent its sales soaring as more drinkers were pushed into the subpremium category.
You hear that? PBR is now subpremium, which by my scale is way too close to that "mainstream beer" that you all refuse to imbibe in. So what's next, PBR drinkers? Expect Monday Night Football commercials featuring dudes getting laaaaaid while holding footballs and throwing high fives.
It's time to let our Ribbon'd friend go, bike messengers and angry youths, and start the hunt for a new icon of the underground to slurp up with your rebellious lips.
My vote? Genny Cream Ale and/or Modelo. Or what if we all just drank Hugs, those little juice drinks that look like grenades. That'll get 'em. What's your vote?
Comments
There ain't nothing wrong with a good ole Pabst Blue Ribbon. As far as swill beers go, its the best. But yeah, Genny's Cream Ale is cheaper and isn't half bad tasting, but you can't beat the nostalgia of a Pabst. Bartenders near and far will always be impressed with someone ordering a PBR amongst all the other shitty swill beers. Pabst is going to carry us out of the recession! Their sales are on a steady rise :)
Posted by: gonzo | September 18, 2009 03:29 PM
NATTY BOH
national bohemian
Posted by: natty | September 18, 2009 03:12 PM
hey greasy locks & durtty Docs- may i recomend the hip choice of Scandi land? 22oz TIGER BEERS. all we drink in copenhagen.
Posted by: rastal | September 18, 2009 02:07 PM
Sierra dorada, prices at $.42 per can when bought by the flat.(It kind of makes you want to die)
PBR - good ol' standby
When feeling snazzy its Modelo with a lime
Posted by: Libby | September 18, 2009 01:15 PM
Insider industry information: Pabst knows they have outgrown their irony jumpsuit. They are dumping a motherload into Shlitz campaigns in Q2 of 2010.
RUN!
Posted by: heloise | September 18, 2009 01:05 PM
Schlitz is a good call. My personal vote? Schaefer. Once brewed right on south 9th and Kent...
I've only seen it in 40 form in Gpoint tho.
http://www.beerhistory.com/library/holdings/schaefer_anderson.shtml
Posted by: Rasputin | September 18, 2009 12:36 PM
its all the same product with a different label.
I had a teacher who was paid to discuss the semiotics of major beer label package design. The product in all of them is the same crap, its the label you buy. So your perception of what you like it not based on taste, its based on marketing.
Posted by: daniel | September 18, 2009 10:27 AM
Private Gentlemen's Club. On Long Island you can get a case of 64 for about $7.99. You can sell the aluminum to a scrap yard and make a profit.* And it tastes about as bad as you can imagine it does.
*May be exaggerating slightly.
Posted by: SG | September 18, 2009 12:17 AM
I love PBR, but Genny Cream Ale is better and cheaper. Live and learn.
Posted by: Bob Kane | September 17, 2009 10:56 PM
The fucked up thing is there's lone star in williamsburg and it is in fact way worse than pbr which is bad.
Posted by: kurdt | September 17, 2009 08:34 PM
If you really, really hate hipsters and want to watch them suffer, work on a campaign to make Hamm's the next hipster beer.
What's really sad is watching Colt 45 try their damnedest to become hip (with all their ads and co-sponsored events with Vice) and fail miserably.
Funny enough, here in Austin almost no one drinks PBR. We've got Lone Star down here instead. Granted it only tastes a little bit better than PBR, and the marketers have basically used the same techniques to push it on the local flavor of hipsters, but at least it's something approaching local color.
Posted by: Lance Hunter | September 17, 2009 05:12 PM
Ill stick to my microbrews thanks very much. I don't fux with sub-premium beer anymore. Life's too short!!!
Posted by: Matt | September 17, 2009 02:12 PM
the onion proves quite prescient once again
Our Global Food-Service Enterprise Is Totally Down For Your Awesome Subculture
Posted by: cw | September 17, 2009 01:12 PM
Ladies and gentlemen: It is time for Schlitz.
Posted by: ino | September 17, 2009 12:19 PM
I vote Mickey's
even though they don't make the wide mouth 40 anymore, but I bet we can get them to bring it back.
Posted by: Mickey's | September 17, 2009 12:03 PM
But Amy, how will magazines and newspapers ever write trend articles about "the youth" or "hipsters in williamsburg" if we don't embrace the hive-mind mentality? Isn't that what we want? Don't we just want the New York Times to NOTICE US?!
Posted by: Brian Ries | September 17, 2009 11:53 AM
i vote we cut the hive-mind shit and we each drink whatever beer we personally like
Posted by: amy | September 17, 2009 11:50 AM
This beer has always been and always will be gross, I have no clue why you all drink it, just have a Budweiser.
Posted by: hghg | September 17, 2009 11:50 AM
"Start the hunt for a new icon of the underground to slurp up with your rebellious lips."
You must be being sarcastic. Because clearly there is nothing underground or rebellious about anything in mass production.
Posted by: lkjlkj | September 17, 2009 11:41 AM
Modelo Especial, FTW
Posted by: lkj | September 17, 2009 11:33 AM