Preying
on people’s insecurities is always what advertising tries to do,
and beer commercials are no exception. Messner’s article “The
Male Consumer as a Loser: Beer and Liquor Ads in Mega Sports Media
Events” analyzes beer commercials and print ads in order to
fundamentally understand the mentality one is supposed to leave with
after viewing these ridiculous situations. Stereotypical “bro”
activity is displayed in these advertisements along with backhanded
insults to the viewers looks and personality. Real life would be far
less meaningful if it were like the commercials; men would all be
misogynistic pigs and women would all be either shallowly hot or
“bitches”. The commercial world of beer is ruled by the “loser”
class of men. These are men who aren’t particularly attractive,
they may exhibit clumsiness, and mostly they aren’t too good with
the ladies, but in the end they can always rely on a nice cold beer
to be there for them and keep them warm at night (women are for
suckers anyway). Beer is the best thing about their lives, they may
not be attractive, have women, or have deep emotional connections to
their friends, but they will always have alcohol there to cheer them
up when they are feeling down.
Their
beer and their buddies will always be there to guide them through
life, they don’t need women or their unnecessary feelings to be
there and ruin their fun. Their friends will always be there for them
through thick and thin, yet they never seem to have a deep emotional
or intellectual connection to their buddies. These buddies in
the commercials are there to target the age group of young men who
are “bros” who like to hook up with women but are afraid to
commit. These article about beer commercials bears a striking
resemblance to both of Kimmel’s articles; the boys will always be
there to back you up and have a good time, and that women are there
for boys fun and no one really wants a relationship. These
advertisements even specifically target this young and burgeoning
adult male age group that Kimmel writes about; college aged and post
college “bros”.
What
is probably the most sickening is how utterly ignorant and stupid all
of these advertisements are and how they are supposed to appeal to
men my age. Although I think most advertisements are beyond annoying,
these just seem to be insulting my intelligence. According to their
advertisements, all I care about is women and drinking. These men
have no other goals other than getting laid and having a good beer
(although one might want to question if any of these choices are
indeed good). I guess I’m not a normal guy, but I do think that
most Men want a healthy and stable relationship at some point in
their lives, and not to be seen as losers and be constantly turned
down by women. I want to have meaningful relationships with people,
be successful, and not be a complete idiot in front of everyone. I
also don’t want alcohol to be my only true friend, because that
would mean I am an alcoholic.
Comment by Emily Hunter: I thoroughly enjoyed Dakota’s final paragraph. While reading the article, I focused on how demoralizing and insulting these beer ads are to females. It did not ever cross my mind to think of how insulting these ads actually are to men also. I have just caught myself believing in the stereotypical male, thinking all men would appreciate these ads for their sexy women and alcoholic beverages, but, just as I don’t want people to assume my goals in life as a girl are to find love and be beautiful, most men most likely strive for more than a beer and a sexual experience. It is nice to hear a guy say that he would like to seek out stable relationships and set goals outside of getting laid.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I absolutely love your last line- very witty. But, on a more serious note, Dakota's post made me think about my friend's and their love lives. Girls' minds in college are consumed with thoughts about "why doesn't he like me?" or "what did I do wrong? Why hasn't he texte me?" What's even more awful than just the idea that females are always thinking about guys is that they blame themselves, while it very well has to do with media and the behavior it socially constructs as correct for our age group. Remembering that Messner spoke of a few beer ads from the 1950s, I wonder if anything has changed in female behavior - whether or not girls were so consumed about guys not talking to them. While I know a significant amount of these silly thoughts stem from the explosion of technology, do you think it has anything to the population these beer companies have targeted? I would absolutely love to sit on a meeting at an ad agency that works for a beer or alcohol company to see what idea they bounce off one another and if they are all this ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteDakota, you make several claims that highlight the main points of the article. Almost all beer commercials target the same central idea and you summarized perfectly. “Beer is the best thing about their lives, they may not be attractive, have women
ReplyDeleteect…..” This is exactly the message that beer commercials advertize. By creating an unnatural social setting between losers and hotties, the advertisers focus the attention of their product, while creating a humorous scene.
Dakota, I think the two parts of your argument here truly reveal just how ridiculous this construction of masculinity is. When we as you do, try to imagine the world of beer commercials being a real world, it falls flat. It is a poor, poor image of truly shallow world. And as you observe in your second part, this is not what men (or women I would add) are really like. I would agree with you that most men want more than the world shown in beer commercials. Beer commercials are a construction, not a reflection of reality.
ReplyDelete