By Abigail Kiefer
When looking at the role of alcohol advertising in today’s culture, there are consistent messages that are conveyed in a variety of contexts. I chose to examine television commercials of a few of the most popular beer brands in the United States: Budweiser, Miller Lite, Coors Light, and Bud Light, and how they relate to gender. Although there are differences in how these companies approach their advertising strategies, each of them emphasize at one point high quality, whether through the brewing process or types of ingredients. Throughout each commercial, it is clear that beer is a social drink, that is meant to be consumed with friends and peers in a relaxed and fun setting. Other typical “American” values such as hard-working, freedom and tolerance had an undertone in each of my selected advertisements as well. When looking at the role of women in these ads, it was clear that women do not play a key role, and they are featured only with a group of men, never alone. I believe that goes back to the ideology that beer is a “man's” drink, and advertising against that would be contrary to popular opinion.
The advertisement for Budweiser begins with images of the brewing process-showing a man’s hand holding some barley and showing images of a brewery plant. As the ad progresses, bold words emphasize how Budweiser is the only beer that is Beechwood-aged since 1876, with images that evoke a quality, wholesome beer that has been around for almost a century. It then uses the phrase “The people who drink our beer are people who like to drink beer.” During the brief period these words appear, they share the screen with groups of men that are toasting saying “cheers” and drinking their beers in different types of bars looking happy and relaxed. When looking at this advertisement for Budweiser, I noticed that consistently throughout the ad, women are never seen drinking a beer or showing intent to drink a beer. Instead, they are waitresses serving men beer or just opening beer. Also, women are never seen being involved in the brewing process of the beer. Although it may appear to be “gender neutral” at first, it is clear that there a masculine undertones throughout the advertisement. Besides the fact the women are rarely seen, this ad also uses words that evoke masculine thoughts that suppress feminine associations, such as “Let them sip their pumpkin peach ale.” Along with the images and clips that are shown with the video as well as the music playing throughout, this ad shows that this beer is for people who deserve “beer that is brewed the hard way” and that seemingly excludes women.
The next advertisement that I analyzed was for Bud Light Lime, which was promoted for summer 2015. In this ad, women are featured as equally as men, and both men and women are seen lounging in their own personal pools (it was a “bring your own pool” party). One thing I noticed, when browsing through all the ads by Bud Light, is that women will only be shown with men, there are no shots of just women. There are shots of only men, and men with women, but never women alone. Also, each time women are featured, they are either relaxing with the men in a party setting (like this advertisement), or they are doing more of a masculine activity, such as participating in aggressive contact sports or in a sports bar. There are never women shown doing more feminine activities. This commercial also did not mention the history, tradition, or quality of the beer itself, and I think that is because this beer is targeted for a younger audience who aren’t as interested in the craftsmanship or process of the beer itself, they are just looking for a light, refreshing, summer beer.
The third advertisement that I analyzed was for Miller Lite, featuring a new bottle. In this ad, there is only one woman, and she is with a group of men at a bar. She is briefly shown, and then the commercial goes to just the actors hands doing a “cheers” towards the end of the commercial in which a woman briefly appears. Also, when employees are featured in the commercial, they are exclusively men and it is a man narrating the commercial, not a woman. Other points to note in the commercial are the “tradition” aspect of the beer, and the long history of Miller. The commercial ends with the classic catchphrase “It’s Miller Time.” The commercial itself is about the return of the classic “Steinie” bottle, which invokes feelings of nostalgia and tradition.
The final advertisement that I chose to analyze was for Coors Light. This ad is about the quality of the beer and the tradition of how it is made. This advertisement compares the process of making Coors Light to that of a mountain, and how a mountain uses the “cold” to sift and refresh everything. Although there are no actual people shown in this advertisement, I did notice that the narrator of this commercial was once again a man. In fact, when looking through the other Coors Light ads, I noticed that there weren’t any women narrating the commercials.
One of the things I thought of during the analysis of these advertisements relates back to the Corzine reading and that was “Changes in consumption patterns, Schudson concludes, are rooted in social, cultural and political changes that advertising responds to, but rarely creates.” That had me wonder, do advertisements reflect society or is society impacted largely by what the advertisements showcase as “normal” or “successful?” I think that it is a mixture of both, not an either/or situation. I think when looking at beer and gender roles in advertising, the dynamics of gender and alcohol are influenced by other factors, such as the opinions of family, friends, and peers. I also think, however, that advertising is a proponent in the maintenance of those ideas, and continues to instill gender norms in the minds of citizens today. Without advertising to those family members, friends and peers, how would those specific ideas about gender norms exist?
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