The sediment we know as commercial

A tv ad can linger in your head. Until the very moment that you are in the supermarket or in your local pub. Make a choice. Did it actual stay in your head? Is it not just the price and your own taste that made you decide? Is the tv ad that influential?

Hello, he’s here again! On our television screen. With a beer in his hand: Bond. James Bond. With a significant difference: actor Daniel Craig is playing himself. But all of this still because of the cooperation between the film producers and the brewery. The former is preparing us for a cinematic experience in April. The latter is trying to get us to be as adventurous as the hero/actor: choose this brand. And this is just one of the many examples of beer ads on tv, past and present.

Best friends

According to men blog guys.nl a beer ad for tv can be summarised into a one minute workshop. To make a commercial like that turns out very easily: ,,You need beer and men. Those men should not be too handsome, otherwise the viewer cannot identify with them. The main characters are holding the beer in their right hand: like that, most viewers can imagine they would use the product. In beer ads for tv the men always come in three. So, no single man all alone being pathetic.” The clip also explains that when one of the men wants to do something, the rest follows automatically. It’s the reason why you see the group drinking beer above a toilet bowl. The same toilet bowl, that is. ,,Although a toilet is not a good place to sell your product. So, just safe on the couch with three men.” And from here we can continue with a selection from the range of beer ads on tv, because evidently guys.nl saw the Amstel ads, the ones with the three best friends.

Very successful (‘they’ were talking about it near the coffee machine) were the commercials of Amstel. They were full of humour and the experiences of the three guys were more or less recognizable. In addition, it was a series, causing people not to switch channels whenever a new spot was aired. The viewers were curious ‘of what they would do now’. Moreover, the three actors who played the Amstelbuddies, took ‘revenge’ when they were put aside in favour of a new campaign. Something unexpected was heard after that by the three men: ,,Right. First a Bavaria.” 

‘Not done’

You are going to wonder which tv ads from the past could be shown nowadays. Better formulated: which ones should better not be shown. In case of the friends, one clip stands out. Due to social developments and the event of pushing back the boundaries of political correctness, it would be ‘not done’ right now. It is the clip where the three men are asking themselves something. The ‘brave’ guy takes his chances and asks a blond woman a question about soccer using two glasses of beer and a wine glass. ,,Look, if the attacker gets the ball. Between the goalkeeper and the last player. How do you call this situation?” The blonde responds with a hoarse voice: ,,That’s offside.” The man says thanks and returns to his friends smiling with the anouncement: ,,It’s a man.”

There is another category of beer ads on tv which cannot always stand the test of time: commercials with stars in them. Famous people who, for a nice fee, are promoting a beer brand. Okay, at this moment Daniel Craig is still famous. But what about the ‘golden oldies’? When Lee van Cleef appeared on the television screen for Bavaria, some cries of wonder were to be heard at home. ,,Wow, that they got him to do this!” The movie cowboy shot a cap from a beer bottle to show his preference. How would that work today? It won’t have the same impact like then, because the current generation didn’t grow up with the used celebrities. Show it an audience now and it will only ring a bell to a few quiz show candidates. Mickey Rourke, Hugh Hefner and Diego Maradona could share the same fate. Morgan Freeman not. Probably.

Style, humour and a message

Many ads stand out because of the use of a certain style, humour or the message they want to carry out. The music plays a major role in one (old hits in a new jacket), the punchline of a joke in the other ( the walk-in fridge; apologies for the spoiler). And a change of mentality with just another one, like ‘when you drive you, never drink.’ Also, there are commercials with the purpose of profiling the brand as a sponsor of a music or sports event. That’s how they pay attention to a day or period on a calendar as well. Think about the football championships.

And what about the beer brands which are taking a different path? Not just a warning for drunk driving. No, it’s something… different. You see beer, you know the brand, but still… Charlie Sheen is leaving rehab after an alcohol abuse problem, but on the road homewards he thinks he is seeing everyone drinking beer. A cab driver, a pregnant woman, police officers, even his friends welcoming him back home. But then it’s revealed it’s a different kind of beer: Bavaria 0.0%. Alcohol free beer. The question arises: did I just watch a beer ad on tv? Or not?

Below the threshold of consciousness

With beer ads, one of the purposes is to get you thirsty. And that what you just saw sinks below the threshold of consciousness. That you will choose a certain brand at a certain time. A beer can have sediment at the bottom. It is possible. It can have a purpose. Is it the purpose to drink it? It’s an additional effect of brewing, like contracting ad agencies to get an audience to drink beer.

So? Are tv ads influential? It depends, with such a transfer of information, on the degree of exposure of the message to the recipient. However, the actual effect can never be measured extremely well. But if your brand won’t be named or it won’t be seen, it won’t be bought. Another question: which commercial can you remember? If you can name the brand as well, then you can state the brewery contracted the right ad agency. Moreover, the Trappist Westvleteren won’t be needing an ad on tv; word of mouth advertising has done enough.

It all comes down to the same thing: a beer, anyone?

Which beer commercials on tv are the most memorable to you?