Disappointed with Broncos? After Boise State football loss, ‘manly’ drink sales spike

On game night, the stands are packed with loyal fans cheering on the Boise State football team, but a Broncos loss could result in the crowd drinking a manly beverage.

Research from Boise State University found that when the university’s football team played a home game and lost, purchases of masculine-looking alcohol brands increased in Ada County.

The trend extended beyond football, too. Feelings of failure were found to be closely linked to a consumer preference for masculinity — and the reason for this comes down to how we associate men with aggression, the researchers say.

“When we feel incompetent, or like we haven’t accomplished our goal, we reach for those symbols of toughness,” Niusha Jones, a marketing professor at Boise State and leader of the study, told the Idaho Statesman.

On game days, the study used data from the Idaho State Liquor Division to track purchases of 145 popular alcohol brands and their associations with masculinity.

For example, Grand Marnier seemed masculine because of its dark color and bold lettering, while people associated SKYY Vodka, with its sleek design and bright colors, with femininity. Researchers pre-tested consumers’ perceptions of whether products seemed masculine or feminine to provide gender association scores for each of the products.

On days the team lost, sales of male branded alcoholic beverages increased, regardless of proof or price. Jones said Boise residents have a “real” bond with their football team and can take the loss personally, leading them to look for a symbol of masculinity.

However, some were skeptical about the researchers’ conclusions.

Kristen Barber, a professor of gender studies at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, said that “the idea that masculinity is tied to aggression is more of a social expectation than a biological inevitability,” as the Boise State researchers had suggested. Barber also said it’s “a bit of a stretch” to claim that the team’s loss causes an increase in sales of masculine-branded alcohol drinks, since researchers weren’t able to track whether people who watched the losing game were the ones who bought the alcohol.

But the study found that the link between failure and masculinity applied to more than just football and alcohol. Amazon shoppers who recently reported feeling like a failure were 1.25 times more likely to buy a masculine brand than if they had experienced success, regardless of the person’s gender.

According to the study, even ads that linked the theme of failure to masculinity received more clicks.

“That’s our message to marketers: Use the associations that your brand has and think about how you want to advertise,” Jones told the Statesman.

‘Marketing is psychology,’ says Boise State researcher

Jones suggested that feelings of hostility resulting from failure are the reason people gravitate toward masculine brands.

“Hostility can lead people to display aggressive and dominant behaviors, which are often associated with men,” Jones said. In the study, participants who felt more hostile after attempting a difficult task also tended to gravitate toward masculine brands.

Jones said consumers can also benefit from the marketing strategy. Participants who experienced a setback from a stress ball with “male” features, black and firm, felt more competent afterward. But those who were given a “female” stress ball, orange and soft, had no change in emotions.

The study’s findings could apply across cultures, Jones told the Statesman, because masculinity and femininity have “some evolutionary roots.” Men tend to be “the most aggressive, while women have been the nurturing,” Jones said.

Tristan Bridges, a professor of gender sociology at the University of California Santa Barbara, disagreed. Bridges said societal expectations about gender influence our actions and that the way people view gender varies around the world.

“In our society, we see masculinity as meaningful and valuable,” Bridges told the Statesman. “When people feel like they can’t access it anymore, it’s not surprising that they try to find ways to get back into it, and we don’t need biology or evolution to explain that.”

Jones wants to further investigate how failure affects our behavior. He is currently researching how relationship breakups change our buying behavior.

“Marketing is psychology,” Jones said. “To sell products, you have to understand how people think, how they react.”