Miller High Life

Now, I'm not going to lie and pretend that I have the best taste in beer in the world. Mind you, I like great variety, but I do have a special place in my heart for two very common American beers: Pabst Blue Ribbon and Miller High Life. I won't go into much detail as to the former, except to say that yes, I did once buy a can of PBR in China, and yes, I did bring it back as a present for my friend Tyler G. Kidd, Esq. (who does not, to my knowledge, even drink beer anymore). That's well and good, but lets be honest, enough is being said about PBR that I don't really need to add to the hype. Then there's Miller High Life, the Champagne of Beers. Now, I don't know how apt the nickname is, but its a decent drinking beer, especially for dark smokey bars and watching football on Saturdays in late October. I drink it Lite, though, cause I'm 29 and the ol' metabolism ain't what it used to be. Such is life.
That aside, ol' Miller High Life also has had the benefit recently of two outstanding advertising campaigns, least in my opinion. The first is the "Miller High Life Man" series done by Errol Morris. You can see 'm all on his website (http://www.errolmorris.com/commercials/miller.html) and I can't but say it'd be an hour or two well spent. An ad critic (no, I don't know how you get that job) named Seth Stevenson wasn't a fan, saying "If [the "High Life Man" ads] held any appeal for under-35s, it was only as an ironic homage to a defunct sort of masculinity." I cordially disagree Mr. Stevenson - in fact, I figure if you left the upscale part of virtually any city and headed for the suburb, the country, or the grittier parts of town, you'd probably find millions of people who identified with just the sort of lifestyle these advertisements nod to. Call it the Fight Club syndrome if you want, but blatent American-esque masculinity is still around, right or wrong. But I digress.
Mr. Stevenson did, however, provide us with something useful insights in his article on the Miller High Life "Girl in the Moon." The whole deal is here ( http://slate.msn.com/id/2127699/) on Slate - one of the rare internet publications worth glancing at daily. Check it out and compare the new ad (you can see it in high quality form at http://www.millerhighlife.com) with the old campaign - maybe you'll agree with Mr. Stevenson, maybe you'll hate both productions, or maybe you'll be like me and appreciate the finer elements of both. Just like the smooth, crisp taste of a cold Miller High Life. Ah.