ADVERTISEMENT ANALYSIS

WRITTEN TASK 2

PART 2: LANGUAGE AND MASS COMMUNICATIONS

HOW COULD THE TEXT BE READ AND INTERPRETED DIFFERENTLY BY

TWO DIFFERENT READERS?
WORD COUNT: 1047

hhy451

Prescribed Question: How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two
different readers?

Title of Text(s) For Analysis:

Ifezue N., Alexander. “What Makes an Effective Advertsing for a Man or a Woman?” J
Communication, 1(1):13-18(2010),
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bac2/ee03766803ad872abf96ef99d1797c8adbd1.pdf.
Accessed 8 Nov 2018.
White T., Lawrence. “Does Advertising Content Reflect or Shape Societal Values?” Psychology
Today. 26 December 2015. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culture-
conscious/201512/does-advertising-content-reflect-or-shape-societal-values. Accessed
8 Nov 2018.

Schlitz Brewing Co. “Anyway You Didn’t Burn the Schlitz!” Published 1952.

Task Focus:

Explanation:
The essay will look into how advertisements, specifically the controversial 1952 Schlitz
beer advertisement, use the everyman and masculine appeal through text and imagery
in order to promote and sell their product.

Claim: that the 1952 Schlitz Beer Ad Utilizes Everyman and Masculine Appeal in Order
to Promote Their Product Which Can Be Interpreted as a Questionable Relic of the Past,
or Horribly Offensive, Depending on Whether a Man or a Woman is Viewing the Ad.

Focusing on:
i) What is Everyman/Mascline Appeal? History.

ii) Everyman/masculine appeal through imagery of advertisement. How a man

would interpret the everman/masculine appeal through the imagery, and how a woman
would interpret the everman/masculine appeal through the imagery.

iii) Everyman/masculine appeal through the text of advertisement. How a man

would interpret the everman/masculine appeal through the text, and how a woman would
interpret the everman/masculine appeal through the text.

Introduction:

An advertisement’s job is to sell a product. Sometimes the ad is controversial and

remembered, such is the case for the 1952 Schlitz Beer advertisement: A woman is seen,

charred cooking pan in hand. Her husband motions to the dinner table, Schlitz beers

sitting opened. Under the image is the text “anyway, you didn’t burn the Schlitz!” Both

men and women would probably consider it dated, but the offensiveness would be of

varying degrees, depending on the gender viewing the advertisement, as well as the

degree of sensitivity of the viewer. The Schlitz Beer Ad utilizes everyman and masculine

appeal, in the text and design, in order to promote their product which can be interpreted
as either a relic of the past, or offensive, depending on whether an older man or a woman

of any age is reading.

Everyman appeal is a classic example of an appeal used in advertising to get the

viewer’s attention, and ideally get them to buy whatever is being sold. The everyman

tactic appeals to pathos, or human emotion, in order to get a repsonse out of the person

reading. This is done by portraying a relatable everyday situation or person doing

something that a normal, non-celebrity person would do, or have to deal with. The person

portrayed is often dressed in mondane clothing, as oppossed the glamorously made up

like a celebrity or person of high social importance, because most people are not

celebrities. The everyday situations are intended to tell the viewer that the advertisment

understands them, and understands what normal people have to go through. The

advertisement realizes that they are not royalty. The everyman tactic attempts to gain the

viewer’s trust, hopefully swaying them to buying into whatever they may be selling. The

masculine appeal, additionally, is a tactic that also appeals to pathos by depicting men in

situations that they might view as familiar or relatable, generally in a hypermasculine

way. Once again, this is in order to put the viewer at ease and get them to view the

advertisement as sympathetic and likeable. Both tactics are used in the 1952 Schlitz beer

ad.

The 1952 Schlitz Beer ad utilizes everyman and masculine appeal in order to

promote their product through the included imagery, to varying reactions based upon the

gender viewing it. The image in the ad depicts a woman, dressed in traditional housewife

apparel, and a man dressed in a suit and tie. The woman is holding a hankercheif, crying.

She also holds a burnt cooking pan, and the male is seen with his arm around her in a
protective way. His free arm is motioning to the dinner table, where the Schlitz beer

being advertised sits waiting for them. The advertisement relies on a classic home scene

as part of its everyman appeal, making the audience imagine themselves in similar

familial situations. The warm and familiar scene of the cozy kitchen, the bright yellow

curtains and tablecloth. Then there’s the couple. This is where the differences in opinions

would come from. Studies such as the one mentioned in the academic article “What

Makes an Effective Advertising for a Man or a Woman?” state that men and women have

been shown to view advertisements differently. According to the article, men “might

remember the big picture of an office like the location of a desk or a bookshelf. But

women would remember more intimate details like a vase of flowers in the corner, or a

picture of a husband and wife” (1). The everyman and masculine appeal might be

effective to a man with old fashioned principals viewing this ad because he might just see

the general picture; a man and his wife, a man with his arm around his wife, comforting

her after an upsetting situation. A man might see the ad and think back to a time when he

had to comfort somebody, or when somebody accidentally burnt his dinner. The woman,

however, would notice the littler things about the visual that would deem the everyman

and masculine appeal ineffective. The absolutley heartbroken look on the woman’s face

over something as simple as accidentally burning food. The desperation in her face as she

looks to her man, waiting for him to do something to make her feel better. A woman

viewing this might see the glistening shine of the unscathed beer bottles sitting on the

perfectly set table and think that the people who designed and made the advertisement

were implying that a woman’s hard work does not equate to the beer her husband likes.

While the ad attempts to appeal to pathos through the everyman effect, and creating a
 cozy,. Because of this, the attempt to appeal to emotion would work, but in the way

opposite as intended.

The 1952 Schlitz Beer ad utilizes everyman and masculine appeal in order to

promote their product through the included text to varying reactions based upon the

gender viewing it. The tagline of the Schlitz advertisement is “anyway, you didn’t burn

the schlitz!” in response to the wife burning and ruining dinner. The text below the image

begins with “There’s hope for any young bride who knows her man well enough to serve

him Schlitz Beer.” Here, the ad is utlizing everyman by referencing the situation of

marriage and newlyweds. Lots of people can relate to getting married and working out

the kinks in the relationship together. Masculine appeal is used when referencing the idea

of a marriage being good enough to last if the woman knows what kind of beer her man

likes. A man seeing this text and tagline might be able to give into the everyman and

masculine appeal, perhaps finding humor in the idea of marriage depending on how well

a woman knows his taste in beverage. He might find a grain of truth in it, but he probably

would not analyze the text to the extent a female would. Instead of charming and

endearing everyman and every-people appeal, she might take note of the implication of

the tagline and text, and come away thinking that the advertisers thought that a happy

marriage was equatable to doing everything to please men.

Everyman and masculine appeal could be seen as effective or ineffective and even

offensive, depening on the gender viewing the advertisement.

Works Cited

Ifezue N., Alexander. “What Makes an Effective Advertsing for a Man or a Woman?” J
Communication, 1(1):13-18(2010),
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bac2/ee03766803ad872abf96ef99d1797c8adbd1.pdf.
Accessed 8 Nov 2018.
White T., Lawrence. “Does Advertising Content Reflect or Shape Societal Values?” Psychology
Today. 26 December 2015. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culture-
conscious/201512/does-advertising-content-reflect-or-shape-societal-values. Accessed
8 Nov 2018.