The Act of Patriotism

Patriotic advertisements try to instill emotions of pride and trust in a candidate. It gives a message that the candidate is devoted to the country and therefore, its people. However, these advertisements only try to win voters on the ideal of “service to the country” and not what they would do to the country. Fear advertisements are a method of advertising that campaigns use to exemplify the negatives of the opponent to hurt them. However, to say one is better that the other is not reasonable.

The effectiveness of either depends on the nature of the time. Fear advertisements work better in bad times and patriotic advertisements work better in good times. Patriotism is devotion to the country, to the people and this has an appeal to the portion of society that takes pride in their country. A person who is severely devoted to the United States and who has served in the armed forces would look at John McCain differently than they look at Barack Obama. Nevertheless, to choose a candidate solely on patriotism does not make sense to me because a worthy candidate just has to be devoted to the people.

"Glen Glen Glen"

Who knew coffee could be so entertaining? Well no one in particular and that is why this commercial advertisement by Starbucks is, in my opinion funny. The commercial starts off with how many people would start off their day which is with some type of coffee. In this case it is a Starbucks coffee beverage in a can and when the guy whom the commercial is focused on drinks it he is energized and ready to go about his day. This energy that is delivered from the drink is represented by the band Survivor who sings a parody of their song “Eye of The Tiger”. The song is motivational, inspiring and above all else humorous.

The song focuses on the main character of the commercial, Glen, and it is used to show that Glen has the power to survive the morning, a part of the day many dread. The funny thing about the commercial is the fact that the band follows Glen throughout his morning from when he shaves to when he get the bus. The lyrics also deliver a humorous effect because the song says things like “Glen the man going to work, got his tie got ambition” and all throughout Glen is drinking his Starbucks beverage. Finally when the band does leave Glen they see another man, Roy, and begin to sing a song about him because he to is drinking a Starbucks beverage.

Starbucks "Glen" Survivor Commercial

Fear Ads - Why so scared?

It goes without a doubt that political advertisements which try to induce fear about its particular target is used in campaigns and will continue to be used. Fear advertisements are a immense way creating doubt for a candidate in undecided voters and sometimes in dedicated voters. Personally I think that fear ads are just entertaining and fun to watch but to others they can be very provocative. The purpose of using such political mechanisms as fear ads is to invoke an emotional response by those viewing it. It really does not matter whether the emotion is fear, for what they have just seen maybe true, or anger because they feel that what they have just seen was blown out of context. The emotion depends on who watches the ad, which candidate they support, if any, and if they believe the statements made. Using fear is a strategy of attack against the opponent that tries to exemplify their weakness whilst attempting to conceal your own.

Summary of "Swear Jar"

In the video advertisement for the beer Bud Light the corporation Anheuser-Busch uses humor as a means of selling its product. The setting is modeled after the typical office workplace and has a diverse group of people. By modeling the commercial this way it creates a link with the viewers that work at an office. A man asks a woman working in a cubicle “what’s that?” she replies “that’s a swear jar, every time someone swears you put a quarter in it” and then money’s purpose is revealed as to buy Bud Light for the office. The man relies in a stoic yet comedic manner “F***ing awesome” and places a quarter in the jar.

Throughout the commercial the office workers are converging with each other using random terms of profanity. The viewers of the commercial realize that everyone is behaving in such a manner with the sole purpose of raising enough money to buy Bud Light beer. However, this in not directly revealed but is rather implied. That is where the humor is. When the viewer figures out the workers are just cursing so that they will be able to buy beer they cannot help but laugh. Of course, all of the profanity is censored but the viewer can still conclude what the terms are and this adds to the humor. The advertisement has a subliminal message that drinking this particular beer is fun and does so through the use of humor.

Summary of "Good dog, Bad dog"

The advertisement is an example of how the beer, Bud Light, uses humor to sell its product. The commercial takes place, in what seems to be the wilderness, in a campground of some sort. The commercial begins off with one man complimenting another man on his dog. The first man appears to be the rough outdoorsman type, an average person, and the other man is the sophisticated blowhard. The sophisticated man says his dog is a pure breed border collie, in a very snobbish tone, and then tells his dog, whose name is Piper, plainly “fetch”. Piper then runs over to a cooler, opens the lid, fetches a Bud Light in its mouth, and brings it over to its owner who throughout the while laughs cockily.
The sophisticated man says to his canine companion “good dog” and asks the outdoorsman type man, “so what can your dog do?” The dog of the outdoorsman type man seems to be the scrappy little runt. However, when his owner says “Fergus, Bud Light” the dog jumps up and bites the sophisticated man who yelps like a little girl and in the process throws the beer up in the air, which is caught, by the other man. The average looking man then says to his dog in a content tone “bad dog”, because his dog just got him a beer while putting the snobby man in his place. The moral of the commercial is do not judge a book by its cover or in this case a dog because you may just lose you Bud Light.

"The Early Word: The Cost of Going Negative"

In my opinion negative advertising is a good way of pointing out the bad aspects of the particular target. Negative advertising itself is not necessarily a good thing. I feel if should only be used as a method of relaying information and not as a method of slander. To use negative advertising as a means of slander and as a method tarnishing a person’s image is immoral, but that is a double entendre. If that is the basis of negative advertising then there is no moral usage of the latter. In this case, I feel negative ads should be used to explain things the presidential candidates have done that some may perceive as “bad” or wrong. To base a campaign on just negative advertisements against your opponent is not only immoral but just plainly idiotic.

If slander is the only thing that is taking place then the issues that matter most, like health care or the economy, goes unnoticed and no progress is made. The poll in the article makes it evident that more people view John McCain as attacking his opponent rather than explaining what he would do as president. My point is that if the focus is on attacking your opponent what happens to the issues at hand

Funny Budlight Beer commercial

These commercials show that corporations use humor to advertise to consumers.

Video two - "Swear jar"



Video one - "Good dog, Bad dog"