NANZAN REVIEW OF AMERICAN STUDIES
Volume 45 (2023): 3-16

The Cooler Culture War:
Brand Identity Politics in the Contemporary United States
Callie CLARE ＊A couple of summers ago I was on a quest for a new soft-sided, durable cooler.
I was already a bit of a cooler snob having owned a Yeti for a few years. It did its
job, but was too heavy, bulky, and awkward, and I wanted something that waseasier to carry. As a conscientious consumer, I researched coolers, read reviews,
and watched videos of ice NOT melting to determine what was best for me.
However, during my research, I got sidetracked as I ran into a side of the coolerindustry I did not expect to find: culture war politics.
In the United States, and throughout other parts of the world, the culture wars,
as first coined by James Davison Hunter, are used to describe politics that are
pulling people further apart through opposing ideological beliefs as signaled by
specific political issues, such as abortion and gun laws. However, while this isrelated to discourse and belief, the application of culture war politics to physicalobjects can be more fully supported and explained through Marxist and neoMarxist cultural theory. Beginning with Karl Marx’s critique of capitalism,
particularly the values associated with and realities hidden in products ofindustrial labor, new generations of cultural theorists were able to apply andexpand on how meaning is created, assigned, and expressed through consumption.
For Thorsten Veblen, consumption was a way to signify social class and values.
For Louis Althusser, various identities, ideologies, and realities are available to us
by heeding the call to pay attention to, or consume, certain products. Throughthese processes, objects are no longer objects, but contain meanings, values, andwhole belief systems. These associations, through repetition, general acceptance,and lack of critical thought, become naturalized and the objects take on the statusof myth, as described by the influential work of Roland Barthes.
Utilizing these foundational and helpful works and theories of cultural studies,from Marx to Hunter, coolers can take on a whole new meaning. As illustrated
and discussed throughout this article, within the current political climate of theUnited States, every aspect of daily life can carry political meaning, signal certain
beliefs, or connect to one’s individual identity. With the increase in social media,＊

Callie Clare is an Associate Professor of Communications and Communications Program
Coordinator at Siena Heights University in Adrian, MI. She is also an adjunct professor ofPopular Culture at Northern Kentucky University.

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people can find others with the same beliefs, share information quickly, andmobilize their actions and efforts. Objects take on more than their function or
their personal meaning and can come to stand in for entire political ideologies andcontribute to the infiltration of the culture wars into all aspects of everyday life.
This examination of coolers and the culture wars illustrates just how ingrainedcoolers are in American culture and society, how products signal identity andideological belief, and how once a consumer base feels betrayed by a product, acompany must either make amends or pivot to a new marketing strategy tosurvive.
Coolers are portable ice chests most often made of plastic, metal, or Styrofoam.
They feature handles and some even have shoulder straps or wheels to make themeasier to maneuver when they are heavy. While there have been more recent
innovations with electric plug-in coolers, this article focuses on the traditionalcoolers that rely on ice or ice packs to keep items cold. These coolers are mostoften used for outdoor activities such as picnics, parties, outdoor adventure, andtravel to preserve food items and chill beverages. With this function, coolers
follow a long line of innovative products designed to control the naturalenvironment.
One element difficult to control is temperature. For centuries, humans all over
the world have sought to lower or raise temperatures for more comfortable or safe
living conditions. Because these modern wonders of climate control are so
ubiquitous in our everyday lives, they often go unseen until they fail and thenatural temperature creeps in and causes discomfort. For heat, humans discovered
fire and were able to advance heating and cooking from there. However, cold wasa bit more difficult. Humans desired the cold in order to preserve food and chill
beverages. Accounts of preserving food in the cold and chilling drinks with snowor natural ice have been recorded for centuries.1 Getting ice to warmer climates
without it melting required some ingenuity and drive, and these innovations are
the precursors to modern coolers and strategies used to sell high-end coolers.2
Early innovations for cold food preservation included transporting ice andstoring it for use in ice houses, ice pits, and ice chests. However, none of these
allowed for easy mobility in the world before the modern cold chain. In 1803,
Thomas Moore, a farmer from Maryland, received the first patent for an ice chest
originally made to transport butter. The easily transportable chest is sometimes
cited as the original cooler.3 Eventually, technology advanced and mechanicalrefrigeration of all kinds (domestic, commercial, and transportation) completely
1. Jonathan Rees, Refrigeration Nation: A History of Ice, Appliances, and Enterprise in
America (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013), 20; Carroll Gantz,
Refrigeration: A History (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2015), 9―14.
2. Rees, Refrigeration Nation, 20―22; Gantz, Refrigeration, 23―28.
3. Rees, Refrigeration Nation, 118―29.
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revolutionized many industries and the entire lives of modern humans across theworld; ice was therefore no longer necessary in the preservation of food. 4
However, just as refrigeration was popularized, so too were automobiles and theAmerican Dream of a family hitting the open road and traveling around thecountry. This new dream created a new market for transporting ice to cool foodand beverages. For these early automobile travelers, another precursor to themodern cooler was the Desert brand water bag. Coming out in 1916, these weremade of flax and jute, soaked, then filled with water, fastened to the front of a car,and, through evaporation, cooled the water inside.5 While an innovation in theautomobile age to cool water on long summer road trips across the vast UnitedStates, it was limited and left something to be desired for the cooling of different
types of beverages and food.
The first U.S. patent for what most closely resembles the coolers of today was
granted to Richard C. Laramy in February 1951.6 Soon after, in 1954, the outdoor
company Coleman started producing coolers out of stainless steel. However, in
1957, they updated and approved upon their design by adding molded plastic to
the inside of the steel and changed the cooler game forever. This plastic helped tomake coolers lighter and easier to clean and use.7 In that same year, the first
Styrofoam cooler was also produced. Though not environmentally friendly, it
added another convenient and cheap way to chill and transport food and drinks.8
As new materials and technologies were invented, the original design was
improved upon and coolers were adopted by people as the best way to take theconvenience of cooling food and drink with them outside of their homes, on theroad, camping, to picnics, and to any number of different activities. The imageryof coolers in popular culture, from beer commercials to television shows, madethem synonymous with fun activities, hobbies, travel, and the outdoors, all outsideof the standard monotony of everyday life.
After fifty years of very few changes or developments in the standard cooler
products, Roy and Ryan Seiders founded Yeti Coolers in 2006. According to theirstory on the Yeti website, they were outdoor enthusiasts who found themselves
frustrated with the cheap coolers that broke and could not withstand their active
lifestyles. According to the website, they needed a cooler that could stand up to
the extreme conditions that serious outdoorsmen face. “We decided early on that
4. For a full history of refrigeration, see Rees, Refrigeration Nation , and Gantz,
Refrigeration.
5. Germaines Emporium, “Desert Canvas water bags,” Youtube, September 18, 2013,
video, 2: 22, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQJPl4F7Wq0; Gantz, Refrigeration, 9.
6. “Cooler,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooler (accessed April 18, 2021).
7. “On the Bubble (1954―1999),” Coleman Canada, https://www.colemancanada.ca/en_
US/NewCoolers.html (accessed May 20, 2021).
8. David Kravets, “Feb. 10, 1957: Birth of the Cool...er,” Wired, February 10, 2009,https://www.wired.com/2009/02/feb-10-1957-birth-of-the-cooler/.

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product innovation would come from necessity and firsthand experience ― notfrom market research and data analysis. And we’d never sacrifice quality for a
few extra bucks. Because having your cooler’s lid cave in when using it as a
casting platform should never be part of anyone’s fishing trip.”9 The cooler, likeany other tool or piece of equipment, had to withstand the parameters of its job.
Thus the $300＋ roto-molded cooler trend began.
From its beginning and through 2018, Yeti experienced an explosive branding,marketing, and growth journey. Well-known outdoorsmen from the “hook andbullet crowd” served as brand ambassadors as the Seiders brothers sold a majority
share to Coretec who offered logistical and marketing expertise. This included
offering smaller and cheaper products, like the now iconic Yeti tumblers. Between
2014 and 2015, Yeti grew significantly and gained quite a following. They wentfrom relying on just trade show attendance and brand ambassadors to careful andstrategic retailing at rural feed and hardware stores and more urban outdoor
outfitters.10
After Yeti started to pave the way, the knock-offs and copy-cats quickly
followed. Bison started making similar products in 2011, Orca in 2012, and RTIC
in 2015. Older companies like Engel and Grizzly also got involved, though
Engel’s website refers to them as the “original Rotomolded High Performance
Hard Coolers” with “50＋years of cooler innovation.”11 Even stores like Walmart
got involved with their Ozark Trail brand making similar coolers and identical
tumblers for a fraction of the cost of Yeti. These companies all undercut Yeti’s
cost while boasting about their own superiority. Hundreds of hours’ worth ofvideos and endless written reviews and articles were posted online comparing
each of the brands to Yeti in “ice melt tests” and other challenges of function andstyle. Even though the Yeti brand products did not always come out of the tests
with the highest ratings, they had the brand name recognition and the lifestylemarketing with which everyone else was competing. For the innovative Yeti,
emulation was the sincerest form of flattery.
To set the stage for the culture war debate, Yeti worked on marketing andbranding that embedded particular ideologies and identities into the brand, making
it a symbol that held much more meaning than that of a simple cooler. This typeof marketing can be understood through Roland Barthes’s understanding of
mythologies. According to Barthes, myth points to something that is outside of

9. “Our Story,” Yeti, https://www.yeti.com/en_US/our-story.html (accessed May 20, 2021).
10. Bill Saporito, “How 2 Brothers Turned a $300 Cooler Into a $450 Million Cult Brand,”
Inc., May 11, 2021, https://www.inc.com/magazine/201602/bill-saporito/yeti-coolers-foundersroy-ryan-seiders.html.
11. “Hard Coolers,” Engel, https://engelcoolers.com/collections/hard-coolers (accessed
May 25, 2021).

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what is said, seen, written, or shared.12 To paraphrase, its intentions are nothidden, but instead they are naturalized and this “naturalization of the concept” is
the “essential function of myth.”13 For Barthes, the term “concept” is the hidden
thing that myth alludes to. Following Barthes’s lead, a mythical interpretation ofa Yeti cooler reveals quite a bit of complex truths and naturalized assumptions.
To build a mythos, Yeti purposefully targeted outdoorsmen like the founders.
Their website has allusions to hunting, fishing, off-roading, surfing, and camping.
When I purchased a Yeti Roadie cooler in 2016, it came with a whole welcome
packet that included a beautiful magazine, two stickers (reading “Yeti: Wildly
Stronger! Keep Ice longer” and “Built for the Wild. Yeti.”), and a small owner’s
manual. The manual includes tips on getting the best out of the cooler: ways tokeep ice the longest, ways to clean the cooler, and features that made the cooler
bear-proof. It explains that “as a YETI cooler owner, you are now a part of theincredible group of YETI owners and fans that make up the YETI Nation” andoffers an invitation to get involved with new compatriots on social media, offering
the consumer a new identity and a new community of seemingly like-mindedstrangers. The magazine is where most of the mythological coding lies. The
cover features a grizzled fisherman, clad in camouflage, on a fan boat. There isno title on the publication or any words other than “Yeti,” in its familiar all caps
font, in the bottom left corner. Tucked under the height of the fan boat captain’s
seat is a small, powder-blue Yeti roadie cooler. It is not the focus of the photo, yet
it stands out in contrast to the greens and browns predominant in the photo. Inside
the book, we learn that the fisherman is Flip Pallot, a famous outdoorsman who
has written books and created shows on the outdoors. Because of his status, he issponsored by many leading brands of outdoor equipment.14
Besides Flip, the book also features Aaron Franklin, well known for hisbarbecue and brisket, Jeff Simpson, a hunter who survived a grizzly attack, andBrittany Griffith, a rock climber. Though Yeti products are not shown in every
picture featuring the outdoorspeople highlighted in the publication, they arecarefully placed in most pictures: for example, coolers in the backs of trucks andby campsites, colsters (can cozies) and tumblers in hand or carefully placed
among other gear.15 The Yeti products are not the star of the show, though. The
star is the outdoorsman, the person doing the adventuring. Yeti is a quiet
companion, always there, not in the way, serving the needs of the individual. It isthe conduit through which individuals can adventure, the thing they do not need tothink about or worry about. It will sit there and serve its purpose, be reliable, andgo along with the ride. Barthes writes: “Mythical speech is made of a material
12. Roland Barthes, Mythologies (New York: Hill and Wang, 1972), 130.
13. Ibid., Mythologies, 131.
14. Yeti Catalog, 2016.
15. Ibid.

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which has already been worked on so as to make it suitable for communication: it
is because all the materials of myth (whether pictorial or written) presuppose asignifying consciousness, that one can reason about them while discounting theirsubstance.”16 So, through their marketing and branding, Yeti pulls from what
Americans are familiar with and what is in their nature: a desire to be in thewilderness, to tap into the inner wild, to dominate the natural environment aroundthem, and to control it by making its properties bend to their will and whims.
While recognizing this, it is also clear that this natural world that individuals
want to dominate is also not the real world in which most live on a daily basis.
The ability to go out into the wilderness is not something that everyone can makea living off of. It is something that the modern-day version of the leisure classmight do. In modern industrialized and capitalistic societies, those fighting with
the natural elements and relying on the land for their survival are usually portrayedas impoverished. Those outdoorsmen who require the expensive hunting andfishing gear are of a different class. Throughout his book on the leisure class,Thorstein Veblen discusses the consumption of materials and writes that “the base,industrious class should consume only what may be necessary to their subsistence.
In the nature of things, luxuries and the comforts of life belong to the leisureclass.”17 His work is a commentary on the leisure class and the ways in which
they over-consume beyond what anyone would deem reasonably necessary forlife, but is a by-product of industrialized, capitalist society. According to Veblen,“Throughout the entire evolution of conspicuous expenditure, whether of goods orof services or human life, runs the obvious implication that in order to effectually
mend the consumer’s good fame it must be an expenditure of superfluities. In
order to be reputable it must be wasteful.”18 A $400 Yeti does far exceed what isnecessary as far as coolers go, having the same function as a much cheaperversion. However, for individuals with expendable income, time for leisurely
pursuits, and a desire for a cooler, they will still purchase it and justify it as animportant and necessary part of their adventurous lifestyle.
Veblen also explains the phenomenon of “pecuniary emulation.” Of this, hesays, “ The motive that lies at the root of ownership is emulation. [...] The
possession of wealth confers honour; it is an invidious distinction.”19 So, thepurchase of high-end products, in this case, expensive coolers with the mythos of
success in outdoor leisure activities, is a badge of honor. At once it communicatessomething about the income someone has, the amount of time they have forleisure, and that they have noble, manly, and rugged outdoor pursuits. However,
16. Barthes, Mythologies, 110.
17. Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions(New York: B. W. Huebsch, 1912), 70.
18. Ibid., 96.
19. Ibid., 25―26.
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it is also about comparison with one another and keeping up with trends. As
Veblen continues:
The end sought by accumulation is to rank high in comparison with the rest of thecommunity in point of pecuniary strength. So long as the comparison is distinctly
unfavourable to himself, the normal, average individual will live in chronic
dissatisfaction with his present lot; and when he has reached what may be called thenormal pecuniary standard of the community, or of his class in the community, thechronic dissatisfaction will give place to a restless straining to place a wider andever-widening pecuniary interval between himself and this average standard.20

The cooler may be the object to strive for because it allows entry into a desirable
class of people with desirable characteristics that the consumer wants to adopt
with their purchase. However, as with most acts of materialism and consumption,
the satisfaction is fleeting and the cycle of new wants, identities, characteristics,
and products begins again.
The purchase of objects that could fall under the realm of conspicuous
consumption are both to stand out from others in what you have, but also to fit inwith the crowd to which you aspire to belong. Much of the marketing andpurchasing of the coolers, and outdoor equipment in general, serves both of thesefunctions. Using Karl Marx to understand the value of these objects is helpful.
While Veblen is clearly talking about the social elements involved in the
consumption of goods, Marx explains that the value of objects “is something
purely social.”21 Related to this, he writes, “A commodity’s simple form of value
is contained in its value-relation with another commodity of a different kind, i.e.
in its exchange relation with the latter.”22 Like the layers of naturalized meaningthat come from the mythical meaning of the concept as described by Barthes,Marx explains, “the mystical character of the commodity does not therefore arise
from its use-value.”23 Instead, he refers to it as “fetishism,” explaining that there
is a value “which attaches itself to the products of labour as soon as they are
produced as commodities, and is therefore inseparable from the production ofcommodities” and that “this fetishism of the world of commodities arises from thepeculiar social character of the labour which produces them.”24 The cult of Yeti is
produced through the marketing of the cooler and Yeti products as status symbols;
they highlight a disposable income and the appearance of someone with rugged
20. Ibid., 31.
21. Karl Marx, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume One, trans Ben Fowkes(New York: Vintage Books, 1977), 149.
22. Ibid., 152.
23. Ibid., 164.
24. Ibid., 165.

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outdoor abilities. However, while this status and know-how is mythologized
through the branding, marketing, and consumption process, it actually requires
none of those implied abilities. That is part of the myth.
Once a product takes on a cult status, it is no longer just about the carefully
crafted image produced by the company, but also the meaning and added mythosthat comes from the consumers. For Yeti, something they have said they do notwant their product associated with is the #Yetibutts.25 The trend, popularized
several years ago, features photos of women in bikinis and thongs sitting on Yeti
coolers facing away from the camera. They adopt the same posture: leaning
forward to give the effect of a smaller waste and larger and rounder buttocks thatspread across much of the cooler. While taken in many different settings, most are
not in the wilderness, but at a party on a beach, a boat, or truck. Originally, thecoolers often featured stickers of other outdoor brands, fraternities, universities,
and even politics (NRA, Trump, and other right-leaning messages). Sometimes
there were flags, both the American and the confederate, in the background. The
women themselves were sometimes wearing backwards Make America Great
Again hats and holding guns, alcohol, or their bikini top. Though popularized a
few years ago, there are still social media pages dedicated to sharing these photos
and the hashtag. While some of the original Yeti outdoors branding might beembedded within this and similar social media trends, this one is purposefully
leaning away from the simple outdoorsman’s life of leisure and adventure andpointing more specifically to one that relates to a younger party crowd andideological beliefs that more overtly place the brand and their consumers on one
side of the culture wars.
The term “culture wars” was first popularized by James Davison Hunter in his
1991 book with the same name to define the ways in which cultural shifts,
identity, values, and individual choices are becoming increasingly politicized andtherefore further bi-partisan politics with the use of so-called wedge issues. He
explains that what we believe is because of “moral authority” and that a war ofideas is occurring “between groups who hold fundamentally different views of theworld. On all sides the contenders are generally sincere, thoughtful, and wellmeaning, but they operate with fundamentally opposing visions of the meaning ofAmerica: what it has been, what it is, and what it should be.”26 The two sides ofthis war are what he calls an “impulse towards orthodoxy” and an “impulse
towards progressivism. ” 27 In a time and place as politically divided as thecontemporary United States, the sides of the war, the impulses towards orthodoxy
25. Charlotte Wilder, “The Cult of YETI Coolers,” SBNation, December 21, 2016, https://www.sbnation.com/2016/12/21/14014278/yeti-coolers-cult-christmas-gift-list-2016.
26. James Davison Hunter, Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America (New York:
Basic Books, 1991), 63.
27. Ibid., 43.

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or progressivism, define the culture, how Americans live their lives, who they votefor, and what they believe. Though many may pick and choose positions fromdifferent sides of the aisle on an issue by issue basis, a lot of times individuals’
stances on guns, abortion, the pandemic, identity politics, and many other things
come down to one’s chosen side of the culture wars. At times this is predictable
as it is based on the rural and urban split as evidenced by recent election maps andthe ways in which representative districts are drawn in the United States. In the
midst of the culture wars and the politics of the United States in the spring of
2018, even coolers became political.
In February 2018 the United States experienced a horrific school shooting at
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. As with manyother shootings, the aftermath mobilized gun control advocacy groups, but thisone stood out because it was led by some of the students who survived the deadly
attack. With pressure from advocacy groups, politicians, and the general public,
many companies ended their relationships with the NRA (the National Rifle
Association), gun manufacturers, and weapons vendors. However, where there isa push for gun control, it is countered with a strong defense of gun ownership andthe Second Amendment of the United States Constitution (the right to bear arms).
As occurs with these wedge issues, neither side convinces the other, very little isagreed upon, and the schism becomes more deeply entrenched.
In April 2018, two months after the shooting and amid many companies
distancing themselves from the NRA, Yeti also cut their ties. The NRA is themost outspoken organization in the United States when it comes to pro-gun andpro-Second Amendment messaging and it throws its membership and funds
behind candidates and politicians who will work to advance the gun first agenda
in U.S. legislation and policy. According to a letter to NRA members from Marian
Hammer, the NRA president at the time, “YETI has declined to do business with
The NRA Foundation saying they no longer wish to be an NRA vendor, andrefused to say why. They will only say they will no longer sell products to The
NRA Foundation.”28 In response, Yeti released a statement three days later stating“A few weeks ago, YETI notified the NRA Foundation, as well as a number ofother organizations, that we were eliminating a group of outdated discounting
programs.” However, they “were offering them an alternative customization
program broadly available to consumers and organizations.” They concluded theirstatement with “YETI is unwavering in our belief in and commitment to theConstitution of the United States and its Second Amendment.”29
Despite this, though, the crack in the relationship between Yeti and the NRA
28. “Florida Alert: YETI Drops NRA Foundation,” NRA-ILA, April 21, 2018, https://www.
nraila.org/articles/20180421/florida-alert-yeti-drops-nra-foundation.
29. Yeti (@YETICoolers), “A few weeks ago...,” Twitter, April 23, 2018, https://twitter.
com/YETICoolers/status/988500276855427072.

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11was enough for social media, NRA members, rival cooler companies, andconservative politicians to make a big and politicized spectacle out of thesituation. Almost immediately, cancel culture propelled the gun-owning, Second
Amendment-supporting Yeti owners to film themselves shooting their expensive
coolers and blowing them up with explosives. Pelican Coolers announced apromotion that would donate $10 to the NRA and throw in a free tumbler with thepurchase of a cooler, Bison advertised their position with hashtags #2A and#MadeInUsa, and RTIC coolers posted an image of the Second Amendment.30 On
April 23, Orca’s owner, Cliff Walker, took to the company’s Facebook page withthe statement “I often think bigger companies forget what got them there. ORCA
will always support our 2 nd Amendment rights ― period. ” 31 For Orca, themarketing worked because by May, the NRA Blog posted an article supporting
Orca brand coolers with NRA logos. The piece cleverly began, “Did your old,
anti-NRA coolers and drinkware blow up in tannerite-fueled explosions? Orperhaps start leaking from .223 caliber-sized holes? We’ve heard it’s a common
problem. But don’t worry ― the NRAstore has the perfect replacements! [...] The
NRA Orca 20 Cooler and Chaser Tumblers are beefy, over-built and brimmingwith NRA pride!”32
Through the process of interpellation, as has been explained by Louis
Althusser, aspects of our daily lives and popular culture offer consumers possible
identities that are wrapped up into certain ideological belief systems.33 Therefore,
in marketing and advertising, companies sell consumers not only a product but apossible identity that aligns with beliefs they have about themselves, their desires,and larger ideologies. The same thing is done with politics when politicians
appeal to voters through ideological beliefs. According to James Davison Hunter,
identity is important to our cultural conflicts; he writes, “Political and social
hostility rooted in different systems of moral understanding. [...] They are notmerely attitudes that can change on a whim but basic commitments and beliefs
that provide a source of identity, purpose, and togetherness for the people who live
30. Ariella Gintzler, “Cooler Companies Capitalize on Yeti’s Spat with the NRA,” Outside,
April 24, 2018, https://www.outsideonline.com/2423806/best-memorial-day-sale-outdoor-gear;
Kate Gibson, “Cooler Wars: Rivals Hope to Cash in on NRA Feud with Yeti,” CBS News,
April 28, 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cooler-wars-rivals-hope-to-cash-in-on-nrafeud-with-yeti/.
31. Orca, “Message From Our Owner,” Facebook, April 23, 2018, https://www.facebook.
com/orcacoolers/photos/a.433058753460672/1682541731845695/?type=3.
32. “NRAstore Product Highlight: NRA Orca Cooler and Chaser Tumblers,” NRA Blog,
May 26, 2018, https://www.nrablog.com/articles/2018/5/nrastore-product-highlight-nra-orcacooler-and-chaser-tumblers.
33. Louis Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes Toward an
Investigation),” in Media and Cultural Studies: Key Works, eds. M. G. Durham and D. M.
Kellner (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), 84―86.
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by them.”34 Embedded within all of these posts from the NRA regarding Yeti andcompeting cooler companies is an expression of and an offer of an identity; that ofconservatism and an impulse towards orthodoxy, which Hunter defines as “acommitment on the part of adherents to an external, definable, and transcendent
authority.”35 In this situation, that authority would be the Constitution and theupholding of the Second Amendment that states, “A well regulated Militia, being
necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bearArms, shall not be infringed.”
The inverse of this conservatism, the impulse towards progressivism, is definedas “ the tendency to resymbolize historic faiths according to the prevailingassumptions of contemporary life.”36 In other words, those calling for gun control
are not necessarily suggesting scrapping the sacred Constitution, but instead are
calling to reframe it in modern terms, through “rationalism and subjectivism.”37
For example, when arms were mentioned in the constitution, they were low
capacity muzzle loaders and flintlocks that could only hold one round at a time
and therefore get less than a handful of shots off in a minute. There was no suchthing as the modern military-style weapons with huge and easy to change
magazines with the capacity to shoot six hundred rounds a minute. The
resymbolization from the progressive end of the spectrum considers the use of“arms” in the Constitution and asks if what exists today should be included in that.
Therefore, for some of the progressive leaning crowd, Yeti’s rejection of the NRA
and its promotion of a traditional understanding of the Constitution was seen as apositive and those individuals posted their support of the company amid theconservative outrage.
And just like that, the conversation and selling point of the coolers was nolonger about their strength, durability, and performance. It was not about being an
outdoorsman; it was not about establishing oneself as a member of an elite classthrough conspicuous consumption and pecuniary emulation; and it was not about
ice not melting. Instead, the cooler had been sucked into the culture wars andbecame a symbol of one’s stance on guns, the Second Amendment, the NRA, andan ideological vision for the future of the United States. Though Yeti had beentied to conservatism in some ways, through the connection to southern, rural, andtraditional culture (not to mention Yetibutts), one action unwound the careful
mythos of Yeti coolers and the company who capitalized on it.
This phenomenon is clearly not limited to coolers. In a capitalist culture,
where products are given added meaning through purposeful marketing andbranding and politics are often for sale, this is extremely prevalent. Well before
34. Hunter, Culture Wars, 42.
35. Ibid., 45.
36. Ibid., 44―45.
37. Ibid., 44.

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2018 and increasingly since, companies have and continue to produce not only
material goods but ideological beliefs, identities, and political stances. Leftleaning individuals in the United States have called for many boycotts over theyears. In recent memory, well-known boycotts of particular chain stores (like
Hobby Lobby) and restaurants (Chick-fil-A) over topics related to women’s
reproductive rights and support of the LGBTQIA＋ community have occurred andbeen popularized by the attention received on news platforms and social media.
Likeminded people learning of a CEO’s stance, corporate policies, or political
donations took to social media to call on others with similar views and values tojoin them in making their stances known and put their wallets where their valueslie. In response, it seemed that more and more companies were willing to put
their virtue signaling into their product lines. For example, Target and many othercompanies have been creating Pride collections and adopting targeted marketing
techniques for the month of June (proclaimed LGBTQIA＋ Pride month by
President Obama in 2011). Currently, politics in the United States has madeissues of trans rights, particularly in relation to women’s athletics, access togender-affirming care, hormone blockers, and policies policing trans children. As
conservative states are creating policies and laws preventing gender-affirming careand progressive states and organizations are fighting more for trans rights andhighlighting trans activists, conservative boycotts of those same companies
embracing Pride month and featuring Pride collections are occurring. For
example, in May 2023, Target pulled some of their originally planned Pridemerchandise in response to vandalized displays and threats to their employees inlight of the cultural and political commentary regarding trans rights andLGBTQIA＋ legislation.38
Much of the backlash received by Target and other companies and brands alsocame in the wake of Bud Light’s partnership with trans social media influencer
Dylan Mulvaney. In April of 2023, Mulvaney created a post in which she wasdiscussing March Madness and her transition to womanhood while drinking Bud
Light and promoting an online contest Bud Light was hosting. The very short andone-off post was immediately picked up by conservative commentators,
politicians, and celebrities who fanned the flames of the culture wars on social
media. Much like the backlash against Yeti coolers where videos were posted ofangry consumers shooting coolers, two days after the Mulvaney video, rock star
Kid Rock, famous for his music and alliances with conservative politicians,
namely Donald Trump, posted a video of himself to Instagram in a Kid Rock Fish
Fry sweatshirt and MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat shooting an automatic
rifle at several cases of Bud Light. The video ended with Kid Rock looking at the
38. Anne D’Innocenzio, “Target Becomes Latest Company to Suffer Backlash for LGBTQ＋
Support, Pulls Some Pride Month Clothing,” AP News, May 24, 2023, https://apnews.com/
article/target-pride-lgbtq-4bc9de6339f86748bcb8a453d7b9acf0.

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camera and proclaiming “F ＊＊ k Bud Light and f ＊＊ k Anheuser Busch.”39 In thedays following this, Bud Light was dropped by many of their regular customers aswell as by many stores and restaurants as jokes, memes, and targeted insults at
Bud Light and Mulvaney circulated on social media. Much of the reporting has
also focused on the decrease in sales and stock value as well as Bud Light being
dethroned as the best-selling beer in the United States. Beyond the backlash
against Bud Light for their perceived embrace of the trans community, there has
also been a backlash against the brand from the other side of the aisle for the waythat Bud Light executives have seemingly given in to the conservative boycott andbetrayed their LGBTQIA＋ consumers, community, and employees.
As for Yeti’s life after the NRA and Second Amendment boycott, Yeti waited
out the short-term memory of the United States news cycle, changed marketingtactics, and embraced new consumer markets. With new items being introduced
regularly, including camp chairs, dog bowls, gear boxes, dry bags, and new andlimited-edition color options, Yeti is appealing to a different and wider
demographic. No longer focusing on being the perfect cooler for the rural
outdoorsman who is hunting and fishing, Yeti has expanded to other outdoor
activities emphasizing camping, rock climbing, van life, and water sports. They
also continue to broaden their consumer base by changing their mission and focus.
For example, according to Yeti’s 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance(ESG) Report, they have “ worked across the company to elevate [their]commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and reinforced [their] connection
to communities and organizations that help [them] preserve and increase access tothe WILD.”40 Their approach, which focuses on diversity and inclusion, theenvironment, and sustainability, conforms to what some on the conservative endof the spectrum dismiss as “ woke ” culture. With the current boycotts of
LGBTQIA＋ marketing and product lines as seen with Bud Light and Target, the“wokeness” is usually what is being targeted and seen as pandering to popular
identity politics of the day. In the face of this, Yeti is purposeful and one way they
are changing their consumer base is by making an active commitment to expand
their ambassador program to make it more diverse. This includes outdoor
enthusiasts of various races, gender identities, and sexualities. The company isalso very clear about its desire to create an inclusive environment for employees
as well. They use the term “YETIzens” throughout, a play on the inclusivity,
responsibility, and democracy implied in the word “citizen,” and they highlighttheir “Employee Affinity Groups” that offer employees “an opportunity to connect
39. Kid Rock (@kidrock), video, Instagram, April 3, 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/
CqmUBDegYwN/?utm_source=ig_embed & utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again.
40. “Keep the Wild WILD: 2022 ESG Report,” Yeti, https://www.yeti.com/on/demandware.
static/-/Library-Sites-YetiSharedLibrary/default/va5941af6ba4437fa7c4448cb2602e4e50ab72
3f7/2022-YETI-ESG-Report.pdf?version=1,668,555,891,000 (accessed June 10, 2023).

NANZAN REVIEW OF AMERICAN STUDIES 45 / 202315

with their peers around shared identity, interests, and passions, but they also createa platform for YETIzens to share ideas for creating an inclusive environment with[their] senior leadership.” These include groups dedicated to women, African
Americans, Asian and Pacific Islanders, LGBTQIA＋ community, Lantinx, andveterans.41 Looking at the visuals of the Yeti website, social media pages, and
ESG report, it is clear that the company is earnestly working to promote active
lifestyles outdoors with an inclusive range of activities and people represented.
Also, within popular culture references, Yeti is following Subaru in that it is
now often associated with members of the LGBTQIA＋ community, mainly
lesbians. On social media, there are often jokes about lesbian identity being
shown through the ownership of Yeti coolers and drinkware. TikToks joke about“lesbian starter packs” and point to brands like Yeti and Subaru. In fact, Subaru
dealerships have had promotions involving Yeti: a free cooler with the purchase ofa car. Subaru is often cited as one of the brands that capitalized off of themarketing strategy called “gay vague” that hints at LGBTQIA＋ interests andidentities with subtle cues. The branding of Subarus in the early 1990s included
advertisements with codes that, if privy to the code, winked at a lesbian identity.
Subaru was purposeful in this marketing, seeing lesbians as an untapped market
for an active outdoor lifestyle.42 It seems evident then that Yeti is riding on
Subaru’s coat tails and through such promotions and outreach are appealing to thebuilt-in active, outdoorsy lesbian demographic.
This revelation that consumers can use the objects they purchase as signals of
their identity and that companies purposefully help to build those identities
through their marketing and branding is nothing new. However, with the divided
politics in the United States today and the ongoing culture wars, more and moreelements of everyday life are becoming politicized. When the objects we purchaseput us on one side of a wedge issue, our identities can become more entwinedwith our political beliefs and the prepackaged ideologies that inform those beliefs.
When this occurs, we are perhaps more likely to unwittingly fall in line and fail toquestion or critically examine our leaders, our laws, and the world around us. It isgood to be a conscientious consumer but also important to form an identity andbelief system outside of what we consume. Who knew a cooler could hold somuch?

41. “Keep the Wild WILD,” Yeti, 14.
42. Alex Mayyasi and Priconomics, “How Subarus Came to be Seen as Cars for Lesbians,”
The Atlantic, June 22, 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/howsubarus-came-to-be-seen-as-cars-for-lesbians/488042/.

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