Budweiser Super Bowl Rhetorical Analysis

Question: Where is the largest target audience to hear your message? Answer: the Super Bowl. According to Neilson, the television rating service The Super Bowl had 111.5 million viewers this year. Many of those 111.5 million viewers are only watching to see the best part, the commercials. Companies who advertise during the Super Bowl are aware that people expect great commercials during the Super Bowl; they also know that many people only consider watching the Super Bowl Sunday as the best day to see the commercials in the first place. Budweiser sought to take advantage of this opportunity to display their message to a massive number of people. Known for its unusual, patriotic and heart felt commercials during the Super Bowl, Budweiser is generally

The two main characters of the commercial are a man and his best friend, his dog. One night the man decides to go out drinking, and does not return all night. During this sequence, the dog sits in the house looking extremely depressed, which makes people feel sad. Budweiser know that many people are emotionally attached to their dogs or any other pet that they have, and even if they don’t have a pet, they feel pity for a “hurt” animal. During the commercial a message pops up that states, “for some the waiting never ends.” At this point, my heart and I’m sure millions of people’s heart skipped a beat due to pure sadness. The pathos displayed at this point in the commercial attracts such a wide audience and gets them all to feel, and in turn listen to, the message that Budweiser is trying to impress. Another example of pathos that is displayed in the commercial is at the end, when the man comes home and the dog runs up to him at the door. In this section of the commercial, pathos is evident in a feeling of relief. Now that its audience has felt grievance through the reunion, Budweiser gives a pleasant feeling back to its

Although they are seemingly trustworthy, for a commercial of this magnitude it is important to reassure your audience that you are a source that they can believe in. To establish ethos in this commercial, Budweiser shows that they understand the dangers and effects of alcohol. Now that ethos has been established, Budweiser furthers their credibility by having their logo, one that they promote as being based on American tradition, spread throughout the commercial. This helps to show people that the commercial isn’t coming from people who don’t understand the product and the people they are trying to