Advertising agencies use “suggestive” words in advertising campaigns in order to make consumers remember the product. Yet, what do these ads tell consumers about American culture? To answer this question I will be analyzing one specific billboard ad. The ad contradicts social norms. I want to find out what this ad says about American values in order to identify if this tactic is why some ad campaigns are extremely successful while others are not.
During my morning commutes on Interstate 25, I often turn to billboard ads to pass the time.I have been reading billboards since I was little and you may think that by now I would remember some really great ads, and to tell you the truth, I really don’t. There’s only one billboard ad that really sticks in my mind after all these years, and that is an ad for a beer named “Tequiza”. The Tequiza ad is quite simple. It consists of a white background, a picture of a yellow beer bottle, and the simple words “Of course we can’t just be friends, Tequiza beer w/o borders.Even though the ad appears to be simplistic, it tells consumers a lot about American culture.
The ad tells consumers through the phrase “Of course we can’t just be friends” that an American value is freedom of speech. The ad promotes free speech by suggesting that the drinker of Tequiza beer doesn’t want to be friends with their partner anymore and has the courage to say so. Providing the courage to be honest is one of the benefits Tequiza beer offers through its ad.Because of its suggestiveness, the ad allows consumers to relate to it and to dream of applying the benefit of Tequiza to future situations. This ability to speak freely contradicts the American social norm of respecting everyone and being polite to everyone. The phrase “Beer w/o borders” seems to imply the value of individualism in American culture as well.
Construing that borders are rules, Tequiza encourages American society to break the rules by living without borders, or in other words, Tequiza encourages society to break social norms.Overall Tequiza is implying that in present day society it is important to go against social norms in order to be an individual. As you can tell from the above example, connotations can be made from the phrases used in advertising. According to the book Critical Thinking and Popular Culture, by Peter Elias Sotiriou, connotations are crucial in advertising campaigns. Connotations are crucial because people need to remember the ad being presented.
So if an ad campaign has phrases that use “suggestive” words, consumers can make connotations to relate advertising phrases to their own lives. There are many elements to an ad campaign. Consumers are most likely to remember an ad campaign that uses American values, shock value, and “suggestive” words. The Tequiza ad is successful in using these elements. The ad is able to make you think, relate to it personally, and envision applying its benefit to future situations.
