Monday, March 5, 2012
Blair West's Response to Beer Ads
Messner’s article 'The male Consumer as a Loser; Beer and Liquor ads in Mega sports Media Events' truly illuminates the subliminal (and not so subliminal) messages present in beer commercials. I was quite intrigued by how deeply the author investigated the commercials, for we, as the consumers, so often fail to understand how crafted television advertisements are. Sometimes I take a moment to analyze the signals and symbols of commercials--especially for mainstream products, such as alcohol, cars, cosmetics-- and I am consistently baffled by how blatant they are. It appears, that, as an American society, we are obsessed with ideals of sex, visual pleasure, and money. Messner's article echoes this concept perfectly. One point I found particularly interesting was the trend of beer commercials to portray women as objects or prizes (as we have seen constantly in music videos, movies, etc. this semester): "These beautiful women serve as potential prizes for men’s victories and proper consumption choices. They sometimes serve to validate men’s masculinity..." This idea essentially transforms drinking into a game of its own, for, while men are watching sports, usually surrounded by testosterone, they are encouraged to see women as a similar 'thing' to be rewarded or competed for. This concept further subordinates women.
But Messner's article took a step further in exploring the often ridiculous ways beer commercials are sexualized. As described, beer becomes an aphrodisiac, making men want sex. Likewise, ads cleverly boast that 'if you drink this beer, you will 'get' this beautiful girl and have sex with her,' or even that beer improves the desire and performance of sex, which is a ploy of advertisers.
But men are not simply 'getters' and powerful dominators of women. On the contrary, beer commercials ironically emphasize men's insecurities, as the article constantly refers to 'the losers' But, naturally, beer serves as a remedy for their shortcomings in different ways.
In conclusion, I was impressed by Messner's exploration of the many varied techniques of beer commercials. I am not likely to watch one without analyzing it next time!
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I was once told that the best way to sell something is to make your audience feel like crap. Once you have sufficiently beaten them down, introduce a solution to their despair - your product. I never really thought beer commercials did this, because men are constantly showered with women and alcohol. What is there to feel bad about? Once you highlighted the idea of emphasizing men's insecurities and referring to the "the losers", I understood. Doing this helps the men in the audience establish a connection to the commercial; everyone has insecurities whether they care to admit to it or not. Moreover, people also like to root for an underdog. Depicting a relatable character who is also an underdog sets up the commercial very well, as it immediately provides someone with whom the audience can connect. "Yeah, he's a loser. Yeah, I've had loser moments before too." Then the commercial introduces the solution - beer and women. The audience feels happy that the underdog loser has struck gold with a hot woman, all thanks to his beer. Because this happens frequently in real life.
ReplyDeleteComment by Molly Bienstock
ReplyDeleteBlair! I really liked you're post and like Mike said, how you highlighted the notion of men's insecurities being the grounding for beer commercials. I think this is interesting in the contrary effect it might have on 'non-losers'. Do you think it just puts loads off pressure on guys of all statures and level of intelligence to enforce this fact that if they drink the product, they can get any woman? The advertising agencies are definitely making 'the losers' feel like crap, but what about the other guys? A good looking man can still lack confidence in areas we all have insecurities in, so maybe these commercials are not just for the losers.
Comment by Jenn Hyslip
ReplyDeleteBlair, I completely agree with you on how interesting it was that Messner pointed out how females are treated as "prizes" awarded when a male consumes alcohol. It had me thinking about the difference between the male and female perspective on drinking as a game. While drinking is a game of its own for males - to see who gets the most intoxicated, or to see who brings home the most attractive looking girl - females are play apart in this. Beer and other alcoholic drinks offer women a way to get closer to a male. As beer is socially constructed as a "guy" drink, males will feel more comfortable to approach a female who is also drinking a beer, as they already have something in common. Once again, females are subordinated, but this time, by an inanimate object.
You had an interesting observation about what commercials suggest about American values. It made me wonder whether the commercials reflect the values of our culture, or whether repeated exposure to commercials of this nature have created the impression that our culture values sex, visual pleasure, and money?
ReplyDeleteBlair, I really like how you wrote that alcohol becomes the “remedy for men’s shortcomings”. This is true; we never see a situation where the “loser” guys score the hot chick unless alcohol is involved in some way. We see these same social situations in many popular movies. One example of this is in the movie Super Bad. The main guy characters played by Michael Cera and Jonah Hill agree to get alcohol for their super sexy girl crushes. The whole movie is about how the “loser” guys are attempting to win the approval of the hot girls; this is the common theme that we see in beer advertisements and also in movies.
ReplyDeleteJohn Gallagher
ReplyDeleteBlair you summed up the article in a great way I thought. In our society, sex, money, and attractiveness sells. Not just in beer commercials but in all facets of life. It is too bad that women have to be portrayed as the "prizes" like you said, which in turn is placing them as inferior to men. But what I want to know is that if these commericals are really making men want to buy their products, is there any way the concept of these ads will change in our lifetime?