Super Bowl commercials have continued to grow into an enjoyable part of the viewing experience of this annual widely watched football game. Even for some, it may be their favorite part of the night. These commercials cost millions of dollars to air on television during the game. Companies will spend a ton of money to produce these commercials by hiring top celebrities, special effects, anything to make it stand out and be remembered. Each year there are favorites from the big game, and this year one of the favorites was a commercial for Bud Light. This commercial showed two guys in the progression of their friendships, and in each scene they are both holding Bud Lights. It ends with one of the friends giving the best man’s speech at the other friend’s wedding, and the ending text saying “You’re not just drinking beers, you’re building friendships”. Bud Light uses fallacies and appeal to emotions to attract men who drink beer and show them what can happen if they use their product. 

This advertisement mainly appeals to men because it is about two men who become best friends after sharing many moments together while drinking Bud Light. The activities they do are generally enjoyed by most men for example going on a double date, going to a football game, playing video games, going to bars, playing baseball, grilling, moving furniture, playing paintball, camping, playing golf, and more. These are pretty stereotypical activities for men to do together, but nonetheless a lot of men do these things. More specifically, I think the men who watch the Super Bowl are interested in sports so they can relate to doing things like playing baseball, golf, and going to football games. By the men watching this commercial being able to relate to the activities these two friends are doing, it makes the commercial more effective to the targeted audience. It also makes these men feel like if they drink Bud Light, they can form lifelong friends with the guys they share those times with. 

Another main element of this commercial is the way one of the friend’s conversations are put together. Bits and pieces of conversations he has with his friend over time are strewn together while showing the settings they were said in. Said apart, they are just regular, everyday conversations, but out of context and put together to make sense, the friend expresses how important his friend is to him and how much he loves him.  This shows how the friendship really grew and built up over time. It is trying to show that 

This commercial also uses a few fallacies including post hoc fallacy, and non sequitur. Post hoc fallacy means “after this, caused by this” which can be applied to the situation being portrayed in this commercial. This commercial is saying, in short, that drinking Bud Light with someone will cause you to become friends with them. It gives off the idea that Bud Light will cause a strong bond between people, which is an attractive quality for most. Most people like the idea of being bonded with others and creating meaningful friendships, so it is an effective way to attract people. Non sequitur fallacy is the “attempt to tie together two or more logically unrelated ideas as if they were related” (Lunceford, Andrea A.). This fallacy is being used in this ad by relating drinking Bud Light and becoming friends with someone. Alcohol and the formation of friendships are two separate ideas, but this commercial turns them into a sort of cause and effect relationship. 

Although this commercial’s audience is men between the 20-30 range, it plays to the stereotypical man that some could argue with. However, I think that it is effective to use these stereotype situations because it is a stereotype for a reason, a lot of men do these things. You could even argue that the majority of men in this age range do these things with their closest friends. Using these events and situations, even the instance where they are fighting because they run out of gas, creates a relatable environment that most men watching the Super Bowl can relate to. Even if the man watching is older than that age range, they can relate to this ad because maybe they did these things with their best friend when they were younger, or even bonded over drinking beers with their best friend and that’s how they met. I think it is a good strategy and relevant to today’s men. 

Bud Light uses fallacies and appeal to emotions to attract men who drink beer and show them what can happen if they use their product. By using all of these strategies in this commercial played during the Super Bowl, Bud Light did a good job in what they were trying to accomplish and they will most likely sell more beer because of this commercial. It was a good message, played to the audience’s emotions, and was memorable. When played to emotions, people usually react the most. The commercials played to emotions usually become viral and very popular if done well. This commercial did just that and is one of the favorites from Super Bowl LI. When a commercial is memorable to an audience, it is definitely more effective. The Super Bowl is such a hectic and exciting environment, that if the viewer remembers the commercial after the game is over, it has accomplished its goal. The viewer will most likely show more people the commercial, and those people will show more people, which is the best kind of publicity possible. The emotions or laughter caused by the commercial will keep not only the advertisement in your head, but also the product. Next time you see the product in a store, you will remember that commercial and may even be more likely to buy it. 
