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Mitchell
De Both
ENG103
Dr. Disarro
4 October
2010
Rhetorical
Analysis
A 1996
survey of
children
ages nine to
11 found
that
children
were more
familiar
with
Budweiser’s television frogs than with Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, the Mighty Morphin’

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Power Rangers, or Smokey the Bear (Leiber). Alcohol is one of the most advertised
products worldwide. The advertisements can be seen at least once while flipping
through the television, through a magazine, and in movies. As most Americans
know, while watching the Super Bowl, alcohol ads flood the sports new stations.
But why the Super Bowl, there is much more than what meets the eye.
Advertisers in general are emotionally connecting to their audiences, using colors
to support their claims, and creating illusions that promote their service or
product.
As we take a look at the supplied Budweiser advertisement (Soren), what do
your eyes make their first connection with, maybe the text, the blimp, or the giant
gorilla known as King Kong? Whatever it may be, it has a message and strategic
placing. When taking an overview glance at the picture, you see King Kong
holding a beautiful woman in a majestic setting (what I find humorous is that the
creator decided not to put the planes shooting hundreds of bullets at the massive
gorilla). The gorilla is a sign of power and strength, the primitive man. The text
tidbit, "Nothing beats sitting on top of the world with the love of your life and a
cold beer… AAAhhh, it's good to be the king," supports the visual and clearly
states what the beer companies want you to think. If you drink this beer, you will
be strong, the king, and you will have love in your life. The setting in the
background further aids in creating that illusion the advertisers want you to fall
for. Or maybe the red can and blimp stick out most. Red brings text and images to
the foreground (OSX). The color red is also a color of passion, sexuality, power, and
courage. The use of colors in advertising has psychological effects on the audience to

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help pull out certain emotions. Pulling out the emotions mentioned previously seems
perfect for the type of advertisement.
When analyzing this image in context of the rhetorical triangle, King King
is looking pretty weak. The text can be viewed as a weak logos appeal because
the statement is claiming to be true, but there is no logical sense to it. No way
am I persuaded to believe that if I drink Budweiser beer I’ll become successful
and happy in life. And since I’m not logically connected to this advertisement,
how can it hold reliability and credibility. When looking at the advertisement, I
see no credibility. This ad needs a lesson from an infomercial. But maybe the
emotional appeal, or pathos, captivates some viewers. The beautiful sunset, the
city skyline, the woman, they all can convince the audience to say, "Hey that
looks like a good time".
The advertisement in general is weak, but has some thought behind it, as I
compared it to the rhetorical triangle and personal opinion. The persuasive
messages did a poor job appealing to my senses. At first I thought it was clever,
but after further analyzing I realized it was just a cool movie-related
advertisement.

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Works Cited
Leiber, L. Commercial and Character Slogan Recall by Children Aged Nine to 11 Years.
Berkeley, CA: Center on Alcohol Advertising, 1996.
Soren. Inspirational Quotes. N.p., 19 June 2007. Web. 22 Oct. 2010.

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QSX Software. Color Wheel Pro. QSX Software, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2010.

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