blog 10

How popular is beer in America? Well, as of July more than half of the Americans asked answered that they love beer. Some happen to love it so much that they have claimed it as their favorite beverage. Even those late teenagers who are not allowed to drink beer legally can not wait to buy their first six- pack when they turn twenty- one. With bars opening in any available space in almost any town, beer must be a beverage of choice. However, not everyone drinks. Its has been proven that most people to drink alcoholic beverages come from middle and upper class income while people with lower class incomes tend not to drink. This is understandable considering beer is more of a luxury than a necessity. People drink beer to wind down after a long day at work or to feel more sophisticated when out on the weekends or to even just get the full enjoyment of watching the game on a Sunday afternoon. The advertisements of Dos Equis and of Bud Light both explain what they believe the beers purpose is, and target similar yet different audiences.
The advertisement of Dos Equis is composed of a main picture with a short statement centered towards the top. Leaving out this much helpful statement, the view first looks upon the main and center object, the man. The man is not a young, happy or good looking man. He is a sophisticated, gray haired man with a thick yet groomed grey beard looking straight at the camera with an expressionless tone. He seems to be in some up scale party with younger women in eye catching dresses sitting next to him. What man would not want to be sitting next to two women at a party with one completely interested in him? Any lower class man would not mind switching places with the man and feel powerful and successful for once. Plus he has a refreshing tall beer sitting in front of him. When a man looks at this picture he will place himself in this mans shoes, in the place where he will feel powerful and wanted with everything he wants. But wait. This mans face leads to another conclusion.
As the man is sitting there he has a cold face on. He almost looks as if he does not want to be there. Considering this leads to the statement printed at the top in fancy letters. The statement reads “on happy hour, happy hour is the HOUR AFTER everyone from happy hour has LEFT.” Viewers can take this two ways. The first is that the man has had all of his coworkers leave and is now socializing with new people, or, what his facial expressions agree with, that he is waiting for everyone to leave him alone so that he can have his true happy hour by himself with his beer. Now the viewer sees that it is cool to drink by yourself. There is no need for a fancy upper classman to need people around him for him to feel more of himself. All this man needs is his Dos Equis.
The advertisement from Bud Light uses a similar layout but targets a different audience. This advertisement is for more of the simple guy who likes to kick back and watch a sports game while holding a “cold one.” Here there is a very attractive tanned skinned woman holding a beer with her hair leaning off to the side and her hair swaying perfectly. Most definitely this is a sexual based advertisement. It has often been said that “sex sells” and with a woman like this one they succeed. This woman’s big lips, enticing eyes, and low cut dark pink top definitely draw in a man’s attention. A very important aspect of the picture is the background of the woman. Men are interested in certain types of women, and there are plenty of different types. This woman does very well in suiting most of them. Her skin color is best described as a tan because she looks as if she could be a light tone of black or white with a nice tan. With this questionable skin color she could attract blacks, whites and even Hispanics. This being the case she relates to a broader group of men.
Another aspect of the Bud light advertisement is the statement on the bottom of the advertisement. Here reads, “ life is good…Live the good life with Bud Light.” Although the meaning is pretty self explanatory people often fail to see the second affect it has on the advertisement. The first is that they are saying the beer makes life good, and the second could mean that Bud Light could take life to another step and if you drink it you can make your life better with a girl as attractive as the one in the picture. Once again, sex is used.
Even though both advertisements mainly concentrate on men, they concentrate on two different kinds of men. The man in the Dos Equis advertisement is dressed in a more professional and high class suit which pertains more to lower class men who want to feel as powerful. Targeting the type who hopes to climb the social ladder and become someone. It’s telling them to drink Dos Equis to feel closer to where they want to be. While the bud light advertisement seems to focus more on the laid back man who doesn’t take life too seriously. Also, it targets the type of guy who drinks beer. This advertisement is more to reinforce their crave for Bud Light and causes them to either want a beer right there on the spot or for them to drink more frequently.
Through these two advertisements we can see how beer companies tend to focus on not only a certain gender but also the different mindsets of the gender. Bud Light is looking for a more relaxed and comfortable mindset that will just get up and grab a beer, and Dos Equis lures in a more stressed out man seeing the life he wishes he has.




the main thing i am going to re-see is the description. i am going to go more in depth on the advertisement because the first time i only spoke about things the advertisers knew were in the ad and left out everything that looks as if it were a coincidence. i know that have to maintain the mentallity that nothing is left to chance. i also know that my conclusion is very weak, so when i feel more confident about my paper and how it looks i'll concentrate on a well written conclusion. the last thing i am going to re-see is the orginazation. i am going to try and imply the same strategy as the author in the text had so that it will flow bettter and so that i have a formula to follow instead of writting loosely. a lot of sentences also were placed in wrong places. i noticed they would have more effect if i placed them in different places and it would also correspond with the orginazation better.