If the best part of beer is the buzzy feel, the latest Coors Light (TAP.A) product will certainly leave its fans disappointed — for March Madness, the company released lollipops that mimic beer's bitter taste but do not actually contain any alcohol.
Officially dubbed the Coors Light Chillollipops, the beer-flavored suckers have been dropped in advance of the popular college basketball play-off tournament known as March Madness.
The top of each lollipop mimics beer's frothy foam top while the bottom has, presumably, the malted taste of hops.
Wait, A Beer-Flavored Lollipop?
"Will it work?" Vice President of Marketing Marcelo Pascoa said in a statement. "We don't know, but we can't imagine anyone has ever been unhappy or angry with a lollipop in their mouth, so we wanted to give the Coors Light Chillollipop experiment a try."
Even if that sounds good, the news only gets worse from here.
Despite being labeled as a 21+ product, the lollipops do not actually contain any alcohol and do not come in the pretty six-pack container from the promotional image.
Instead, they will be shipped in more tightly-wrapped sixes for $3.17 (a reference to the first day of the tournament) at shop.coorslight.com during the the three weeks of March Madness.
Coors Light
Why Is Coors Doing This?
Ostensibly, Coors Light is trying to help sports fans "relax" while processing all the "highs and lows of March basketball."
"March is one of the most stressful times of the year for a college basketball fan," Pascoa says. "During all the incredible highs and lows of March basketball, Coors Light is the brand to bring a moment of chill."
While many take college sports very seriously (each year, offices and media outlets across the country start pooling tournaments to predict the winners), the idea that someone needs a lollipop — and a beer-flavored lollipop at that — to get through it all is a marketing stretch at best.
Companies frequently tie new products to various sports, holidays and cultural events — last month, Coca-Cola (KO) tied Virgin Galactic (SPCE)'s advances in space tourism to the launch of its new Starlight cola.
Every year, Molson (TAP.A) does something similar with limited-edition beers and glasses for the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup.
These types of limited promotions can at times be a way for brands to launch more out-there products and generate some buzz. But if Coors is aiming for the "yuck" and no bad publicity effect, it hasn't worked yet — the Chillollipops are not getting the kind of viral social media traction as the cilantro ice cream sundae from McDonald's (MCD).
