A Rhetorical Analysis Of A Budweiser Commercial

It all starts with the phrase “your friends are counting on you.” Opening on a cute yellow Labrador retriever as a puppy, being carried home by his new owner. Immediately the audience notices the adorable puppy eyes and wet nose and people began falling for it. We follow it through its journey and adventure of every new little puppy and his owner, or best friend we should say. From the commercial we see the owner and puppy start to establish an unbreakable bond. We watch the owner take the puppy to the park, to the beach, around the house, anywhere and everywhere slowly becoming mans best friend. Slowly, we see the puppy start to grow bigger and bigger until he has matured into an adult dog. The man and the dog are now inseparable and the connection between them is unbreakable. Then we see the man leave for a night without the dogs company, and instead the company of 3 human friends and a case of

Budweiser. The dog waits and waits for the man to come back home, except a day goes by and to no avail, the dogs owner has yet to return. Finally, the following day, the man returns from his night of partying and returns to greet his best friend. This commercial illustrates the dangers of drunk driving by showing the reader, what you could be leaving behind. It leaves questions like, what if he never came home? What would happen to the dog?
To begin with, the most noticeable rhetorical strategy that is used in this commercial is the use of pathos. The commercial tries to gain trust of people that have the same bond with their animal rather it be from birth to adulthood, or a rescue animal from a shelter. The bubbly and happy-go-lucky music in the background reminds the reader of the powerful friendship that has been created, portraying that the man and dog were meant to be together and love each other. The music adds subtle clues of what emotions the audience should feel at a certain time. When the man first gets the puppy its light hearted and when the puppy is alone and waiting it slowly changes to a more sad and monotone song. To match this, the commercial also uses the puppy’s face in the center screen, to make the audience feel how the puppy is feeling at the time. When the man returns and the audience sees that he didn’t get into any accidents drunk driving the music changes back to happy and upbeat. The ultimate message that Budweiser is trying to send to their audience is that since the dog is always there loyal and waiting, the owner should try to o the same because their love is the same.
Additionally, another rhetorical strategy used in this Budweiser commercial is the use of logos.

This approach is much more subtle, yet the audience is still able to notice it. The ultimate message trying to be presented is don’t drink and drive, because your friends (your dog) is counting on you. Throughout this commercial it is emphasized that the man is better at making choices than the rest of the population. He leaves his house and friends to go on adventures alone, and in turn has to make the decision of drinking and driving or waiting until the morning. The emotional frames shown during this decision making process make the audience think as well as, getting the population to discuss and recognize drunk driving as well. The man subject is this commercial is pictured to drink Budweiser and in turn lead to making better decisions. This in a way makes people want to consider drinking Budweiser because it in someway would make them more intelligent like the man in the commercial, therefore leading to better decision making like not drinking and

driving.
Furthermore, the last line of this commercial speaks the most to the rhetorical strategies used in this piece. The line, “For some the waiting never ends, But we can change that,” is the ultimate line used to really persuade the audience. This line re-illustrates the same old message of “don’t drink and drive.” It emphasizes the point of choosing other options such as having a sober friend drive you home, waiting somewhere that is acceptable to stay the night, etc. Otherwise, friends or in this case loved ones will have to bear the pain of waiting for you, even if you don’t come home.
All in all this commercial really touches base with the entire drinking population.
The ad stresses the point that not only are you hurting yourself by drinking and drive but you are also hurting those around you and those that depend on you. This is crucial because nobody really wants to hurt other people or “best friends” that are dependent because of a selfish act. This really makes the viewer take a moment to stop and think about everything that could loose and how this one bad momentary lapse of judgment could ruin more lives than they initially thought.