My favorite thing about public transit in Milwaukee is the PBR buses. There are several buses in the city that are covered in Pabst Blue Ribbon art and it's a great way to advertise the Milwaukee-favorite and beautify the buses. The designs are creative, some being murals depicting the beverage and others done in the pop art style made famous by Andy Warhol. What's great about it is that it doesn't feel like an ad campaign, instead, it seems as if someone wanted to make city buses interesting to look at.
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photo courtesy http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/milwaukee?before=1299447666
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Not only do these buses target a population known for it's beer drinking habits (college students and Wisconsinites alike), they say something about the culture of Milwaukee. The city is known for it's largely blue-collar roots and PBR has been a part of that, with the Pabst Brewing Company being founded in Milwaukee in 1844. I'm not sure whether any other city would allow buses to be covered in murals depicting an alcoholic beverage, but it's definitely easy to see why Milwaukee would; whether it's good or bad, drinking is a major part of Milwaukee culture.
While I was unable to figure out exactly how the partnership between the Milwaukee County Transit System and Pabst started, it's obvious that the buses have made an impact. A Google search yields pictures of the buses and I've seen pictures of the buses being snapped by numerous people. Plus, it's always exciting when you're at the bus stop and the PBR bus pulls up!
Actually, PBR has a design contest every year. The winning designs are displayed on buses and bus stops around the country. This campaign has been immensely successful in recrafting the image of PBR. Good post.
ReplyDeleteI was not aware of this design contest, but that's awesome! While looking up information I came across PBRart.com, which has user-submitted art other PBR related things. I thought it was very interesting that there's an entire genre of art devoted to the beer.
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