Watching football while enjoying a cold beer has been a classic combination in the U.S. for decades. And Molson Coors has the time capsule to prove it.
As football started booming in popularity in the mid-20th century, especially on TV, the Miller and Coors families of brands created a myriad of ads showing just how well their beers paired with rooting on your home team.
As the pro and college football seasons kick off, we’re taking a walk down memory lane to showcase how our brands have scored touchdowns with 21+ consumers for generations.
1950s: “Taste the High Life” with Miller High Life
As football started becoming popular on TV in the 1950s, Miller was quick to get on board. Miller Archivist Daniel Scholzen says this ad is one in a series of ads for Miller High Life where the “Girl in the Moon” pops up in everyday settings. In this version, she provides a tray of cold beer for a passionate family of football fans.
Miller High Life continued to release football related ads throughout the ’50s, like these from 1951 and 1954, which reminded 21+ football fans that the best way to watch the game was with Miller High Life.
1980s: Miller Lite’s “Tastes Great! Less Filling!” Debate
Miller Lite debuted nationally 50 years ago – a milestone it has been celebrating all year long. Just a year later, it launched one of its classic campaigns – “Tastes Great, Less Filling!” – with athletes debating which feature of Miller Lite was more important. Thanks to the campaign, football turned out to be integral to the brand’s identity, as these ads from 1987, 1984 and 1986 show.
1980s: Coors gets in on the gridiron
Coors Archivist Heidi Harris says she has evidence that Coors created football-themed ads as early as 1930, though they are still hidden in the archives. But she does have ads from the 1980s, including these two from 1987 and 1988, where Coors advertised its family of brands as watch party essentials.
1990s and 2000s: Coors Light brings the game to its labels
Instead of just creating ads about football, Coors Light took it one step further and began adding football elements to its cans and bottles in the 1990s. These examples are from 1998, 2001 and 2006.
Coors even experimented with bringing the sport to the shape of the bottles. In 2000, Coors Light produced a bottle literally shaped like a football. Harris says it only appeared in limited markets. In 2001, it developed a bottle with a football shape in the neck. A later design ditched the football in the neck, keeping the football texture.
If there’s one thing these ads prove, it’s that football and beer have been synonymous for decades. That certainly hasn’t changed. Fast forward to today, and our brands continue to have dozens of professional and college team alliances, special football-themed packaging throughout the season and top-tier media partnerships, ensuring that that whenever there’s a big game on the field, our brands are ready to help fans cheer on their favorite teams.