Jack Daniels became the latest company to lean into and celebrate the alphabet community with a no-holds-barred advertising campaign featuring a “small town, big pride” drag queen summer camp. The campaign touts a partnership with RuPaul.
Jack Daniels, located in rural Tennessee and marketed heavily to people not often associated with the rainbow brigade, has now also become one of the latest companies facing heavy backlash and calls for a swift boycott.
BREAKING: @JackDaniels_US has gone full woke and put degenerate drag queens in their barrel house.
Jack is sponsoring something called “Drag Queen Summer Camp”
This is a *good* business move since Jack Daniels is only ordered by the mentally ill already.
Customer outreach 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/fZjzj08od5
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 5, 2023
“BREAKING: @JackDaniels_US has gone full woke and put degenerate drag queens in their barrel house,” conservative commenter Benny Johnson posted to Twitter, along with a graphic designed by Jack Daniels.
“Jack is sponsoring something called “Drag Queen Summer Camp”,” he continued. “This is a *good* business move since Jack Daniels is only ordered by the mentally ill already. Customer outreach”
“The row over LGBTQ+ brand ambassadors is symbolic of a wider debate about drag shows and their exposure to children,” Newsweek said. “Critics have expressed concerns over Drag Queen Story Hour, readings for children by drag performers at libraries. Tennessee, Jack Daniel’s home state, was the first to pass a drag show ban in the presence of children over concerns about their sexualized content. The law has since been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.”
On their company website, Jack Daniels boasts at the top of the page of the “Jack Fire Pride” campaign is well under way.
“Jack Fire and Pride go together like cinnamon and whiskey,” the site proclaims. “Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire is dedicated to supporting the LGBTQ community year-round through representation in media we produce, nurturing a diverse and inclusive business, and partnerships and donations to GLAAD,” the site continues.
The new, woke ad campaign comes alongside the release of a new drink Jack has created in partnership with Coca-Cola. Announcing the drink, it said:
“We are excited to introduce the quintessential Jack & Coke cocktail to consumers in a consistent, convenient and portable format,” said Dallas Cheatham, Jack Daniel’s RTD Brand Director. “While Jack & Coke is a cocktail consumers have known and enjoyed across the world, with origins dating back more than a century, we are proud to officially launch Jack Daniel’s & Coca-Cola RTD and bring these two iconic brands together in a RTD format for the first time in the U.S.”
“This launch is a milestone moment for both Coca-Cola and Jack Daniel’s – it is following what people have been doing with these two iconic brands for generations and demonstrates our commitment to innovation from the simple to the complex,” said Dan White, Chief of New Revenue Streams for The Coca-Cola Company. “We are really excited about this classic cocktail being offered in a new and exciting way through our relationship with Jack Daniel’s and their distributor system.”
The can and packaging, which features two of the world’s most recognized trademarks in “Coca-Cola” and “Jack Daniel’s,” will include clear responsibility symbols stating that the beverage is to be enjoyed responsibly and only by consumers of legal drinking age. Jack Daniel’s & Coca-Cola RTD will adhere to responsible marketing practices held by Jack Daniel’s and The Coca-Cola Company.
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