Gay Beer?
This week I
chose to focus on an ad for Bud Light Beer. It was found in Instinct Magazine
June/July 2011 issue. The ad displays two young, attractive males smiling in a
sensual embrace. They are in a bar and one of them is holding a bottle of Bud
Light Beer. Text in the top right corner says “LET’S HEAD OUT. Be who you are.
Drink what you like. And turn any time into a great time with the just-right
taste of Bud Light. IT’S THE SURE SIGN OF A GOOD TIME. HERE WE GO.” The bottom
half of the ad displays three ice-cold Bud Light Beer bottles. In my opinion
this ad is designed to imply that it is ok to be gay and that if you consume
their product you are going to have a good time.
The first
thing that drew my attention when I looked at the ad was two males in a sensual
embrace. It was clear to me that the males were more than friends. They were
standing very close. One of the men had his arm embracing the other. Their
faces were almost touching. Both males were smiling and sharing sensual gazes.
The
advertiser having chosen Instinct Magazine almost certainly ensures that the
intended audience is mostly gay men. Bud Light Beer has many national
advertising campaigns for wider audiences that mainly appeal to heterosexual
men this looks to be a campaign narrowly focused towards the gay community,
without great fear of a homophobic reaction from their primary consumer.
The first
line of the text says “LETS HEAD OUT.” Given the strong anchoring of this ad
“LETS HEAD OUT” may be interpreted in at least two important ways. One is “LETS
HEAD OUT” of the closet. This interpretation is further supported by the next
sentence in the text that says, “Be who you are.” The second interpretation of
the first line of text is “LETS HEAD OUT” of here. This could imply that the
two males want to go somewhere else perhaps to be alone. The text further
implies that the consumption of Bud Light will lead to a good time “Drink what
you like. And turn any time into a great time with the just-right taste of Bud
Light. IT’S THE SURE SIGN OF A GOOD TIME. HERE WE GO.” When viewing the
images in a known “gay” magazine and reading the text the homosexual anchoring
of this ad is almost indisputable.
The people
at Bud Light believe that they have a product that will make times more
enjoyable for openly gay males. I could anticipate the reaction of most gay men
as a conformation that openly gay relationships are acceptable in society. It
occurs to me however that some gay men may view the ad as pandering and would
recognize that this endorsement of a gay life is not a recurring theme in any
national Bud Light campaign. It is disappointing to see that this ad is only
being run in an openly gay magazine. Bud Light may be afraid that their main
consumers, heterosexual males, would be turned off or offended by this open
display of homosexuality, a clear display of (MOH) (Kim 2007). This makes me wonder if Bud Light is really
embracing an openly gay community or if they are simply trying to sell a
product to a targeted audience in a private way. In this way the ad is both supported and countering the (MOH) script (Kim 2007).
Citations
Kim, J. L., Lynn Sorsoli, C., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145-157.
