#lostmessage

A great example of Bud Light displaying their version of humor is when they decided to make their advertisement about a woman being farted on by a horse, and having her get burned from flames getting blown in her face. This kind of joke may be appealing towards a male audience, but jokes at a woman’s expense just leaves a misogynistic water mark on the image. When I watch the new Bud Light commercial trying to promote inequality awarness, I see through their glossy feminist advertisement. I personally see a company attempting to pretend they are not as misogynistic as they have been seen as in the past.

In the newest Bud Light advertisement featuring Seth Rogan and Amy Schumer, two very popular celebrities who are known to take part in activism, are shot discussing the wage gap over some frosty Bud Light. This company however is rhetorically known as having issues around gender equality, since their commercials joke about women and are geared towards the male consumer. A Washington post article stated that about 17 percent of full-time Anheuser-Busch employees were women in 2014, which was down compared to the 19 percent of women working for the company in 2011. I wonder if that percentage has gone down even more.

Now the company comes out with this political piece, probably in hopes to convince the consumer that they care about gender inequality in order to attract a broader audience. Perhaps they truly are trying to make a change for the better, but this commercial alone just does not do the trick. The female-male ratio of Anheuser-Busch is still widely uneven, and from what I have learned, it is tricky to talk about feminism from a male’s standpoint. When Amy Schumer talks about the things she has to pay extra for, she lists off very meaningless things. A car, dry cleaning, shampoo… all of these things are not the biggest concern for people who are fighting to fix the wage-gap. Then she goes on to say that Bud Light supports gender equality by making their beer cost the same for both men and women. To me, this line takes away from any attempt for activism because it makes the commercial seem insincere and forced. It is insincere because of the over-the-top reactions from Seth Rogan making the issues seem like a dramatic joke as he listens to Amy talk about the wage-gap, completely ignorant that inequality exists. It seemed forced because of the use of highly known actors that would hopefully attract the audience more instead of focusing directly on the message they are sending. The attempt is there Bud Light, but I do not think it saves you from your misogynistic ways. Try again next time.

washington post article: