Professor Pieplow

Alex Piner

WRTG 3020

July 26, 2011

Professor Pieplow

Man Up or Shut Up

All of the commercials start the same way. A man walks up to a bar and wants to order a beer. The striking female bartender then asks, “Do you care how it tastes?” to which the man replies scoffing “No, I don’t care how it tastes.” This is followed by more scornful remarks from the bartenders in each commercial: “Well when you start caring, just take off your skirt and I’ll give you a Miller Lite.” “When you start caring put down your purse and I’ll give you a Miller Lite.” “Let me guess, you’re more of a lower back tattoo kind of guy.” “Kind of like your girlfriend doesn’t care that you’re borrowing her pants?” [MB1]

Miller Lite has launched ad campaigns involving the attractive bartenders who viciously mock male customers who don’t care how their light beer tastes. The voiceover guy for these ads constantly urges male consumers to “man up” and choose Miller Lite over other light beers. Through all of these commercials, the advertisers reiterate the idea that men who can’t make up their minds are somehow feminine. These men who fail to order a Miller Lite wear overly female symbols such as purses and skirts. There lies a mystery in the way advertisers go about painting a series of images that evoke feelings, moods, and ways of being. Rather than simply attaching a name to a product, the brand emanates from a series of images that construct a plausible and desirable world to customers.Pathos is the rhetorical strategy that is on the highest display here. The Miller Brewing Company strives to emasculate the male viewer and make them conclude that Miller Light is in fact the best beer choice for them, leading them to purchase this beverage[MB2].

The phrase “man up” itself presents a problem. It identifies being more manly with being more successful and making wiser decisions. Take care of business, getting the job done, and having the stones to execute a task- the advertisers are essentially telling their audience to stop being a woman. This phrase has become an often- used cultural idiom that is used as encouragement when a man is not acting as courageous or tough as he should be.

A bunch of implicit claims are made in the “Man Up” ad campaign. It is assumed that the “real men” they want to drink their beer do not have or wear the following: lower back tattoos, skirts, purses, skinny jeans, or man-thongs. The ads also insinuate that the only men who will be able to attract and woo women are the ones who adhere to masculine ideals as closely as possible. Furthermore, it is implied that women need to be rude and crass in order to earn respect from males. Miller Lite does an abysmal job of marketing, as they only attempt to convey their messageadvertise to a certain population demographic of men in their early twenties to mid-thirties[MB3]. Their company would be much more profitable if they marketed to all men, not just the ones who believes the stereotypes presented in their commercials are, in fact, true.

These commercials are a pathetic ploy by Miller Light to get more men to buy their beer. Miller Light is one of my least favorite beers, and I refuse to purchase or take a sip of Miller Light beer strictly because of this ad campaign[MB4]. The only people I could see this emasculation tactic working on are guys who are so wrapped up in being as masculine as possible and will do anything they can to avoid being labeled as feminine.

Beer advertisers attempt to present a lifestyle that is desirable for the of-age man in relation to contemporary social conditions. “Ads from the late 1950s through the late 1960s commonly depicted couples happily sharing a cold beer… By the mid-1970s, women as wives and partners disappeared from beer ads and there were images men drinking with other men in public spaces” (source 1). In the 21st century, there is a new image of the common male beer consumer that has been constructed. These new ads have created the image of drinking beer as a leisurely lifestyle and less of a reward for a hard day’s work. In their journal article titled “The Male Consumer as Loser: Beer and Liquor Ads in Mega Sports Media Events” Michael A. Messner and Jeffrey Montez de Oco elaborate on the phenomenon in new beer ads that depict men as losers and hot women as the regulators of gender roles. “Masculinity-especially for the lone man-is precarious. Individual men are always on the cusp of being publicly humiliated, either by their own stupidity, by other men, or worse by a beautiful woman ” (source 1). Women appear as highly unattainable sexualized fantasy objects in most of these ads and use this power to keep men in their place. “These beautiful women serve as potential prizes for men’s victories and proper consumption choices. They sometimes serve to validate men’s masculinity, but their validating power also holds the potential to humiliate male losers” (source 1).

Another goal of this advertising campaign is to convince beer drinkers that Miller Lite does int fact taste drastically different than other light beers. The fact that this beer is triple hops brewed is constantly mentioned in each commercial; however, adding hops three times during the brewing process in a common practice in the world of brewing. “Hops added at the beginning contribute bitterness. Hops added closer to the end add flavor. Hops added within the last few minutes or at the very end add aroma[MB5]. This is common and not at all a special thing, nor is it even indicative of how the beer will smell and taste” (source 2).

*I’m planning on focusing on one of the commercials that features the Man Up slogan as well as the new vortex bottle so I can have more to write about… I just ran out of time to do that today[MB6]

Sources:

[MB1]I feel like an intro paragraph is needed that gives us greater context of the whole issue. This is an excellent second paragraph.

[MB2]I’d try and have a better transition here

[MB3]Your original sentence said Miller lite advertises to men in their 20s and 30s. I’m going to assume your in that group. Your obviously not influenced by them, so the sentence just seemed a little off to me. That’s why I changed it around.

[MB4]I feel the same way

[MB5]This info should go towards the beginning of the paragraph, and it should be in your words, not in a quote. I was confused about hops up until this point.

[MB6]Your paper reads nicely. Obviously it’s missing a conclusion, but having read most of it, I’m sure it’s going to get a solid grade.