Budweiser: Knowing When to Say When

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many of their adventures together you are shown a day where the man leaves the beloved dog at home to go drinking with his friends, and you are heart wrenched when he waits all night for him to come home. When the man arrives home in the morning you hear him explain that he stayed at a friends because he did not want to drive home. The ad then concludes with the message “Make a plan to make it home”, encouraging viewers to not drink and drive so they will make it home to their loved ones, just like the man did to his dog (Huang). Anheuser-Busch presents an emotional appeal to millions of viewers using their Budweiser Super Bowl commercials. The Budweiser brewing company knows that large groups are gathered together to watch the super bowl that most likely share similar feelings, so the company takes advantage of this in order to sell their beer. Who doesn’t love a cute puppy? One of their most iconic commercials is a perfect example of this pathos strategy, the super bowl 2015 “Lost Puppy” ad (Clevver News). In the one minute advertisement, viewers are taken through many heart wrenching events with a young Labrador retriever. You first see the puppy jump into the back of a horse trailer and get lost. As he makes his way back home he finds himself in a spot of bother when he runs into a scary wolf. Fortunately, his Clydesdale friends hear that he is in trouble and break out of their stalls to rescue him. Budweiser gives watchers a rewarding finale when the group returns happily to their owner (Clevver News). The touching relationships and rewarding ending leave the viewers with a connection to Budweiser. The use of pathos to market their product is very effective because customers will connect their feelings to Budweiser beer.

Creative rhetorical marketing strategies are used in many ways by Anheuser-Busch to not only sell their product but also call on its consumers to make responsible decisions while they are using them. The advertisements use of ethos and pathos motivates people who live life on the edge, or as James Twitchell would call experiencers, to slow down and not be reckless. In his essay, Twitchell categorizes experiencers as action orientated people (Twitchell). These actions can have consequences and Budweiser is taking measures to prevent them. In many ways the company is trying to advertise to customers that they can still be an experiencer and have basic principals in their mind at all times. These characteristics is what brings loved ones home safe after each night out.

Works Cited

Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch. Advertisement. 2016. Online.

Clevver News. “Budweiser "Lost Dog" Superbowl 2015 Commercial THE FEELS” YouTube. YouTube, 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.

"Drunk Driving Prevention." Alcohol Responsibility. Anheuser-Busch Companies, 2016. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.

Fowles, Jib. “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum 4th ed, Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. Boston: Longman, 2011.

Huang, Scott. “Friends are Waiting. Budweiser” YouTube. YouTube, 19 Oct. 2014. Web. 6 Feb. 2016.

Sandberg, Madison. "Budweiser’s Puppy Love." English 191 Writing Portfolio. N.p., 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.

Super Bowl Commercial Ads. “Budweiser Super Bowl 2016 Commercial Helen Mirren Give A Damn.” YouTube. YouTube, 2 Feb. 2016. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.

Twitchell, James. “What We Are to Advertisers.” Signs of Life in the U.S.A: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. Eds. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012. Print. 5 Feb. 2016.