Yeah, That Sounds Like Me...

Read an interesting article on Advertising Age's site yesterday (I was hotlinked to it, this is not normal reading material for me, as interesting as a lot of it seems).

It started off by saying something that beer snobs (like lit snobs, theology snobs, coffee snobs, music snobs...well, you get the idea) already knew:

Your choice of beer can be as telling about your personality as what kind of clothing you wear or the car that you drive. And if you don't drink suds at all, or change brands depending on your mood -- well, that says something too.

The concept of beer-as-window-to-the-soul comes from Mindset Media, the market researcher specializing in psychographics. The company started out with a theory that with so many opinions and brand loyalty around beer, the choice people make must be connected to personality.

Decent theory. Actually seems sorts self-evident when you think about it (something I noticed a lot in my undergrad days when doing psych research, the trick is coming up with the self-evident theory). I thought the findings were quite interesting... Naturally, Mindset Media's really not looking to find out interesting things about beer drinker's personalities, but are looking to find out new and more effective ways to get people to drink particular beers.

The article as a whole is worth the read, but the things I focused on included:

• BUDWEISER
  True to form, Bud drinkers are sensible, grounded and practical. They are the polar opposite of daydreamers and don't easily get carried away. These beer drinkers also don't like authority—can anyone say union?—and are emotionally steady people who live in the here and now. ... Budweiser drinkers are 42% more likely to drive a truck than the average person [duh]
  
• BUD LIGHT
  Are Bud Light drinkers just Bud guzzlers on a diet? Not a chance. Bud Light personalities actually skew quite different from their more-caloric sibling. Keep in mind, this was the beer choice for President Barack Obama during his so-called "Beer Summit" this summer when he invited police officer James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Gates over to the White House for a beer and a make-up chat. (The cop chose Blue Moon and the professor selected Red Stripe.)
  
  Bud Light drinkers profile as lacking in carefulness. They are grounded like their Bud brethren, but respect authority. Bud Lighters can also have frat boy-like personalities, particularly when it comes to personal risk-taking. In regard to others, these good-time guys and gals are accepting of most everyone and generally easy to get along with. [I won't say anything about anyone in particular here, but I'm related to a lot of Bud Light drinkers and found great amusement in reading this]
  
• CORONA
  "Where's the party?" is probably an oft-asked question by Corona and Corona Light drinkers. They are busy and energetic people who are also extremely extroverted. They're people persons who seek out the company of others whether in a group or just one-to-one. Corona drinkers do more and see more people in one day than most people see in a week. But the life-of-the-party Corona drinkers also have an altruistic side; they care deeply about other people and see themselves as giving and warm. [I've gotta say, this one comes closer to describing the Corona drinker's I know/have known than any of the rest of the brand specific findings they listed.]
  
• HEINEKEN
  There's a slang term that could sum up Heineken drinkers: posers. [BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!] These self-assured people believe they are exceptional, get low scores on modesty and high scores on self-esteem. They love their brand badges—a role the distinctive green glass bottle may play—and in fact, this group is attracted to luxury products in general. They are also energetic and dynamic and enjoy being both the center of attention and in the middle of the action. [Okay, this might be a tad more accurate than the Corona stuff, and it has the added bonus of being really funny. I'd say no offense to Heineken readers among my readership, but I'm pretty sure I don't have any]
  
• CRAFT BEERS
  These specialty made beers get lumped into one category both because there are fewer fans (and thus less statistically significant data) of them, but also because the personalities of one type fairly well describe another. This group is more likely to spend time thinking about beer rather than work. [Ayyyymen!] They are more open-minded than most people, seek out interesting and varied experiences and are intellectually curious. Craft-beer drinkers also skew as having a lower sense of responsibility—they don't stress about missed deadlines and tend to be happy-go-lucky about life. [TLoML and I had another in a long series of conversations about my attitude towards deadlines this morning, so I found this one particularly interesting.]
  

(h/t: Treasured Valley)