One thing is for certain: In this day and age, sex sells. It’s a tried and tested mantra. It is so prevalent, that most of us are pretty much accustomed to viewing mass media depicting attractive people engage in sexual acts or refer to sex in some way.
Brandie Young, a marketing professional, rated by BusinessWeek as a “Top Young Female Entrepreneur”, recently ranted about the prominence and prevalence of sex in advertising.
But first, let’s take a look at today’s video:
Beer commercials have become synonymous with sex and attractive individuals. Today, commercials in general, have adopted a more fly-on-the-wall, amateurish style. The idea is: the more you associate your product or brand with something that is desired by your target segment, the more likely they will believe that in order to achieve what they desire, they would have to purchase your product.
According to some anti-pornography experts, we now have a whole generation that does not think that explicit sexual advertising is an issue. It is important to note that the target audience of beer commercials are young males who are are looking for a good time out. However, Bradie’s argument is that mass media is delivered to mass audiences, and advertisements intended for young males, will be viewed by other demographics as well.
So why would an immensely popular brand such as Budweiser associate itself with a taboo subject such as pornography? Even Time got into the discussion. They offered this simple yet ever so eloquent answer:
Because Budweiser must have calculated it was worth the risk to alienate some people, if they could reach their core buyers.
-Robert Frankel, Ph.D., Richard deRaismes Kip Professor of Marketing and Logistics
Anti-pornography activist Donna Rice Hughes was not shocked that Anheuser-Busch, which makes Bud Light, would stoop so low. “The line has gotten really blurred,” she says. “There’s a whole generation that has been ‘pornified’.” As mentioned earlier, they do not think it is such a big deal. Thus Budweiser is tapping into that market.
Neither Anheuser-Busch nor DDB (Budweiser’s advertising agency) declined to comment for the Time article. Branding expert Rob Frankel contends that any controversy generated by the video will be regarded as the icing on the marketing-strategy cake. “This ad is about a guy who would like a brew and some ass,” he said. “That’s right in their strike zone.”
-Lookupthere 
