Budweiser

In his essay titled “On Reading A Video Text” author Robert Scholes attempts to bring to mind his views on the content of a certain commercial aired in 1982.  On overview of the commercial, written by Scholes, is a look into the life of an everyday man attempting to remove himself from the “small time” world of minor league baseball into the big city like atmosphere of the major leagues.  Laid out before the viewer is the journey of one man against certain odds. 

In Scholes’ opinion this commercial uses emotions to point the viewer toward a certain mindset; attempting to tug at heartstrings and turn emotion toward their product.  Consumers are shown a time of a simpler America, where hard work, integrity, and perseverance paid off in the end.  Transporting an umpire from simple beginnings through the hardships of trial and finally acceptance in the “big leagues” is simply one way of showing this use of the emotional technique.

Diving deeper into the text a reader might infer that Scholes has a slightly limited respect for today’s consumers.  It can be assumed that by his thinking, we as consumers, lack the ability to dig deeper into commercials and see what it really is that we’re being sold.  Scholes then goes on to state that while we might have culture that has changed through the ages, we by no means have the ability for analyzing and criticizing product ads and the like for a deeper, underlying theme.

He almost insists that instead of just pushing a brand commercials are trying to push a feeling, a life style, and a feeling of a job well done, along with the notion of uniting us as American people in a way that subconsciously makes us want to be part of something bigger than ourselves; something like part of a certain product family.  I wouldn’t doubt it that if asked, some Americans today would admit to wanting to be part of a certain group, or family.  This feeling of need seems to be used by corporations attempting to create a bond between consumer and product.  Scholes seems to support this idea when he states that, “[T]he process through which video texts confirm viewers in their ideological positions and reassure them as to their membership in a collective cultural body” (Par. 2).  Most people tend to be emotional, caring beings for the most part and crave a certain bond that can’t be replaced by a product.  That doesn’t quite mean that ad agencies will stop their use of this tactic in bringing in new fans.

As funny as it seems, it’s not until the very end of the commercial that we find out what exactly is being sold.  It seems that Budweiser is to be the winner of this commercial!  Despite the fact that it’s just a beer being sold, Budweiser feels the need to attempt to push an entire life style to go along with it.

Personally, I’ll take a Mac and Jacks any day.