As we scrolled through all those creative variations on the Human Rights Campaign‘s viral marriage equality avatar last week, we wondered: how often do brands benefit when taking specific stands on social issues? How often do such moves truly damage public perceptions? This isn’t a new debate, of course: last year everyone speculated about the effect that Chick-Fil-A’s official anti-gay status would have on its overall business. The answer in that case seems to have been “very little” — but what about other brands? Some choose to define themselves with bold stances, but most shy away.

Oh, and here’s Fab.com‘s version of the meme: Read more

Yesterday we posted on Bud Light‘s well-timed decision to offer Facebook fans its own variation on the very viral Human Rights Campaign marriage equality avatar. Now we’d like to showcase some other examples of brands that were, if not quite “bold”, at least attuned to news trends — and the interests of their target audiences. Here are some more branded variations on the avatar:

Equal artificial sweetener: We can’t confirm that the brand itself created this one, but if they didn’t then they certainly missed out on a great opportunity.

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Yeah, so yesterday Bud Light made an earnest attempt to ride the “marriage equality viral avatar” train by posting this image for its 5,600,000 Facebook fans:

This infographic proves that yuppies and hipsters like the cheap stuff just as much as stereotypical rednecks (and as real-life rednecks we resent the implication that Bud Light drinkers are anti-gay). So while we have little doubt that this image inspired many Bud lovers to do a double take, we can’t imagine it led too many people to “unlike” the page.

What do we think of it from a brand perspective? Quick, clever stunt or shameless meme-jacking? Is there a difference?

Last week we criticized the recent trend in which big-name brands hire seemingly random celebrities as “creative directors”. While we still don’t understand exactly how Justin Timberlake will help “… define Bud Light Platinum’s identity in the lifestyle space”, another big brand unveiled some honest-to-God physical products designed by its new “creative director” today. Infamous fashion designer Marc Jacobs created these Diet Coke cans as part of the company’s latest rebranding campaign, called “Sparkling Together for 30 Years.”

Diet Coke certainly picked the right time to show its new face to the public: yesterday Jacobs marked the end of New York’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week with the debut of his new collection. This small reveal indicates that, for Coke, “creative director” does not mean “celebrity who had some time on his hands and will now show up at public events to hawk our products.”

What’s next for this creative partnership? We’re not sure–Jacobs has already gone topless in “pin-up style” ads for the brand, but there’s been no word on whether the “three bottles and three ad campaigns” to follow will include any of his trademark models or ridiculous outfits.

Most importantly, Taylor Swift is nowhere to be seen.

Here is a public relations tip for brands that hire celebrities as “creative directors”:

The American public is just beginning to shake the awfulness of a recession that landed many talented and ambitious souls in the unemployment line; millions still yearn for jobs worthy of their hard work and skills.

So when your company decides to invent a job and then fill it with someone who doesn’t even need a job, you’re telling the public “We don’t understand you at all.”

We were surprised when Justin Timberlake accepted a role as Bud Light’s creative director to help the brand “… define Bud Light Platinum’s identity in the lifestyle space.” We like Mr. Timberlake. Though a huge celebrity, he seems like the kind of guy who would help you clean up after a party and crash on your couch.

He’s a regular on Saturday Night Live; he clearly has a sense of humor and a healthy sense of self-awareness. But now he joins the ranks of “people with ridiculous amounts of money who apparently need more money” that includes Alicia Keys (creative director for BlackBerry), Lady Gaga (creative director for Polaroid), and will.i.am (creative director for Intel).

What’s going on? What happened to brands hiring celebrities to appear in commercials and then calling it a day?

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Since today is officially Review the Super Bowl day, we thought we’d riff on a theme we saw in several of last night’s big-name ads: rebranding. The companies in question aren’t exactly hurting for money (except for one very notable exception), but they wanted to use the Super Bowl as a jumping-off point to refine and re-target their brands. So what worked? What didn’t? Let’s do some before-and-after comparisons, shall we?

Mercedes-Benz

Before: A luxury car brand synonymous with “incredibly rich (and usually evil) people”

After: A premium brand that’s still affordable for those of us a little lower on the social ladder

Did it work? Nice commercial but no. An “economy” model Mercedes is like a subprime mortgage: you can tell us it’s less expensive and convince us that we’ll be able to pay it off in twenty years of installments, but the fact is we still can’t afford it.

But hey, at least we didn’t have to watch Kate Upton try to act.

Click through for the rest:

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You’ve heard that The White House runs America’s greatest unsung craft beer brewery, right? But did you know that it’s mobile? That’s right, it fits on the campaign bus. Good times!

Well, some jealous ninnies just can’t deal with the President concealing what should obviously be the intellectual property of the American people—they’re demanding that the White House release the recipe for this executive brew, and they’re doing it via online petition! It’s democracy 2.0 at work!

Created in 2011, White House Honey Ale (sounds a little light to us) was the first beer brewed at the request of our current President, who purchased the kit with his own money after embarrassing himself by drinking a Bud Light at the infamous beer summit for some unknown reason that we choose to find offensive.

By the way, Obama isn’t the first significant American to brew at home: Read more

Sam Adams! Bud and Bud Light take the numbers two and three spots.

The folks at YouGov BrandIndex crunched the numbers to determine the number one beer choice across the country and in three major cities. With the exception of Chicago, which prefers Heineken (and doesn’t like America or St. Patrick’s Day), Sam Adams was tops with taste buds in the U.S.

For this research, YouGov took a look at scores from the past four weeks. These scores are based on the perceptions of U.S. adults of drinking age. Each day, YouGov interviews 5,000 people for their thoughts on a variety of topics.

The company also looked at spirit preferences. Check it out after the jump.

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