The Great Hipster Debate of 08

[jamesp]

on a related note, I happened to be flipping through a recent issue of Vice and was really taken aback at the super-expensive Colt 45 ad that was at the front.

It seems that this malt liquor company (which was, btw my drink of choice between '93 - '97) has taken on a total indie-fied approach to it's marketing. They had all these underground comix types write and draw "Tales of Colt 45" for the little comic that comes with the ad. It sort of reminds me of what they did with OK Soda back in the early 90s.

Really though, it's so obvious that they are aiming to ironic-ize the product in hopes that it will catch on with the kids. They even have a site, http://www.talesofcolt45.com where you can "ink the can" with your own designs. I submitted a Hard Hat Radio one, but they haven't posted it for some reason.

I find this kind of stuff fascinating.

Yup. That's what is so hilarious about this article: Adbusters, this marketing "watchdog,"  thinks PBR was STOLEN from the revolutionary-by-default working class by evil college-educated 20-somethings.

I work in advertising (no one hates it more than me, I promise), and my coworkers are on the phone with liquor/beer companies all the time. I can tell you, hipsters didn't make PBR popular by themselves - as soon as it became fashionable a few years ago, PBR dumped piles and piles of money into bars to get them to carry the beer. When a beer company is riding a trend like that, they're careful not to buy a bunch of billboards or TV spots, but they can still aggressively market their beer by making sure its in as many bars as possible. PBR is in almost ever bar now - the whole thing was about as engineered as it gets.

On the horizon, two other bottom-tier beers are trying to do the same thing: Colt 45 and Schlitz. In the next 5 years, you're going to see a lot more bars carrying $1.75 cans of Schlitz.

I wonder if Adbusters is going to shed a tear?

Yeah, I was gonna post something similar to this after reading last week's NY Times Book Review's review of Consumed by Rob Walker. I've yet to read the book, but apparently Walker uses PBR as a big example in the book.

Here's the link to the review http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/review/Manjoo-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Satchmo Mask]

Poor Jim Mahfood. He just wanted some money and now he's Joe Camel!!!

[mokin]

People judging people who judge people. Who cares?

This is a perfect summary of the entire article.

[Patrick]

On the horizon, two other bottom-tier beers are trying to do the same thing: Colt 45 and Schlitz. In the next 5 years, you're going to see a lot more bars carrying $1.75 cans of Schlitz.

not that im bragging, ok maybe a little bit, but i got to meet the CFO of Pabst Brewing a few weeks ago and it turns out that PBR owns, Colt 45, Schlitz, Schafers, Old Milwaukee, Balintine and i think Lone Star.  with the exception of Colt 45 and Balintine i think it is the same beer in all of those cans. 

he made it very clear that they are very happy with their growth in the sub cultures. 

i drank Pabst when i was 20 and i drink Pabst now and ill drink it when im 40, i am the working class after all.

[todd]

On the horizon, two other bottom-tier beers are trying to do the same thing: Colt 45 and Schlitz. In the next 5 years, you're going to see a lot more bars carrying $1.75 cans of Schlitz.

not that im bragging, ok maybe a little bit, but i got to meet the CFO of Pabst Brewing a few weeks ago and it turns out that PBR owns, Colt 45, Schlitz, Schafers, Old Milwaukee, Balintine and i think Lone Star.  with the exception of Colt 45 and Balintine i think it is the same beer in all of those cans. 

he made it very clear that they are very happy with their growth in the sub cultures. 

i drank Pabst when i was 20 and i drink Pabst now and ill drink it when im 40, i am the working class after all.

Colt 45, Schlitz, PBR, etc. are all brewed by Miller. If you were to tour the headquarters of the "Pabst Brewing Company," you would meet a ton of marketing people - because that's all they do. The entire company is just an advertising firm for "working class" brands.

I'm not slamming Pabst - I drink it more than any other beer. I only brought it up to laugh at Adbusters claiming it was some symbol of the working class, when it is the very definition of engineered-to-be-desirable-to-art-students schlock. Which is ironic, because that is EXACTLY WHAT ADBUSTERS CLAIMS TO HATE.

[Susannah]

It's amazing how much of popular culture one can choose to ignore completely.

[<<<<<]

Hipsterdom and gentrification are two sides of the same coin.  Easy to criticize, but as MOS points out, difficult to seperate oneself from, when at the point that you're actually of the mind to identify and label it.  Say I'm a hipster and I'm insulted by it.  Say I'm not a hipster and I'm insulted by it.  Whatever.

[Patrick]

maybe the one interesting point that the adbusters artical brings up is about how Punks and B-boys/girls are so quick to let everyone know who they are, by the way they dress, the music that they listen to ect...  but truth is, do these sub-cultures even exist anymore?  if i had to identify with a label i might fell more at home with the B-Boy label.  thats not to say that i know how to dj, or have break danced since high school.  or even closely resemble a B-Boy.  i always though of myself more like a closet metalhead who hates metal, except for Black Sabbath.

as for crust punks, come up to Portland Maine it seems to be the summer home of crusts on the east coast.

yesterday i was standing outside the building i rent a studio in down town and there where a group of crusts walking in one direction and a group of hipsters walking in the other, both walking reservoir dogs style.  they crossed paths right in front of my stoop. oh man i wanted to see a throw down!!  but they awkwardly walked past each other trying there best not to give up any sidewalk space. 

as for Pabst being brewed by miller, im not sure if that is true anymore.  in other news with the new IvBev/Budwiser deal Pabst is now the largest american owned brewery in the US.

[Mr. David Brooks]

This whole thing makes me kind of gloss over, as soon as I try to start thinking about it I get extremely bored.  I do find it funny that the girls in the article treat "hipster" like the white person's n-word. 

But since this thread is meandering anyway, I'd like to submit a much finer examination of youth cohorts.  This is from Harpers a few months ago, and is a trip down the Mississippi in a home made raft with some crusty kids.  Is this what Adbusters proposes is the solution?  Or should we just get on with it and hold a public execution of Girl Talk & Dan Deacon?   

http://matthewpower.net/miss.pdf

[Steeley Chris]

The thing I love about this article is how the writer acts like he's blown the lid off "youth subculture" - the once underground youth subculture is appropriated by the shallow mainstream? Wait, whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut?

[senorcorazon]

This article sounds a lot like Miss Rockaway (http://www.missrockaway.org/wordpress/project-info/).

I think the whole question of "underground" versus mainstream is probably the more interesting question -- the fact that a small niche of people quickly can get exposed to larger audiences (for better or worse) versus just finding a small core of people that are interested in it, combined with the idea of things getting sold out/bought/misappropriated and people getting angry that more people know about something. Though that notion is pretty treaded over and boring. Wait, whuuuuuuuuuuuuut, indeed.

Overall, the Adbusters piece just makes me glad that I don't give them money anymore. Your sneakers suck, too. Adbusters doesn't propose any solution -- it's what (I think John Junk) coined "dread porn." 

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I'm actually a B-Boy.

[Patrick]

I'm actually a B-Boy.

aws!!

[Beth]

I was overall okay with this article, except for one part that really bugged me. The whole Keffiyeh thing. The guy's just like "these were originally worn by radicals to show solidarity, but now everyone's wearing them and they're meaningless".

Let me get this straight: It was a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinians  but now because it's become trendy, it's not worth shit, and all you are is an asshole following a trend if you wear one.

So anyone who's worn one in the past (like me-- one a gift from a friend in Jordan, the other from my mom and dad, and honestly the warmest bestest scarves I've ever worn) and still wears one even though it's trendy  is automatically an asshole? Or hell, anyone that just bought one, for that matter. It doesn't matter when you decided to start expressing a viewpoint with your clothing, but that you express it. Sure, Rachel Ray probably had no idea, and yes, it is a trend but so fucking what?

 Thanks, dude. I'll make sure not to go to that peace rally next week. Oh, and I'm going to stop recycling and start eating meat again. All this social action shit's getting too trendy for me.

[John Junk 2.0]

Yeah, that bothered me too.  There was probably someone talking about women wearing pants in the same terms in the '50's.

Women in Pants: Once a benchmark of radical feminism and/or equestrian ladies, pants have now become so ubiquitous and trendy that soon our slang where we call women "skirts" won't have an appropriate referent any more! 

... well, you get the idea.