| a paper i sort of like.Keg Stands: The Degradation of American Moral Fiber It’s all the rage: college students ‘bobbed’ (a shortened discombobulated), 1-2-3s, the defiance of gravity through weekend keg stands, 40 Fridays, the drunk dialing of one’s Grandma Frances—alcohol consumption among young adults. The increase of these illegal, unhealthy acts over time has led the marketing departments of many corporate breweries to produce advertisements that seem more relevant to a younger audience (also, one might argue that the production of such ads has caused an increase in teenage drinking, but this is less likely to be true). In the late 1990s, Anheuser-Busch, the age-old brewer of Budweiser beer, introduced its ‘Real Men of Genius’ line of advertisements. The advertisements portray everyday ‘geniuses’ in their 1-minute reel of ironic, over-the-top humor. These advertisements are a stark contrast to the Budweiser ads of the 1950s, which create an idea that Budweiser beer is a beverage of elegance and superiority. As one begins to examine Budweiser advertisements from both the 1950s and today, he or she might question the images associated with drinking an ice cold Bud Light—the pint glass placed adjacent to the fish fork at the soiree has become an aluminum beer can, thrown onto the ground after being crushed upon the nearest frat guy’s forehead. These images and their contrasts show resemblance to—and proof of—the gradual decline in American moral fiber throughout the past five decades. The increase in alcohol consumption by young adults has contributed to the degradation of both the American beer and America’s morality. Budweiser began its “Where there’s life…there’s Bud” campaign in the late 1950s with an array of ads targeted for men and women, blacks, socialites, and even an international audience in a time when “the imposition of Southeast Asia of the political system of Communist Russia” endangered American foreign policy (qtd. in Crunden 263). One 1950s print ad depicts African-American “neighbors,” all male, “out in the kitchen, swapping ideas,” which, of course, “calls for Budweiser.” Another ad of the period recommends Budweiser’s Lager Beer, suggesting further that it be drank in a wine glass. Pearl necklaces and bouffant hair are a must. An earlier ad applies internationally by having six global representatives toast to the crisp, golden beer in their respective languages. Other advertisements, along with these three, contribute to the idea that Budweiser beer is truly elegant and deserving of its title “King of Beers.” In the majority of these ads, reoccurring themes give clues to the societal affluence and goodness present in the “happy days”; dinner parties, romantic beach picnics, bowties, top hats, red lip stick and fingernails all imply that beer is drank in moderation at some formal or family event rather than the binge drinking popularized by college students today. Although they appeal to many different audiences, these advertisements are restricted from purposefully targeting young adults. This is not to say that the teenagers and young adults of the 50s and 60s did not consume alcohol, but that their efforts pale in comparison with more modern drinkers: In 1940, Americans each consumed 1.56 gallons of ethanol; in 1980, 2.76 gallons (Musto 80-81). It is assumed that underage consumption parallels these data in equivalent proportions. In his case study Binge, Barrett Seaman discusses what he calls “The College Alcohol Crisis,” the lengths to which underage drinking has intensified throughout college campuses: “Hospitalization for alcohol overdoses has become a regular feature of weekend life at even the best colleges. By winter break in 2003, more than twenty Hamilton students had been [taken] to area hospitals for treatment of alcohol overdoses—seven in one weekend alone. Dartmouth, with forty-four hundred undergraduates, was admitting on average about two hundred alcohol emergencies a year to the campus health center.” (109) Scientific Journal notes that not all teenagers drink, however. Many young adults celebrated the rolling back of the drinking age from 18 to 21 around 1980. “Surprisingly, the action was praised even among the 18- to 20-year-olds it affected,” the journal reports (Musto 78). Even so, others disapprove of such actions, taking their case to the online world on Facebook.com, a community of college students grouped by networks. One Facebook.com group, Reduce the Drinking Age to 18!, boasts of its 68,000 members and an active discussion board of about 2,000 posts—nearly the same amount of college students who die from alcohol related deaths each year (Seaman 109). In order to remain competitive in the brewing business, Anheuser-Busch has gradually changed its marketing techniques to focus on a younger demographic. In 1999, a series of radio advertisements began to represent ‘Real Men of Genius’ as the drinkers of Bud Light. Television ads appeared later—in 2003. The advertisements, over 100 in total, do not directly target underage drinkers. It seems that the ‘Real Men of Genius’ of the marketing department at Anheuser-Busch wish to appeal to adults between the ages of twenty-five and thirty who might best appreciate the ironic humor of these tributes to “unsung heroes,” for it is they who remember Dave Bickler’s voice from Survivor’s one-hit-wonder Eye of the Tiger. Bickler serves as a backup singer to the ad’s narrator Pete Stacker whose voice reminds one of a sarcastic, burly man, the two being oxymoronic. Also, the educated diction used in some of the ads might be an attempt to discourage younger audiences; the Mr. Tiny Dog Clothing Manufacturer reel uses the term purveyor, a word with which most teenagers are not familiar. Teenagers do, however, relate to the sexual innuendos of the Mr. Foot Long Hot Dog Inventor reel: “…you made a ten inch wiener, and people cheered, but you weren't satisfied. You said, ‘Wait, I think I can still give you two more inches.’” Also, the names of the ads bring laughter to some, reminding them of certain situations, all the while subliminally inviting them to “crack open an ice cold Bud Light.” Mr. Personal Space Invader and Mr. Paranoid of the Ocean Guy are two unsung heroes about which we’d all like to hear. Anheuser-Busch has, in recent years, began to follow a series of marketing campaigns many believe have an amplifiable effect on an already deteriorating American society. It is clear that an increase in underage drinking has changed the face of beer advertisements and how one might view the American beer. No longer will one find the majority of beer drinkers at the local beach or town restaurant. He will find them scattered among the fraternal buildings at the nearest university, suffering from DTs, a sickness whose acronym they have no knowledge of. They will approach death each weekend, chugging heavy amounts of the golden liquid their parents used to enjoy the drops of. They do not fathom drops of beer, they cannot. Instead, they see a steady stream of liquid transferring from one opening to another. They swallow as fast as they can and laugh as they hear the noise of the liquid, pounding the opening of the can, needing to rush faster into the reservoir of human emotions. They toss the can into the already littered yard. They shift sideways, crushing the dirt driveway beneath their New Balance tennis shoes. With the earth, they crush their own morality. Another shift, their blood alcohol content elevated, and they fall this time, landing on you and I, crushing the earth on which we stand, crushing our own morality. |
