A Rhetorical Analysis Of Stand By Me

Just water, or is it? Anheuser-Busch (A-B,) the famous Budweiser Beer Company, aired their unique, “Stand by You” television commercial, during the 2018 Super Bowl. As opposed to their other commercials featuring the famous Clydesdale Horses and signature products, the commercial featured their production of drinkable water, which they provided to areas affected by natural disasters, such as Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, and California. It featured real employees, working in the Cartersville, Georgia plant, to produce clear, clean water, in response to a late-night emergency call, received by the plant manager. This emotional ad was not necessarily designed to promote their products, but rather an emotional appeal assuring America that

The purpose for investing this kind of money into this commercial was two-fold. First, A-B established their ethos by putting a friendly face on their beer company, with likeable employees caring for society’s needs. Secondly, A-B needed to breathe new life into their company, by promoting a better world, through disaster relief, which founded their ethos ethical appeal. Through focusing the ads topic on clean water for the needy, they created a pathos that brought consumers, their target audience, right into the emotional appeal of sadness and concern for others. It is important to mention, that the song, “Stand by Me,” was delivered somberly, which also helped to pull at people’s heart strings. Through using Fowle’s methods of persuasion, the commercial expressed eleven of the fifteen psychological/emotional needs. First, affiliation was expressed through the caring and friendly people featured in the ad. Secondly, nurture was established by the behavior and emotion presented by the plant manager, which appealed to the consumers paternal or maternal instincts. Thirdly, guidance was applied when assurance was made that A-B would always be

Eighthly, autonomy was most noticeable, when the ad exhibited A-B to stand out from amongst the crowd of beer companies, as a “breed apart,” because no one else cares like A-B. Ninthly, A-B encouraged survivors to feel safe, when unable to attain drinking water, that this company was already on its way to the rescue. Tenthly, aesthetically, the beauty of the can labels, proudly displaying the American colors of red, white, and blue on clean silver cans enticed all consumers. Finally, the psychological needs were fulfilled, as the imagined desperation for water, due to thirst, was quenched through the clean, clear, cold can of A-B water. Now, although the ad met these criteria’s, there was a few ethical and potentially legal issues, that may arise. First, the ad targeted audiences and survivors in the USA, and no other televised viewing countries. Which leads to the second concern, that the commercial could be construed as racially biased. Particularly, because the ad is shot in the south. This implication is based on the fact that every single person in the commercial was undoubtedly white. Due to current racial tensions, and the souths long history of racism,