In this Heineken commercial a group of women are lead to the host's closet to see her shoe collection, when suddenly a group of men are heard screaming as they enter there "beer closet"
The ad appeals to men first because it is beer and men love beer, and second because it parodies the response of what would be expected when women enter a closet full of shoes
How did Heineken use gender roles and humor to sell their product? What type of people do you think the Heineken is being marketed towards based on the characters in the commercial?
Heineken appeals to its audience in its use of pathos, appeals to emotion. These appeals take the form of beer and shoes representing things both genders use as an enjoyable pastime and form of relaxation. All of this is accomplished in a funny, enticing scene. Gender roles are exposed through the clothing attire. The women are fashionably dressed and accessorized showing, along with the organized closet, women’s enjoyment for shopping and domesticizing of the home. The men, on the other hand, are dressed casually showing that they are more laid back and enjoy humbler things. The overall marketability is aimed toward the younger crowd as evident by the party, alcohol, shopping references, and people shown in the commercial.
ReplyDeleteIn the commercial, Heineken has the males react in way that no one expects to see for most males react, especially for a group of males. By doing this, Heineken creates humor for the audience. The use of comedy makes products more memorable and the audience is more likely to buy the product if they have a good emotion linked to it. Heineken is targeting males in their 20's-30's in this advertisement. This is the assumed audience since the age of the actors appear in this age range. Males also are more likely to drink beer more than women, so it can be deduced that males are the targeted gender.
ReplyDeleteWhen i watched this commercial the first time i thought i heard the women speaking another language, that wasn't english so i watched it again and realized they were. However, it didn't matter they weren't speaking in english for Heineken to advertise their product. The audience only had to see the reaction of the men and the women in the comercial when they walked into their closet. The men and women had the same reaction (cheering and celebration) but it was for different products. The women were happy for clothes and shoes while the men were happy for beer. The reaction to the product shows the different gender roles in society, women are more likely to like clothes and shoes and men like beer more. I agree with what Ifs93 and baran.35 said about who heineken is trying to market their product to, men. They do a successful job in marketing their product by using humor and relating it to our society.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above commenters that this commercial appeals to young men. Responding to the question posted by group 4, I believe that Heineken uses gender roles in a comical way. The first time I saw the commercial I laughed out loud because what they are showing is true. When couples get together and have a party women are always concerned about their attire and talk about new outfits they want to buy. Men, on the other hand, enjoy talking about beer and having a good time. The commercial does a great job of appealing to young men by creating a comical dichotomy between the two genders. Heineken creates an identity for itself in the commercial by advertising that it has an enjoyable product for young men to enjoy and have a good time with. This commercial helps bring out gender differences in a funny way as well as to successfully advertise the product.
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ReplyDeleteIn this commercial, the Heineken are marketing towards every men except men who are younger than middle school students. But, they are especially targeting more towards high school students. Most of high school students think if they drink, they are cool kids. Adults know what kind of beer is best and what kind they like to taste. However, students,who does not know what they are doing, just drink any kind of beer to be a part of cool kids and the humors they use in this commercial will likely to stuck in students' mind, which will make them to choose this product. Moreover, like above responders said, this commercial attracts audiences by using humors such as men acting like most of the women when they see what they like. Most of men usually do not scream, jump or hug each other when they see something they like except those men who are trying to make people laugh like men in this commercial.
ReplyDeleteThis commercial is a great way to target young men, like what others have already said. Its simplicity by contrasting women and men's likes obviously give humor to the audience, but also it draws any viewer into the commercial and its product. The commercial is saying how beer can make men as happy as shoes can make women. Although it is mocking the women, it is true that men will be just as happy if not happier if they have a Heineken. People will laugh at this commercial because they know it is true that young men just want to have a good time. The gender roles displayed are pretty accurate for this age group and environment. Through their humor and gender role, Heineken did a successful job in marketing their product and drawing viewers into the advertisement.
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ReplyDeleteAdding to what Leanne said, the first visual element that I noticed was the clothing that the actors were wearing which portrayed the use of gender roles in this commercial. The women were all fashionably dressed and that corresponded to the women’s organized and sophisticated closet. On the other hand, the men were all dressed down in their jeans and shirts just hanging out which corresponded to the closet of beer and the stereotypical relaxed beer-drinking scene. The use of gender roles added humor to the commercial making it more memorable. It draws in the audience’s attention because Heineken showed that women's stereotypical reaction to a nice closet and men's reaction to a closet full of beer are merely the same. Also, as I was reading through the comments on the YouTube video, I noticed one comment that really caught my attention. Two weeks ago, TheHypeStylez said, “I showed this to my dad the other day and he was like: ‘Yeah..so what…typical reaction.’” I would assume that this commercial could be appealing to men of all ages because men typically like to drink beer. But, like Yeram said, I think this commercial is more attractive to high school and young men who strive to be “cool.” This older father probably reacted that way to the commercial because the humor of this commercial is targeted towards younger adults. Heineken was very clever in their use of humor in this commercial but it is definitely targeted towards younger generations.
ReplyDeleteShane_Brunner made a very interesting observation when he watched the advertisement. Just like last weeks commercial, this one also does not rely on speech to create laughter. Even though this is a foreign commercial, we are still able to comprehend the general meaning that men love beer while women love clothes. Some of the commentators above believe that the targeted audience are males in the 20's to 30's. I would have to disagree and say that this commercial is also targeted at women. It is true that beer may be more popular among men but women still find this commercial comical and enticing. Also, next time they are out at a bar and want a drink, maybe they will remember this commercial and order a Heineken in hopes of attracting guys.
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ReplyDeleteWhat effect do you think commercials that appear somewhat sexist like this heineken commercials or the new dr pepper commercial with the slogan "its not for women" have on female consumers?
ReplyDeleteWhen commercials are sexist towards women, the women feel ignored. Although being "ignored" by the commercials doesn't dramatically affect women psychologically, it does cause women not to buy their products. If women feel that the commercial isn't "talking" to them, why would they buy the advertised product? The questions are: why doesn't the beer companies try to appeal more to women? Why do companies only want to appeal to one gender? Yes, it is seen that men do enjoy beer more than women, but that doesn't mean that the company should stick to that belief. In fact, there are women who enjoy beer and even if women don't like beer as much why wouldn't the companies try to change that? If they "spoke" more to women, perhaps their businesses would see an increase in sales and profits. As a result, their businesses could grow more successfully. (Doesn't every business want this?) However, speaking to only one gender causes only that particular gender to buy the products. As a result, the sales mostly remain the same or even decrease.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to agree with Sam in that I believe that the commercial is targeting young men but also reaching young women. Women are still able to enjoy this commercial just as much as men because it expresses truth in a comical way. Even though the few words that were spoken in this commercial were in Dutch, the reactions from the group of men and the group of women translate in any language. We can still understand that women happen to be a bit materialistic in general and that men like to relax and have a good time. Yet I think that men and women both will appreciate the humor and have positive thoughts about Heineken after the commercial, leading them to purchase this beer over other brands. I feel that Heineken created a very effective commercial that targets young men and women who like to go and have house parties, as seen in the video.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Josh's most recent question, I feel as though sexist comments such as "it's not for women" may be seen as a challenge in the eyes of females. Men will naturally feel more "cool" if they use these products and try to prove that women can't and women will react by attempting to prove them wrong. So maybe it's an effective strategy of the advertising companies? It's hard to say, because I think there will be an assortment of different reactions.
I agree with Alex's statement regarding women feeling they need to prove they too drink and that beer is not just for men. This kind of emotion manipulation is a very successful in marketing because it causes groups,like in this case women, to feel they must use a certain product to stay equal to men. I also agree with Missy that beer commercials focus primarily on men and that if advertisers tried to focus more on women their sales would increase.
ReplyDeleteThis commercial was produced in order to get the attention of the younger consumer.The sense of humor used in the commercial was to capture the attention of the younger web based demographic.This technique proves to be very effective despite the commercial being aired in Europe the message translates to the rest of the world despite native language.This idea is enforced by the slogan at the end of the commercial "Heineken serving the planet".
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing this commercial, the audience that Heineken focuses on is clearly men. Through this commercial, Heineken limits itself to men, and they are not as concerned about the appeal of women. While women are more intrigued by clothing and fashion, it is only men who appear to enjoy beer. I think this video may turn some women away from Heineken. As it was stated above, some women may find the commercial sexist, and therefore, choose a different beverage, other than Heineken.
ReplyDeleteThe makers of this commercial seemed to appeal to the common stereotype that men love to drink beer, while women love clothing; a stereotype that is pretty widely accepted. I agree with Shane_Brunner's idea that this pretty accurately portrays the gender roles of women and men in a humorous way for the audience. Just as the one last week, this ad is using the humor of these gender roles to promote their product, and as other people posting have pointed out, they do not rely very much on the verbal aspect of the ad to promote the product. It is just a good way to get their target's (men about 20-35 years old) attention, and promote their product to them
ReplyDeleteI found that the commercial not only shows that beer is an international idea, but so is the generality that men are more interested in the drinking scene and women are into fashion. Heineken, like many other bloggers have posted, focuses on the aspect that young men enjoy drinking. It was comical how although the advertisers are targeting the male sex we spend more time watching the women in the commercial. The commercial could be considered sexist, but in some ways the advertisers could flip the two situations and perhaps get women to drink Heineken more also. Both drinking and fashion in westernized countries are accepted as normal and sometimes even everyday activities for both sexes.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Missy's post, I don't believe that watching this commercial would cause women to not buy beer. Although the commercial does showcase the idea that women would prefer shoes over beer (which I'm sure in most cases is true), it does so in a comical way. I feel as though that most women would not actually be offended by this commercial but that they instead would find it humorous. I feel as though that the comedy aspect of this commercial could actually encourage women to try the beer versus being angry.
ReplyDeleteI would also agree that this commercial appeals to men and women mainly because it is poking fun at the differences between the two in a way that is relatable to both. Jennifer made a great point in stating that the she doesn't believe the commercial was offensive. I don't think it was made to be offensive either. I think the intention was to put a smile on both genders faces when they watched the commercial. Woman could relate to the feeling the men had when they walked into the closet because they are very familiar with that excited feeling that stems from womens' fascination with clothing and shoes. In showing the mens' reaction to the beer as something that is similar to womens' reaction of clothes, I think this commercial was successful in appealing to women just as much. It makes women see how happy the Heineken makes the men, therefore making the product seem enticing to them. It may even make women think that the fun they would have drinking Heineken is equivalent to the fun they find in buying new clothes and filling up their closet.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this advertisement directly targets young men by showing that a gender role of males is the appreciation of beer. However, I also agree with Sam's point that women might think that by drinking Heineken at a bar they may attract males. This commercial definitely supports the slogan of the company ("Serving the Planet") because the dialogue is in a foreign language, however one can still understand the commercial completely from the actions of the people in the commercial. By providing a commercial that can be understood by anyone around the planet, and appealing to men and women in a comical way, I believe that this advertisement serves the purpose of exposing their product in a positive light.
ReplyDeleteThe commercial uses the contrasting likes of women and men in order to create a humorous situation. As others have said, this commercial may be used to attract both male and female customers. However, I think the men form the primary clientele that Heineken is trying to attract. The commercial is very effective in getting its message across and being readily understood, without the use of many words. It's nice and simple: men love Heineken like women love shoes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Jimmy said, Heineken definitely targeted young men with this commercial. They used the gender stereotype that men love beer, and naturally tried to sell us on the idea that we love their beer the most. Personally i thought the commercial was funny, and maybe I even wanted to buy some of their product after viewing. So I think it is safe to say that the audience of this ad was primarily college age males.
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ReplyDeleteAfter our discussion in class today, I now see how the commercial could be seen as overgeneralized in its usage of gender roles. I personally did not view the commercial as being sexist because I know individuals who are like the people in it. Although, like Yeram said, their emotions are much more toned down and they “usually do not scream, jump, or hug each other when they see something [like this]”. CassyEllen makes a good point in her statement that “the commercial could be considered sexist, but in some ways the advertiser could flip the two [roles]”. Meaning, there are more than two options, in terms of gender, to consider. Many consumers could take opposite roles based upon their sexual orientation. In this case, stereotypical aspects of a particular gender might be reversed. Therefore, the women might prefer the beer, the men the shoes, or a combination of both. This scenario could hold true in some cases and not in others. So, in total, the roles of gender, and who Heineken’s target audience is, are in the eyes of the beholder
ReplyDeleteAfter having the discussion on the commercial in class, it was brought to my attention how truly sexist this commercial is. This commercial was extremely stereotypical when implying that men love Heineken beer as much as women love shoes. But, this stereotype is obviously incorrect and I am evidence that that is so. I am a girl and I really do not enjoy shoes or shopping. Also, I believe that these stereotypes in this world are changing. Like Krista said, lots of men like shoes more than beer and plenty of women like beer more than shoes. After saying all this, I really think that when people watch this for the one time that it pops up on television that they will find humor in this and not take offense to it. I did not realize how truly controversial this commercial was until watching it several times and having an in-class discussion about it. People, including men AND women who watch this commercial one time will typically be attracted to it due to its humor. But, for those people who look deeper into the commercial will find that it is sexist. This commercial does not really do anything for me and does not make me more attracted to want to buy Heineken but it does give me a good laugh.
ReplyDeleteAfter further analyzing this commercial, it is easier to see how this commercial can be considered sexist. However, the commercial may not be as successful if Heineken did not make the commercial stereotypical. Segregating the men and women in this video makes the commercial comical. If the commercial had mixed genders in the shoe closet, or females in the beer closet, the audience would not have been as satisfied. Although it may be sexist, both men and women can laugh and see parts of truth behind the stereotypes displayed in the video. The commercial takes stereotypes to a new level when the male actors act more excited and enthused at the beer than the women with the shoes. Traditionally, men are raised to hide their emotions more than women. This play on the stereotype adds more humor to the commercial, while switching stereotypes of men with women.
ReplyDeleteAfter taking a second look at this commercial and discussing it in class I agree that this commercial is sexist. It creates stereotypical identities for both men and women. Men are identified as loving beer and women with clothes and shoes. Obviously not every male is going to enjoy beer and not every girl is going to enjoy tangible shopping items. This commercial takes away individual identities and creates societal stereotypes. Every person is unique and has his or her own distinctive characteristics. Megan explained in her response that she does not enjoy shopping much. This commercial takes away her individual identity by associating her with women that love clothes and shoes. The commercial would do the same for a male that does not enjoy drinking. However, I do agree with Tommy that without these stereotypes the commercial would not be successful. Creating a dichotomy between men and women created a funny commercial that has over 11 million views on youtube. People enjoyed the commercial and I'm sure the company benefited from airing it.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the commercial, it is evident that stereotypes of both males and females are being used. Women are portrayed as being excited about shoes and men are portrayed as being excited over beer. However, these stereotypes aren't necessarily true. In agreement with Meghan, not every woman loves shoes and not every man loves beer. As a result, I wonder why the commercial creator uses these stereotypes? Yes, having these stereotypes makes the commercial humorous, but does the audience's laughter and "approval" really make the commercial successful? Although Tommy believes that "the commercial may not [have] be[en] as successful [if] Heineken did not make the commercial stereotypical," I think the commercial is less successful (on a sales level) because of these stereotypes. With the commercial only appealing to one gender and type (straight male), the company may only make profit from those people. In addition, since Heineken is basically stating that only straight males buy its beer, people who don't fit that stereotype won't buy it. As a result, the company will lose business, resulting in declining sales and success. However, if the company would acknowledge all gender and types, the company would see an increase in sales and success.
ReplyDeleteMany people seem to have different opinions on whether this commercial was successful or not. Personally, I think that the use of humorous stereotypes in the commercial was hurtful to Heinekens business. "With the commercial only appealing to one gender and type (straight male), the company may only profit from those people." This comment by Missy made perfect sense. Those people who are not straight male are going to take offense to the commercial and be turned off. Therefore, they are not going to buy Heineken beer. Also, even those straight males who are not offended by the commercial will see how awfully offensive this commercial could potentially be to some people and therefore not buy Heineken beer either! Although Heineken may have made a slightly humorous commercial, they did not think about how badly they were stereotyping people and this was hurtful to their business.
ReplyDeleteAfter our class discussion, it is obvious that this commercial is more controversial than we thought. The depiction of men and women here is a very exaggerated view on what they are associated with; men with beer and women with shoes. This stereotype is used as a comical tool to sell the product. If there were both men and women screaming at a closed full of beer, the advertisement would not give off the same effect. However, I agree with McIntyre that although this is a sexist video, people can understand the truth behind the stereotypes. We know that not all women are as excited about shoes as the next, but it is still a good comparison when generalizing men and women's likes. On the other hand, I also agree with Meghan that people may stay away from Heineken because of its offensive marketing techniques. If the company can only think of an offensive advertisement, they do not really care about people's reactions to the portrayals of men and women. They just care about the profit they plan on making.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Missy Myers said about how this video uses stereotype. This commercial shows that the difference between men and women are women love shoes and men love beers. This is not always true. I have a guy friend that who is in love with shoes and spend all his money on them. Moreover, not all women are in love with shoes. Some women like to buy clothes rather than spending money on shoes. This commercial will only attract people who are into beers and shoes like women and men in this commercial and find this commercial funny. However, people who are not like this people in this commercial will don’t understand what this commercial is about and find this commercial pointless.
ReplyDeleteThis commercial plays off of the views that people have of gender roles. Whether true or not, they try to use the element of comedy to get viewers involved in the commercial. By playing off of stereotypes, the Heineken company finds a very successful comical starting point, and by adding to that by making the reactions of the actors in the commercial exaggerated, they do a great job of adding humor to the ad. I believe, as we mentioned in class, that this commercial is mostly targeted toward young men, because they are most likely the ones with the stereotypical viewpoints that the commercial plays off of. I believe though, that Heineken believes that the stereotypical gender roles they play off of are widely known enough, that most audiences can relate to the commercial, and whether or not they find it to be true, they can still relate to it and understand the humor.
ReplyDeleteBefore our class discussion I didn't realize that this commercial was sexist. I guess it was partially because i have always thought the stereotype portrayed in this commercial was true. Throughout my entire family all the girls would love a shoe closet and all the men would love a beer closet. I also agree with what ryan said about every male not liking beer and every female not liking shoes. However i feel like it a a gender norm in society for men to like beer and women to like shoes.
ReplyDelete“The commercial could be considered sexist, but in some ways the advertisers could flip the two situations and perhaps get women to drink Heineken more.” This comes from my previous post. Although I still agree with this statement, after reading some new posts and our class discussion I realize this idea can be expanded. I liked what Missy said, “Heineken is basically stating that only straight males buy its beer, people who don't fit that stereotype won't buy it. As a result, the company will lose business, resulting in declining sales and success.” The commercial almost degrades the individual’s ideas, so in retrospect one might believe there would be a decline in sales. I find the commercial controversial especially because it implies that to like beer you must be a straight male. So in a way this could be offensive to air on television. Although stereotypically people think of beer drinkers as straight males the companies should surely realize that there is always a possibility that both genders and any type of sexuality may enjoy drinking.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of my classmates above me who said that this commercial was sexist. The commercial certainly does play into stereotypes of men and women in our society. However, I don't think that the commercial would be as successful if it included all types of people and sexes into the beer loving crowd. The ad simply wouldn't have the same comical effect if for example they had a mixed male and female crowd walking into the shoe closet and being excited as well as a mixed male and female crowd walking into the beer closet and being excited. If the commercial was like this there could be new assumptions made about the sexuality of the males and females that were excited about each closet, similar to how we make the assumption that the males and females were both straight in this commercial. I believe that the commercial is most successful and comical the way it is even if it is considered sexist.
ReplyDeleteI watched this commercial a few more times after our class discussion and I have a few more insights. When looking at this commercial one must remember that it is just a commercial. Yes it is sexist but it relies on it for comedy and is not meant to be taken seriously or offensively. If the company were to create a commercial showing many different kinds of people becoming excited about beer I honestly don't think it would have increased their sales. Also, this commercial was created to be shown during the supper bowl.It wasn't to increase profit, they are already very successful. So successful that they can throw a million dollars away to create a number one super bowl commercial. That was their goal. Finally I am confused how this commercial correlates to homosexuals.
ReplyDelete"With the commercial only appealing to one gender and type (straight male), the company may only make profit from those people. In addition, since Heineken is basically stating that only straight males buy its beer, people who don't fit that stereotype won't buy it." This is Missy's post that Meghan had commented on. I am at a loss for why we assume that all the men and the women in this video are straight. I don't believe that that should really be taken into consideration. Of course a handful of gay men fit society's stereotype of dressing trendy and loving fashion, but how does that make them like beer less? The same goes for the women. Who is to say that lesbians don't love shoes and nice closets? To get back on track, I feel that after the class discussion, the video is indeed more sexist than I originally thought. All people are different, but odds are more women than not would be very excited to see a closet such as that stocked full, and more men than not would be ecstatic to see a room full of beer. So, to a very large group of people, young men in particular, this commercial speaks the truth in a comical way. I'm sure lots of young men watching this commercial might think to themselves, "yeah they know what's up...that was pretty funny...etc." and be more likely to order a Heineken over another brand the next they purchase beer. I believe that this was the main goal of the advertisement and they were probably successful. At the end of the day not all men love beer and not all women love shoes, but to the majority of people in society this commercial really does express a truth. Of course that truth is expressed using hyperbole, but it's still there for a lot of people once they tone it down a bit. I think that Heineken was smart in not using a very offensive topic for both the men or the women, so no major issues arise.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, this commercial does not discriminate against one sex or another because it does not say that one sex is better than the other at all. It simply shows that most women would rather see a closet full of shoes and most men would like to see a closet full of beer. I would also like to know how this relates to sexual orientation. Nothing in the commercial points out whether any of the men or women are straight or not. Finally, the goal of the commercial is to get as many people to watch the commercial as possible in order to put the company's name out on the market as an option the next time someone goes to buy beer.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that this commercial is sexist because of the way it categorizes women as shoe lovers and men as beer lovers, but I do not think it is offensive. I think the exaggeration was used in an effective way to draw people to Heineken using humor. As Jimmy stated, "the goal of the commercial is to get as many people to watch the commercial as possible in order to put the company's name out on the market as an option the next time someone goes to buy beer." I think that comment really says it all. The commercial simply wanted to make people remember the name of their beer and by making the theme humurous and relatable they were able to do so. Even women and men who would not react to those closets that way can still understand the message that the commercial was trying to get across, which was that people will love Heineken beer if they buy it.
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