SWA 8

The audience of the root beer commercial was geared toward early to mid 20-year-old males specifically because of the tagline ‘Sometimes the best beer is a root beer.’ The advertisement was trying to persuade viewers to drink root beer instead of imbibing in alcoholic beer, showing a man waking up from unknown activities the night before – this imagery was used to show that sometimes it’s safer to drink root beer than alcoholic beer because of the effects of alcohol on the human body.

The idea of invoking laughter was crucial to the commercial: getting the viewer to sympathize with the idea either because they’ve experienced the same thing or have known someone that has. This commercial would personify the brand in a positive way because of its safer connotation than regular beer. A reason this advertisement wasn’t as successful as hoped could be because of the lack of root beer in the commercial – there wasn’t any mention of the drink except for the tagline, and this could’ve caused the viewers to become apathetic toward it.

With one adjustment I believe the commercial will be fully supported and endorsed. Instead of focusing on the morning after, the ad will focus on the night before, showing beer drinking men engaging in ill-advised activities, such as daring one another to get I Love Mom tattoos on their arms juxtaposed with root beer drinking men going to a party at a friend’s house and having a good time. The tagline of ‘Sometimes the best beer is a root beer’ would still come into play, advocating root beer over regular beer. The actual image of someone drinking root beer will greatly decrease viewer's apathy by showing the drink in a fun situation.