For this post I will be focusing on the audience in beer advertisements once again, but I will be looking more at the photographic advertisements used in the 1960's and ones used in more recent times. The photographs, or ones used as posters or magazine pages, convey messages differently than the video ads do, but still use nearly the same tactics and show the same evolution in marketing techniques to their audience.
The ad from the 60's for Budweiser with the women hanging over the shoulder of the man shows the man holding work tools and almost seeming surprised, but very pleased, that the woman is pouring this beer for him. The woman looks almost unnaturally happy, and seems to be pouring the beer to say, "Here, relax, have this," surprising the man in what seems to be the middle of his work. The case can definitely be made that the portrayal of the woman and her role in this ad is controversial, as it seems to objectify her, but not to the point of the ad from a magazine in the 2000's. The 2000's ad displays three women in bathing suits, that lying together put together the Budweiser logo. The 2000's ad shows a drastic change in the attempt to appeal to a certain audience, that of males that would be reading the magazine. I would guess that this picture appeared in a Sports Illustrated issue or ESPN Magazine, which appeals to a demographic of young men who would be interested in sports. The ad from the 60's does attempt to appeal to men, with their portrayal of the beer being a way to relax, but the image from the 2000's is a much more blatant attempt to appeal to men, and also does not appeal to a sort of relaxing atmosphere, but rather an atmosphere of having a good time.
It's really interesting to see the comparison, and the different settings that these commercials are placed in. It seems that the 60's one was in an office reiterating the unfair job opportunities if the women are only there for giving beer. Now the advertisement seems purely sexual! This is really interesting.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very interesting point, but I think that the times that these two ads were made in makes a big difference in the visuals that are displayed in them. In the 60s it was seen as a societal normality for women to tend to their husband's every need and now it is seen as normal by society for women to be wearing bathing suits and showing off their bodies for everyone to see. For this reason I think they are both showing the same level of objectivity for the time. However, this does not mean that I agree that these ads are fair to the true values of women. I am just saying that ads might not have changed as much as society has... just my thoughts :)
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how the two ads are both about beer and appealing to men, however the ways of appealing to the audiences vary with the time periods. In the 60s, the men believed that the only reason that women should be in the office is to pour them a beer, but in the ad now, the appeal is mainly sexual.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see how the audience of the ads focuses on men, but the focus changes over time from middle aged men to include younger men. This is just another example of how ads changed over time to encourage bad behavior like in the swear jar ad.
ReplyDelete