Fuglesang Blog

For our cross-cultural rhetoric project Anna and I analyzed a Bud Light advertisement on you tube. http://youtube.com/watch?v=hWEPdeNurfk. The commercial is titled “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” and it was shown during this years superbowl. The setting of the advertisement is at an outdoor party, and the focus is of two young men both reaching into a cooler for a Bud Light. However, there is only one beer left in the cooler so they decide to play rock, paper, scissors. The both take one step away from the cooler begin playing. They decide to show their decision on “three”, and on three the man on the right throws a rock at the other man which knocks him over. The man lying on the grass claims, “I threw paper” while the other man takes the beer and says, “I threw a rock.” The closing slogan of the advertiement is, “Bud Light, Always Worth it.”
When I (Jillian) first saw this commercial I wondered if the game rock, paper, scissors was solely an American game and therefore culturally specific. I was unsure if Anna would even understand the commercial. Without knowing what rock, paper, scissors is the commercial would seem really strange, especially with a rock eventually being thrown in one mans face. It turns out that the game is called Sten, sax, påse in Sweden and is played for the same reasons to settle disputes similar to doing a coin flip. Bud Light is trying to show that its beer is so great that it is worth fighting over. The rhetorical appeal of this advertisement is mainly pathos since it is a humorous appeal that plays to the emotions. A lot of American beer commercials use this appeal and this commercial is no different. When watching a beer advertisment you are almost anticipating a funny climax, but this one was really clever and unexpected when the man threw a rock on three instead of holding out a fist. While in this advertisement Bud Light doesn’t use ethos to show a famous face to sell its beer, we think the young cool looking guy is an just as much of an ethos rhetorical appeal. The setting is a laid back party with two men that really want a beer. We also don’t really thing the slogan makes much sense here, “Bud Light, Always Worth it” because the guy lying on the ground had no idea he was going to have a rock thrown at him for trying to get a beer. However, I guess they are claiming that in order to get a Bud Light anything goes.