Coors Light drowns out ‘the ultimate buzzkill’ with new Thirst Trap to catch mosquitoes
“Officially humans love Coors Light beer, unofficially so do mosquitoes,” the Molson Coors-owned beer brand said in a statement. The new ‘Thirst Trap’ device – part of the brand’s larger summer campaign – is designed to kill mosquitos, which have been shown to be attracted to beer.
Coors Light is continuing to build buzz around its ‘The official beer of everything unofficial’ campaign with a new, mosquito-killing ‘Thirst Trap.’
The funnel-shaped Thirst Trap, named in a tongue-in-cheek nod to the popular social media slang phrase (which refers, roughly speaking, to any content designed to elicit the lustful attention of one’s followers), is designed specifically to fit on to the top of a can of Coors Light. The idea is that mosquitoes, drawn to the beer’s aroma, will fly into the funnel and through a narrow tube leading into the can, where they will then be trapped and condemned to a yeasty grave.
“Warm weather, outdoor activities and laidback chilling are some of the reasons why summer is undeniably the best season of the year,” Marcelo Pascoa, vice-president of marketing for the Coors Family of Brands, said in a statement. “But with the good also comes the bad, and pesky mosquitoes can be a buzzkill. The Coors Light Thirst Trap is an attachment designed to fit on a 12-ounce can of Coors Light and will lure mosquitos into the can with no way out.”
In its communications about this latest marketing effort, Coors Light cited a 2002 study that “demonstrated that the percentage of mosquitos landing on volunteers significantly increased after beer ingestion compared with before ingestion, showing clearly that drinking alcohol stimulates mosquito attraction.” Bad news for beer companies – unless, of course, you can use it to your advantage, as Coors Light is now aiming to do.
The Thirst Trap is part of Coors Light’s broader ‘The official beer of everything unofficial’ summer campaign, which the brand officially launched in June. A couple of weeks prior, the company launched a nationwide jorts (jean shorts) campaign in celebration of what it dubbed the “unofficial” start of summer – namely, “as soon as it’s warm enough to wear jorts.”
Coors Light’s summer campaign is an extension of its efforts to position itself as “the beer made to chill,” both literally and figuratively. With a large part of the United States currently in the throes of a heatwave, there will be plenty more opportunities for the brand to double-down on its signature, icy-cold branding.
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