Mud wrestling and Sex: Advertising Beer
during Televised Sporting Events

Sex sells, or so we’ve been told. In recent years advertising for alcoholic beverages has gone through a transformation from slogan yelling friends on the phone and frogs croaking the name of a product to bikini clad women mud-wrestling and posing in front of glaciered mountains. Research has shown that the vast amount of beer drinkers are young men in their twenties and thirties. This correlates with the use of women as promoters of the product in advertisements.

Much of what is seen on television regarding these beer advertisements occur before, during and after televised sporting events, making the connection once again with the twenty and thirty-somethings and their avid love for sports. It’s interesting to point out that in previous decades this type of sex clad advertising has been accepted by society as a whole, yet women’s rights activists have always stepped in, how long will it take this time?

A few questions that I am curious to solve or at least find more information about regard the disappearance of witty or funny commercials. Has our culture become so unintelligent that we must move from commercials that contain sexual innuendos, provoking one to think, to those with blatant forms of sexual actions? Has the attention span of a Sunday football-watching fan dropped so low that to keep them glued to the television we must show half-naked women and make them think they’d have a chance if they buy this type of beer? Does the public accept this newly introduced form of beer advertising? Will the brewing industry see an increase in sales due to these commercials?

The intended audience for this topic is advertising and public relations students. Their interest in this topic lies in the execution of a successful ad campaign and the ways in which to deal with groups that object and disapprove of the advertisements.