Miller Lite’s Industry-wide Initiative to Support Women Brewers—Turning Bad $#!T to Good $#!T

An ad for Miller Lite's campaign that says "Bad $#!T" over old advertisements and "Good $#!T" on a bag of fertilizer. — Image courtesy of *Miller Lite*

Miller Lite is announcing Bad $#!T to Good $#!T, an initiative that’s creating fertilizer made from old, sexist beer advertising to be used to grow hops for female brewers. The company states, “There's no beer without women. In fact, women were among the first beer brewers in history. Yet for the years that followed, many in the beer industry (Miller Lite included) alienated the very people who helped create it. How? By dividing women as consumers, objectifying them in their ads, and frankly, putting a lot of bad $#!T out there.”

Elizabeth Hitch, senior director of marketing for Miller Lite states that the brand’s new campaign for Women’s History Month intends to recognize that, “without women, there would be no beer," and acknowledge the industry’s missteps in representation of women in beer advertising.

The initiative has been planned in three steps—collecting, converting and creating. Miller Lite states that it has already been collecting its (and all of the industry’s) outdated, sexist ads, displays and posters for months. Reportedly hundreds of pieces have already been bought and removed from the internet. The next steps will be turning these ads into fertilizer to help female hops farmers to grow over 1,000 lbs. of hops. Those hops will then be donated to over 200 female brewers to make approximately 33,000 beers.

Miller Lite also states that it will donate over five times the amount it spends to buy back the ‘bad $#!T’ to the Pink Boots Society to support women advancing their careers through brewing education.

"Women are amazing and infinitely creative. I know women have been erased from building many industries from the ground up, and yet I was still surprised to learn that they were among the first beer brewers in history," said Ilana Glazer. "After years of treating women like objects, the beer industry has an opportunity to shed more light on just how powerful women's contribution has been. I'm inspired Miller Lite created the space for this reflection, and I'm proud to play a part in repping this step in the right direction. We really made some good $#!T together!"

Bad $#!T to Good $#!T continues Miller Lite's ongoing efforts to make beer more inclusive. This campaign was spearheaded by an all-female leadership team and continues the brand's work empowering women in beer, as it did with 2022's Mary Lisle cans, which celebrated the first female brewer in American history.

Consumers can visit www.millerlite.com/badsht2goodsht to learn how they can join Miller Lite's movement and turn their bad $#!T into good $#!T too.