Holly Rae Research

Another day, another scandal. Another thing to be outraged by. Like clockwork, some company or person does something or says something outrageous that upsets one side of the political spectrum, and the other side starts making fun of their outrage. It’s been called “outrage culture.” I would say that most people would agree that we live in a time where it’s common for people to make a lot of money or get a lot of exposure by being outrageous. In the past few months, there have been a lot of creative choices and marketing choices made by companies who are taking advantage of popular outrage-y topics.

It’s rage bait marketing.

Take for example, a beer company this month, April of 2023, deciding to launch a marketing campaign using LBGT imagery and the face of a very controversial trans woman to sell beers. Since such companies have entire marketing teams that strategize how to harness cultural trends to make more money. It would be hard to say that this beer company actually cares about this trans person or LGBT, or may have any particular opinion about either one way or another, but projected that using this imagery would help their struggling company to become relevant again. Predictably, the more vocal conservative commentators, anchors, and memers lost their minds at the marketing campaign, ostensibly forgetting that it is a marketing campaign and all marketing campaigns are literally a cash grab. But the more liberal and vocal LGBT supporters were quick to make fun of the conservative backlash, with many buying these beers to support the LGBT cause and to “pwn the conservatives.”

But the only people who benefited from this spectacle was the beer company! No matter what may have happened to their sales and stock prices, it appears that they accomplished what they wanted—relevancy and free advertising that could potentially boost them in the long run. All they had to do is print a rainbow can with a person’s likeness on it and pay them to promote it and they received more attention than any beer company since Corona during the Covid crisis.

But there has been a recent uptick in these kinds of outrage bait.

• There are rainbow beer cans endorsed by a controversial self-proclaimed trans person (did anyone actually see one of these cans in person?).
• Netflix’s black Cleopatra.
• JK Rowling and the game made from her books.
• The article about Lizzo telling everyone she’s the “beauty standard.”
• At least one “color-blind” Disney re-make at any given time.

These types of issues have populated social media in all kinds of circles—people who are legitimately angry about these things, people who are in full support and spending their time defending these things, and the memers who want to bank off the popularity of the controversy. (And then me, just performing some introspection about it). But my question is:

Why do we even waste our breath on these things? Does being for or against a rainbow beer can marketing campaign really mean anything in the end? Does being for or against a video game really matter? How does any of this connect to real life?

All of the things I listed above are marketing campaigns and products that literally would not exist if there were not people to talk about them and stoke hate or support for them. Products and popular figures benefit from good and bad press. If they can bait people into talking about it, the advertising is free! For me, I hadn’t thought about Bud Light or Hogwarts Legacy until everyone started arguing about them.In fact, it looks like these companies know what the hot topics are right now and are diligently taking advantage of any kind of outrage they can stoke.

When we take the bait and rage post about these things or defend them, we are giving these companies free advertising. 

Isn’t it funny how a company like Netflix, which is very publicly struggling and fading into nonexistence, is suddenly what everyone is talking about because they announced a new show about Cleopatra portrayed by a black actress. Companies know they can’t make everyone happy, so they may as well lean into it and rage bait an entire demographic of Americans for free advertising, right? Thinking that it’s a company like Netflix’s job to make everyone happy and make products that people like clearly isn’t their current strategy. But getting people to talk about their platform and keep it alive is. 

We’re going to forget about all of these current dramas in a few months and move onto the next rage bait, but the people who orchestrated these campaigns will have benefited from the free press they received from the thousands of posts people made expressing their opinions on these matters.

I would express my opinion on these outrage-y things, but what’s the point? What’s a take you haven’t heard before? What does it have to do with anything in my actual life? Sure, some are arguing that a rainbow beer can means that billionaires are trying to usher in a LGBT takeover of American culture, but wouldn’t that only happen if we all actually participate in the culture war? You can argue that Netflix’s casting choice means something about race in America, but does it really resemble any real issue faced by race minorities? Or is it all just rage-bait marketing?

Ignore, ignore, ignore. It’s getting to a point where I feel like I’m being trolled by companies with the more and more ridiculous brand deals and creative decisions they make. Maybe letting these companies have this much control over our emotions and time is not the best move.