The start of a New Year typically means the beginning of some sort of health change, whether that’s changing dietary habits or cutting alcohol out. For Pabst Blue Ribbon, that meant urging consumers to leap into their own vices in spite of the “Dry January” — a campaign created to encourage people to stay alcohol-free for the first month of the year.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
PBR launched the “Wet January” campaign in response. A problematic marketing scheme already, a social media manager likely found themselves in hot water over aggressive and offensive tweets aimed to spread awareness.
On Monday morning, a tweet from the company’s official page encouraged people who are participating in Dry January to perform what Desus & Mero would describe as anilingus. “Not drinking this January? Try eating ass,” the tweet read.
People were shocked and humored by the tweet, which the company ultimately took down. Though they continue to promote the tone-deaf “Wet January” slogan, the vice president of marketing PBR explained in a statement to Ad Age how the tweets were written in “poor judgment.”
“We apologize about the language and content of our recent tweets… the tweets in question were written in poor judgment by one of our associates… In no way does the content of these tweets reflect the values of Pabst and our Associates. We’re handling the matter internally and have removed the tweets from our social platforms,” the response reads.
While there was much backlash against “Wet January,” Twitter continued to flame the company over the social media mishap.
Check out a few reactions below.