Go woke, go broke

[lobosrul5]

This presupposes that the target audience (which is quite broad based on the box office) would be alienated by "wokeness" at all.

Crying about wokeness is a fringe position, normal people do not care about this.

The target audience for Barbie is not the same as the target audience for Bud Light. The crossover between people who care about what Ben Shapiro thinks and who would've seen the movie anyways, is likely vanishingly small. OTOH, once Kid Rock or Travis Tritt said don't drink Bud Light a HUGE number of their customer base will stop drinking it.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

The target audience for Barbie is not the same as the target audience for Bud Light. The crossover between people who care about what Ben Shapiro thinks and who would've seen the movie anyways, is likely vanishingly small. OTOH, once Kid Rock or Travis Tritt said don't drink Bud Light a HUGE number of their customer base will stop drinking it.

Agreed. My point is that this crap is not something a general audience cares about. An audience disproportionately made up of aggrieved bros will absolutely take cues from the right wing outrage machine.

American light beer has been on the long, gradual decline from being a default, general audience product to one with a aging, male base. The fact that this little tantrum actually impacted their business demonstrates just how much the brand appeal has narrowed over recent years.

There are absolutely brands which should not go woke because their consumer base will freak out, but that's only demonstrating their limited appeal. Harley Davidson should not go woke, nor Ed Hardy clothing or Cabela's or any other brand that relies heavily on the reactionary male demographic. But coke or Nike or other broad appeal brands have little to worry about.

The Ben Shapiros will piss their pants about every little thing, like this wildly popular Barbie movie, and the rest of the world outside their sad little niche will roll their eyes, if they notice them at all.

 

[lobosrul5]

Agreed. My point is that this crap is not something a general audience cares about. A ln audience disproportionately made up of aggrieved bros will absolutely take cues from the right wing outrage machine.

American light beer has been on the long, gradual decline from being a default, general audience product to one with a aging, male base.

There are absolutely brands which should not go woke because their consumer base will freak out, but that's only demonstrating their limited appeal. Harley Davidson should not go woke, nor Ed Hardy clothing or Cabela's or any other brand that relies heavily on the reactionary male demographic

I think you are underestimating how enormous that demographic still is, in the USA. In some ways its bigger due to social media and a lot of people putting great stock into what products they are seen with. Dont get me wrong, its goofy as **** to me. Except where the war in Ukraine is concerned (Ben & Jerry's Ice cream) or election fraud deniers (the mypillow guy). But I suppose since there are issues that I take as so serious that I won't buy or be seen using certain products... in a way I get it. But its almost like a stylistic choice for some people.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

I think you are underestimating how enormous that demographic still is, in the USA. In some ways its bigger due to social media and a lot of people putting great stock into what products they are seen with. Dont get me wrong, its goofy as **** to me. Except where the war in Ukraine is concerned (Ben & Jerry's Ice cream) or election fraud deniers (the mypillow guy). But I suppose since there are issues that I take as so serious that I won't buy or be seen using certain products... in a way I get it. But its almost like a stylistic choice for some people.

The track record of these right wing boycotts is pretty poor, with bud light being a notable exception. The attack on Target only worked because their tactics escalated to harassment and thinly veiled (or not) threats of violence. Less "go woke, go broke" and more that they didn't want some radicalized moron to shoot up one of their stores.

They are a loud, dangerous minority for sure, but they are a small minority. There are lots of conservatives, but only a small portion of them are this kind of exceptionally thin-skinned crybully.

 

[dann]

The target audience for Barbie is not the same as the target audience for Bud Light. The crossover between people who care about what Ben Shapiro thinks and who would've seen the movie anyways, is likely vanishingly small. OTOH, once Kid Rock or Travis Tritt said don't drink Bud Light a HUGE number of their customer base will stop drinking it.

But in the case of the Barbie movie, Shapiro and the rest of the conservative TV hosts may have managed to convince a demographic that would otherwise never have dreamed of seeing it to go see it just to find out what all the fuss is about.
That would never happen with the campaign against Bud Light or similar stuff. It wouldn't have made anybody curious about the object of their rage, like, 'I wonder if Bud Light really tastes as tranny as they say it does'.

The Lincoln Project's take on 'Barbiegate':

 

[lobosrul5]

But in the case of the Barbie movie, Shapiro and the rest of the conservative TV hosts may have managed to convince a demographic that would otherwise never have dreamed of seeing it to go see it just to find out what all the fuss is about.
That would never happen with the campaign against Bud Light or similar stuff. It wouldn't have made anybody curious about the object of their rage, like, 'I wonder if Bud Light really tastes as tranny as they say it does'.

The Lincoln Project's take on 'Barbiegate':

Lol, love the Freudian slip in there where she says "your economy going great"!

And you make a good point. A movie is type of medium where political viewpoints can be expressed. Beer is just water, yeast, hops, and barley (or rice in Bud's case). It cannot itself, express a viewpoint.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

And you make a good point. A movie is type of medium where political viewpoints can be expressed. Beer is just water, yeast, hops, and barley (or rice in Bud's case). It cannot itself, express a viewpoint.

Like 99% of marketing is for commodity brands to distinguish themselves from nearly identical competing products with reasons only tangentially related to the qualities of the product. Bud Light is a marketing product that happens to involve cans of beer.

 

[Dr. Keith]

Agreed. My point is that this crap is not something a general audience cares about. An audience disproportionately made up of aggrieved bros will absolutely take cues from the right wing outrage machine.

American light beer has been on the long, gradual decline from being a default, general audience product to one with a aging, male base. The fact that this little tantrum actually impacted their business demonstrates just how much the brand appeal has narrowed over recent years.

There are absolutely brands which should not go woke because their consumer base will freak out, but that's only demonstrating their limited appeal. Harley Davidson should not go woke, nor Ed Hardy clothing or Cabela's or any other brand that relies heavily on the reactionary male demographic. But coke or Nike or other broad appeal brands have little to worry about.

The Ben Shapiros will piss their pants about every little thing, like this wildly popular Barbie movie, and the rest of the world outside their sad little niche will roll their eyes, if they notice them at all.

I agree with this, which is why I was so surprised that Carhartt avoided any loss when they went hard on protecting their employees from covid. They got some backlash, but at the end of the day their product is much better than most of their competitors.

Cheap beer relies more on brand loyalty than quality of product.

 

[Donal]

The target audience for Barbie is not the same as the target audience for Bud Light. The crossover between people who care about what Ben Shapiro thinks and who would've seen the movie anyways, is likely vanishingly small. OTOH, once Kid Rock or Travis Tritt said don't drink Bud Light a HUGE number of their customer base will stop drinking it.

Then why all the crying about "groomers" if children aren't the target audience of Bud Light? Why are 50+-year-old men using ordinance against beer cans after a social media post none of them would have seen without the outrage?

How does a single social media post by a person Bud Light's core audience didn't even know existed piss them off?

 

[dann]

You don't seem to understand that it has now been made mandatory to wear makeup and a dress whenever you drink Bud Light. It's an obvious attempt to cancel the male gender and emasculate all patriotic men.

And what's worse, it's working!
Fox News left confused by map that shows Republicans loving Barbie - despite conservative pundit backlash (Independent, July 25, 2023)
'I don't know what's going on down South,' one co-host says.

 

[lobosrul5]

Then why all the crying about "groomers" if children aren't the target audience of Bud Light? Why are 50+-year-old men using ordinance against beer cans after a social media post none of them would have seen without the outrage?

How does a single social media post by a person Bud Light's core audience didn't even know existed piss them off?

I'm not quite sure what to make of your reply...

Uhh, it doesn't matter that their core audience wouldn't have seen the social media post... except you know eventually they were made aware of it.

Identity politics as expressed by the brands they are seen with and buy is VERY important to right wingers in America. Fear of being ostracized by their peers is very strong. Is this stupid? Yes. As far as the groomers thing, thats some sort of right-wing thing they do to pretend that their rejection of trans people has some deeper meaning. Like they are protecting children form having their blood taken by a shadowy all powerful global left wing cabal. That Bud Light isn't targeted to children is completely irrelevant.

I'm not making this **** up man... https://www.forbes.com/sites/conorm...nd-of-freedom-star-explained/?sh=671331815179



About a third of the GoP believes this ****.

 

[novaphile]

I'm gradually becoming a MCU "truther"*. These things cost a bazillion dollars to make and often come out looking worse than DVD title screen effects from the 2000s. There has to be some kind of dodgy hollywood accounting going on or something, because you're not seeing that money on screen.

The Barbie movie is more visually interesting than any green screen super-hero monstrosity I've ever seen, and Oppenheimer (which I haven't see yet) was even cheaper.

* not really, but it's still wild to me how much these movies spend to look like crap.

Have you noticed movies recently, where the actors appear to be in a very narrow two dimensional plane with hugely impressive scenery behind them?

I'm assuming it is some kind of error in the way that they're filmed, but I'm struggling to put my finger on what it is...

Considering how many Westerns were filmed against painted sets, I'm amazed that this has crept in.

 

[dann]

Relentless culture war is making Republican voters increasingly alienated — like members of a fading cult
For much of the country over this past weekend, the release of the movie "Barbie" was an unapologetically joyous occasion. The pink-drenched comedy based on the long-beloved Mattel toy captured the spirit of the summer of 2023. People are finally shaking off pandemic trauma, it seems, and just want to bop along to Dua Lipa tunes in a bubblegum-colored Corvette. Sure, everybody knows we still have a lot of problems that need fixing. But "Barbie" set box office records by reminding everyone that it's OK to make some time for fun.

Republicans, of course, can't let people have a good time without getting angry about it. The right-wing propaganda machine whipped into high gear over the weekend, screeching at endless top volume about how America was being destroyed because Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling were making campy jokes in an imaginary universe.
The "Barbie" backlash isn't just cynical: The GOP is abusing its own supporters (Salon, July 25, 2023)

The Salon article is more about the Republican business model when attacking 'woke' than about companies or products 'going woke'.

Republicans Want to Cancel Barbie for Being Communist (New Republic, July 7, 2023)
Come on, Barbie, join the Party (ah ah ah yeah)

 

[Darat]

Well, when you have like 6 Hollywood A-list actors, and about 15 from the B-list, in the cast, just thats going to be really pricey.

ETA: its also not that the special effects sequences were that pricey, its that about half the frickin movies are special effects sequences! And they're somewhat long movies.

It's probably way more than 50%, we know all the battles, flying and so on are CGI but the reliance on special effects goes well beyond that. It means "CGI" is required for pretty much every shot, many of the characters costumes are CGI or CG enhanced so whenever they appear it requires every frame to be altered even to just have them standing still.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

The Salon article is more about the Republican business model when attacking 'woke' than about companies or products 'going woke'.

Republicans Want to Cancel Barbie for Being Communist (New Republic, July 7, 2023)
Come on, Barbie, join the Party (ah ah ah yeah)

The fascist model of masculinity is always so bewildering to me. Why are grown men getting so bent out of shape by the Barbie movie, or making moody videos of them throwing away Nike shoes or Keurig machines or whatever other melodramatic act of consumer rage?

Maybe I just believe in old fashioned, toxic masculine values, but adult men should not have their emotional state whipsawed around by such frivolous external forces. Pissing and ******** your diaper because your favorite TV show or movie or, worst of all, brand said or did something you don't agree with is something that is only tolerable for literal children, and not particularly mature ones at that.

If you go on Facebook to make a melodramatic post about throwing away Bud Light, you're 100% bitch-made. I don't make the rules, that's just how I call it.

Stoicism is supposed to be a small c conservative value, but that's quite incompatible with the modern right's reliance of perpetual and escalating grievance and outrage.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

It's probably way more than 50%, we know all the battles, flying and so on are CGI but the reliance on special effects goes well beyond that. It means "CGI" is required for pretty much every shot, many of the characters costumes are CGI or CG enhanced so whenever they appear it requires every frame to be altered even to just have them standing still.

The proven, winning formula of the MCU is having a bunch of megacelebrities standing around quipping Whedonisms at each other while muddy CGI mess flies around on the green screen behind them. It's inherently a visually uninteresting approach to film making.

That said, the market has spoken. People like this stuff and it'll stay this way until it stops making money.

 

[gnome]

I don't quite agree. I think there are plenty of blockbuster attempts featuring massive CGI effects budgets that flop. I think the reason the MCU has done so well is that people find the stories, characters, and dialog more consistently entertaining than similar offerings. Effects just kind of throw it over the top, IMO.

 

[lobosrul5]

The proven, winning formula of the MCU is having a bunch of megacelebrities standing around quipping Whedonisms at each other while muddy CGI mess flies around on the green screen behind them. It's inherently a visually uninteresting approach to film making.

That said, the market has spoken. People like this stuff and it'll stay this way until it stops making money.

Not all of them have been that way. But they are... just becoming generic CGI mess on the screen with nothing really novel or interesting happening... see Secret Invasion.

Its time to do something interesting with the MCU or retire it.

 

[dudalb]

The proven, winning formula of the MCU is having a bunch of megacelebrities standing around quipping Whedonisms at each other while muddy CGI mess flies around on the green screen behind them. It's inherently a visually uninteresting approach to film making.

That said, the market has spoken. People like this stuff and it'll stay this way until it stops making money.

If you are holding your breath waiting for mass audiences to flock to the art houses, you are going to die for lack of oxygen.

 

[dudalb]

Not all of them have been that way. But they are... just becoming generic CGI mess on the screen with nothing really novel or interesting happening... see Secret Invasion.

Its time to do something interesting with the MCU or retire it.

They had no real game plan after the end of the Infinity Saga, that is for sure.