Dew you Believe?
Mountain Dew is a bonafied pop culture icon. In the building of an icon, marketers compete for culture share. The competition is fierce in this “lifestyle” form of advertising in their efforts to create the appropriate symbol of what the product stands for (Holt, 2003). In order to keep up with ever changing cultural movements, the symbol must adapt and evolve to stay ahead of the curve in order to retain loyalty to the brand and to increase market share.
Over the years, Mountain Dew has undergone several re-births in its cultural myth symbolism. From its introduction in 1954 to the early 60’s, the hillbilly image was used in Dew ads. This figure identified the relief needed by most men during the tensions of this highly technical period of our cultural past. The wild man was loosed against the button-down establishment. As America was beginning to be seen as losing status on the global scene, the culture changed and the hillbilly became meaningless and sales plummeted (Holt, 2003).
Enter the Reagan epoch and the rise of the suburban cowboy exuding rugged individualism. The masses did not see this new breed as heroes, however, but as money grubbing yuppies. In recognizing this phenomenon, Mountain Dew’s advertisers replaced the hillbilly with the athletic redneck, an image that did not totally abandon the former symbol. The new symbol promoted identification with a figure that takes risks, wins women, and does not work in a cubicle. During the early 90’s, the culture shifted again due to a weakening economy, “in your face” sports figures, and a workforce that tackles huge problems during the week, and whitewater on the weekends (Holt, 2003).
To settle these anxieties, the Mountain Dew redneck symbol was changed once more to that of the generation X slacker. Representing extreme sports and a never grow up attitude, this new symbol was quickly adopted by a new generation of Dew drinkers and, like its predecessors, did not abandon the loyalists (Holt, 2003).
The Mountain Dew wild man symbols have changed over time to successfully compete for a share of the culture. What’s next? Perhaps wild tattooed ex-finance bailout recipients?
References
Holt, D. (2003, March). What becomes an icon most?. Harvard Business Review, 81(3), 43-49. Retrieved January 17, 2009, from Business Source Complete database
Image http://mciccolo.tripod.com/mtdew/mtdew.html
Mountain Dew is a bonafied pop culture icon. In the building of an icon, marketers compete for culture share. The competition is fierce in this “lifestyle” form of advertising in their efforts to create the appropriate symbol of what the product stands for (Holt, 2003). In order to keep up with ever changing cultural movements, the symbol must adapt and evolve to stay ahead of the curve in order to retain loyalty to the brand and to increase market share.
Over the years, Mountain Dew has undergone several re-births in its cultural myth symbolism. From its introduction in 1954 to the early 60’s, the hillbilly image was used in Dew ads. This figure identified the relief needed by most men during the tensions of this highly technical period of our cultural past. The wild man was loosed against the button-down establishment. As America was beginning to be seen as losing status on the global scene, the culture changed and the hillbilly became meaningless and sales plummeted (Holt, 2003).
Enter the Reagan epoch and the rise of the suburban cowboy exuding rugged individualism. The masses did not see this new breed as heroes, however, but as money grubbing yuppies. In recognizing this phenomenon, Mountain Dew’s advertisers replaced the hillbilly with the athletic redneck, an image that did not totally abandon the former symbol. The new symbol promoted identification with a figure that takes risks, wins women, and does not work in a cubicle. During the early 90’s, the culture shifted again due to a weakening economy, “in your face” sports figures, and a workforce that tackles huge problems during the week, and whitewater on the weekends (Holt, 2003).
To settle these anxieties, the Mountain Dew redneck symbol was changed once more to that of the generation X slacker. Representing extreme sports and a never grow up attitude, this new symbol was quickly adopted by a new generation of Dew drinkers and, like its predecessors, did not abandon the loyalists (Holt, 2003).
The Mountain Dew wild man symbols have changed over time to successfully compete for a share of the culture. What’s next? Perhaps wild tattooed ex-finance bailout recipients?
References
Holt, D. (2003, March). What becomes an icon most?. Harvard Business Review, 81(3), 43-49. Retrieved January 17, 2009, from Business Source Complete database
Image http://mciccolo.tripod.com/mtdew/mtdew.html
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