Joshua Ritter

Professor Mary Emery

Prose Stylistics

May 13, 2013

The Evolution of the Print Advertisements for Beer

The United States in the 2010’s is vastly different from the way it was back in the 1950’s

and 60’s. The American people have changed dramatically, and so have the advertisements

directed towards them. Marketing departments are constantly doing research into the attitudes of

their publics so that they can find the ideal approach for advertising campaigns. Because of this,

advertisements are excellent indicators the values, beliefs, and tastes of the cultures that they

were meant to target. All advertisements show insights into culture, but none embody American

popular culture better than beer ads. Beer print advertisements offer insights into how popular

culture in the United States has changed from the 1950’s to the present through the images and

language that they use.

Beer ads are excellent indicators of American culture because they have an extremely

wide audience. There are many males who like beer, and they span every racial and many social

categories. With the exception of dedicated religious groups and, possibly, health fanatics there

are not very many groups of men who do not drink beer. Because of this beer marketers are

forced to create advertisements that target a wide range of men. Beer companies have to find

motivating factors that men are universally attracted to in order to exploit them. There are three

concepts that are routinely utilized by beer advertisements. Over the years these concepts, albeit

this does not necessarily include their presentation, have not changed. These motivating factors

are sports, life, and women. Because women are also integrated into advertisements featuring

sports and life, this paper will discuss the use of women and sex appeal alongside the other

motivating factors.

Sports

Sports have always been popular among men in America. The majority of sports are

dominated by men, and many men themselves played a sport at some point in their lives.

Football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer are all masculine, testosterone pumping, and,

most importantly, televised sports (Yes, I realize there are women’s basketball and soccer teams.

However, if we are honest, nobody watches them). Men can sit down for hours watching their

favorite teams face off in athletic competition. That is why it seems that one out of every three

television commercials during a sporting event are advertising beer.

The above are 1950’s print advertisements for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Figure 1 is

targeting football fans, if you could not guess because of the vintage uniform, and figure 2 is

targeting baseball fans. Both advertisements feature somewhat overly excited male models who

are dressed up to watch a sporting event, and both have the models drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon

beer. It is important to note that, for the sake of space, the bottom half of Figure 1 was omitted.

Figure 1 Figure 2

The second half features the words “Pabst Blue Ribbon: It’s Blended… It’s Splendid.” Both

advertisements also feature very similar copy.

Print advertisement copy is a tricky thing. Because they are typically small, usually

taking up no more than a single page of a magazine, and because they must capture the attention

of people skimming through their source material, print advertisements must feature large and

sparse copy. People are typically drawn into an advertisement because of the images, so copy is

typically used only to supplement pictures. The result is that many print advertisements attempt

to come up with clever lines or catch phrases (such as the McDonald’s phrase “I’m lovin’ it”).

In figure 1 utilizes a clever phrase “For you Armchair Quarterbacks,” implying that Pabst

is a perfect drink to have while watching a sport. The phrase also implies a level of dedication

and involvement with your favorite team. The Quarterback is the single most essential player on

a football team. He is responsible for throwing the football, a much more difficult task than it

appears, and for calling plays on the line of scrimmage. By calling fans “Armchair

Quarterbacks” the advertisement is both gently poking fun at men’s commitment to their teams,

and stroking their egos by implying that they are vital to their team’s success. This is clever

because it combines the emotions of humor and pride into one four word saying.

Figure 1 also includes what used to be the official Pabst Blue Ribbon saying “It’s

Blended… It’s Splendid.” This is a campy line reminiscent of old Superman and Batman

cartoons. It is also very wholesome and almost gives the advertisement a family friendly feeling.

That said, this advertisement was intended for a 50’s audience. Words such as “splendid” were

used with greater frequency than they are now. Still though, figure 1 is most certainly a happy,

friendly advertisement.

Figure 2 is also targeting sports fans, but, instead of targeting the fan watching from his

television set at home, this advertisement is targeting the fan that goes to games. The phrase

“It’s a hit!” is, again, a campy little pun and it would have made people chuckle, but it also

conveys some of the excitement of watching your favorite team make a spectacular hit at a

crucial moment. The copy contained within the yellow box “Pabst Blue Ribbon Served Cold at

you Seat…” does two things. First it makes your mouth water. After all, who can resist a

refreshing cold beer while sitting in sun on a summer day? Secondly it associates Pabst with

baseball. It makes fans aware that Pabst is served at games and draws attention to the fact that

the man looks downright natural holding that cup. Modern beer advertisements, while they still

target sports, take a somewhat different approach.

Modern beer advertisements, while they still target sports, take a somewhat different

approach. The first and, perhaps most immediately obvious, difference is that there is much

more color in the advertisements. This, of course, is so that the advertisements stand out when a

potential customer goes flipping through a magazine. The second obvious difference is that,

when it comes to sports advertisements, people have been removed from the pictures. Modern

sports beer advertisements are now more concerned with pictures of the beer itself. Beer

companies, especially Budweiser, now have adopted the philosophy of the exclusion of all

Figure 4Figure 3

people except for the occasional scantily clad supermodel when targeting sports fanatics. This is

not the case, however, when viewing televised advertisements. Televised advertisements often

show their affiliations with sports by sponsoring sporting events or shows on ESPN. However,

when it comes to print advertisements, people are being excluded from sports ads.

Beer advertisements are also taking a different approach when it comes to the copy that

they use. If you will recall, older print advertisements utilized humor, but now this element is

completely gone. Figure 3 shows a Budweiser bottle sitting next to a soccer ball. Beside this

image are the words “Celebrate the Passion with Budweiser!” This word “passion” embodies the

attitudes of current sports fans. Gone is the time of wholesome entertainment when

sportsmanship was encouraged and hostility frowned upon. This is the age where fans are

expected to be passionate about their teams. They are supposed to scream and go crazy for

whichever team they want to win. No sporting event is more known for passion than the FIFA

World Cup. This print advertisement was an excellent movie by Budweiser. Even the red,

though it is the Budweiser official color, inspires passion. This advertisement encourages fans to

go nuts, and while they are at it to have a Budweiser. Passion and alcohol: I see no problems

there.

Figure 4 also takes a passionate stance to advertising. The phrase “He we go” is a term

used before action, and it is also the current tagline of Bud Light. “Here we go” brings to mind

images of soldiers going onto the battle field or football player getting ready for contact. It is a

phrase that gets the blood pumping and makes men want to push themselves to perform. Both of

these advertisements show a shift in American culture from the excited, but collected culture of

50’s and 60’s sports to the passionate and action oriented culture of sports today.

Life

Another concept that reaches all men is life. All people get caught up in life’s daily

activities, stresses, and concerns (men included). All men need a break or some way to make life

more fun. This is where beer companies have made their niche. Marketers have been making

advertisements about life and beer since the 1950s. The formula is to provide an image of beer

and the life every man wishes for. This creates a subconscious link between beer and happiness.

Beer companies want to make associate beer with a great time and an improved lifestyle. They

want men to integrate beer into their everyday routine, and claim that alcoholism makes life

great.

The 50’s beer advertisements are, once again, very light hearted in nature. This makes

sense because they want people to enjoy life and get away from the stress caused by daily

activities. Figure 1 shows a couple on a tandem bike, clearly enjoying themselves, and Figure 2

shows a suave bartender with a happy cool-as-Jagger expression on his face. These

advertisements invite the viewer to drop what he is doing and relax with a beer (you know they

Figure 5 Figure 6

are working because I really want to stop writing this paper and go grab a cold one). In these

advertisements the pictures are powerful, but the copy is even more so.

To supplement a perfect picture of a perfect couple on a perfectly romantic outing, the

marketers at Pabst Blue Ribbon stamped the page with “Pabst makes it perfect!” Again, this

advertisement is very wholesome, although the woman’s clothing would be considered a little

risqué for the times, featuring a couple on a tandem bike going on a picnic. However, the

advertisers at Pabst would say this outing is incomplete without the inclusion of an ice cold beer

or two…or three…or more. This advertisement encourages viewers to supplement their

wholesome life with a little bit of beer. It is also important to note that, even in the wholesome

50’s, sex appeal was being used to sell beer. The woman’s red dress immediately draws the

viewer’s attention to her and her mostly unclothed legs. The man looks downright giddy to have

such a pretty date and the advertisement seems to hinting at the modern concept that if a man

drinks beer women will come to him.

Figure 2 takes a very different approach from figure 1. Instead of showing of

emphasizing wholesome fun with beer, it emphasizes the concept that beer makes you cool. As

was previously mentioned, the bar tender has an expression of confidence and suave. He is

aiming that expression directly at the viewer as if to say “Oh you ordered a Budweiser? What a

stud!” Images that come to mind are of Sean Connery ordering a vodka martini, shaken not

stirred, or of Humphrey Bogart saying something cool like “here’s looking at you kid.” The

picture screams classy and makes men feel like they are part of some exclusive club of

gentlemen if they drink Budweiser.

The picture in figure 1 screams of cool, but the copy talks of life. Featured on this

advertisement is the old Budweiser tag line “Where there’s life…there’s Bud.” This line of copy

does not fully fit the picture, but it makes a powerful statement: that joy in life and Budweiser

are linked. The copy is essentially saying that you cannot have a good life without Budweiser,

and that all a man has to do to improve his life is to drink a Budweiser beer.

Both advertisements emphasize that beer significantly improves the quality of a man’s

life. This is actually an easy claim for beer companies to make, as beer does make social

situations more fun when used in moderation. Marketers in the 1950s jumped on fact that beer

makes things fun and grew into the statement that it is almost impossible to have that “perfect”

time without having a cold beer in your hand.

When it comes to the concept of life, modern beer advertisements are not all that different

from those of the 1950’s. The main selling point of these advertisements is that life is dull and

stressful, but if you drink beer it will be filled with fun and excitement. The only real differences

between the past and present ads are that the modern view of fun has become more extreme, and

beer advertisements are now less subtle in their message. Whereas once beer companies implied

that beer was required to live a fun life, they now explicitly state it in their print ads.

Figure 7 is an excellent example of how the concept of fun has changed in America.

Where once America’s view of the “perfect” time was a picnic with your sweetheart, it is now a

Figure 7

raging dance party (though the sweetheart in the revealing red dress is still present in the

picture). The escape from the mundane is also much more clearly stated in this advertisement

than it was in the past. We have a business man stepping through a sidewise High Life logo and

into “Miller time” where he is awaited by his buddy and very attractive girlfriend. The

advertisement also has the current Miller catch phrase “It’s Miller Time” written on the bottom.

This implies, just as the advertisements from the 50’s, that Miller dramatically improves your life

and makes it more fun.

Figure 8 has a similar message. It features a bottle of Lacplesis beer being poured into a

glass. The beer splashing out of the glass has taken the shape of a biker, and the copy simply

says “Discover real life.” It should be noted that, while this beer is a Latvian import, figure 8

was created for American audiences. With that in mind, “Discover real life” takes the statements

made by the 1950’s ads to a whole new level. The 1950’s advertisements, and to be honest most

of the modern ones as well, make statements such as “Pabst makes it Perfect” or “Where there’s

life…there’s Bud.” These sayings imply that beer is necessary to make life fun. However,

Lacplesis is essentially saying that you are not really living unless you drink Lacplesis beer. The

picture implies that extreme people, such as BMX participants, drink Lacplesis, a statement that

is as far as I can tell has no factual backing, and that only extreme people experience “real life.”

One thing that is missing from the modern advertisements that was a prevalent theme of

the 1950’s life advertisements is class. Gone is the suave bartender who makes you feel like

James Bond gone is the suit you used to wear to baseball games. In his place are crazy, high

energy dance parties with blaring loud music. This most certainly shows a shift in the American

way of thinking. Where once we men were confident in ourselves and enjoyed dressing in suits

and had manly conversations over a glass of Budweiser, we now prefer jeans, loud music, lose

women, and drinking until we puke. Where we once were content to go on tandem bike rides

with our sweethearts, we now prefer risking life and limb doing midair stunts on titanium death

traps. Ah where have the times gone?

Conclusions

Beer advertisements show a shift in masculine American culture from the 1950’s to the

2010’s. This is not at all surprising as it has been fifty years since the 1950’s, but it is still a

dramatic shift. One of the more startling changes is how much the pace of life has increased in

the past 50 years. The advertisements from the 50’s show people going on picnics during the

middle of the day, whereas modern ones depict a man unwinding after a hard day at work.

Perhaps because of this fast pace, we American men have developed a taste for extremity.

Where once we were content to be “Armchair Quarterbacks” we are now screaming fans who

watch sports with the same intensity as if we were watching war unfold on the news.

One thing that has proved consistently true through beer advertisements, however, is that

sex is timeless. Men liked women in the 1950’s, and we still like them now. The only difference

between then and now is how much skin we want to see. Modern beer advertisements with

women in bikinis were too much for the wholesome culture of the 50’s, but are a staple of

marketers in the desensitized 2010’s. However, in the 50’s the woman in figure 5 would have

been considered scandalous for showing so much leg, so it would appear that sex appeal has

been utilized in beer advertisements for at least 50 years. Who knows what it will be like in

2050? The women will probably be completely nude.

It was interesting to study how the masculine American culture has changed from the

evidence presented in beer print advertisements. I was surprised at how much marketers were

able to say with so little copy writing. I also felt a strong sense of nostalgia for the way things

used to be in America (even though I am far too young to remember them). However, all I can

do about it is go celebrate the end of the semester, and my time in college, by having a nice

refreshing Budweiser, and pretend that I am Sean Connery.