Sample Deconstruction
by Denis Doyon, NMMLP

Budweiser "King Crab"

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1.  Who created this media message?  Why?

Anheuser-Busch, which makes Budweiser beer, created this TV ad to promote its flagship brand.  It first aired during the 2007 Super Bowl. 

2.  Who is the target audience?  What text, images or sounds suggest this?  

The ad’s humor would probably appeal to a wide range of people.  In fact, it was rated the #1 Super Bowl ad for 2007 in USA Today’s Ad Meter poll.

However, children may be an important part of the target audience.  The ad uses no spoken or written words, so even very young children can understand and enjoy it.  Further, it presents a humorous situation involving crabs on a beach.  Researchers have found that children and adolescents watching alcohol ads respond positively to both animals and humorous situations. (Source: Chen, Meng-Jinn et al., “Alcohol Advertising: What Makes it Attractive to Youth?”, Journal of Health Communications, 2005.)

3.  What is the text (literal meaning) of the message?

A crab approaches a cooler full of Budweiser on a palm-lined beach.  After the crab signals for help, several of the critters carry the cooler past sunbathing humans and behind a large rock, as we hear lively percussion music.  More crabs appear and face the cooler full of beer.  They mimic the motions of the cooler’s handle and the bottles sticking out of the ice, and begin to bow down and worship the cooler.  As the music transforms into an orchestral crescendo, we realize that the beer cooler, backlit by the setting sun, resembles a giant crab.  The ad ends with the “Budweiser - King of Beers” logo.

4.  What is the subtext (unstated or hidden message)?

The most obvious message is that Budweiser is so great it should be worshipped.  It’s as if the ad is saying “beer is God”.  For children and teens watching the ad, this message may make beer – a mysterious, forbidden, adult-only beverage – even more appealing.

But the ad also sends messages about the main characters in this 30-second drama: the crabs.  The crabs don’t act like crabs; they act like humans.  And the humans they most closely resemble are the stereotypical “natives” we’ve seen in movies and TV shows – “primitive” people who prostrate themselves before despotic rulers and religious idols.  This analogy is reinforced by the tropical locale, the vaguely “tribal” percussion in the first half of the ad, and the orchestral crescendo at the end, which recalls the apes-and-monolith scene in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

The joke in this little story is that the crabs don’t seem to realize that they’re worshipping a beer cooler.  Many people might find this to be gentle, harmless humor.  But the Bud commercial subtly conveys a more disturbing message: “primitive” people (read: indigenous people) are stupid.  Why else would they bow down before a beer cooler?

5.  What kind of lifestyle is presented?  Is it glamorized?  How?

The crabs – standing in for stereotypical “natives” - steal things and worship idols.  They lack individuality (we can’t tell one from another) and they perform their ritual in unison.  Their lifestyle is mocked.

In contrast, the lifestyle of the (mostly white) humans is presented as leisurely and relaxed.  The beach scene looks very pleasant.

6.  What values are expressed?

Beer is great.

It’s better to be a (white) human who can relax on a beach and drink beer than to be a stupid (indigenous) crab who worships a cooler.

7.  What tools or techniques of persuasion are being used?

Humor - It’s fun to watch computer-generated animals acting like humans. 

Symbols – The beer cooler becomes a symbolic object of worship.

Flattery – The ad flatters the viewers, who feel smarter than those dumb crabs.

Warm & fuzzy – Any ad featuring animals qualifies for the “warm & fuzzy” technique, even if they’re cold-blooded crustaceans.

Beautiful people – Bikini-clad sunbathers create additional “eye candy”.

Timing – Millions of TV viewers first saw this ad during the Super Bowl in February 2007, when the beach scene would have been particularly attractive to viewers in colder climates.

8.  What healthy messages are communicated? What unhealthy messages are communicated?

Except for the fact that the humans look physically fit, we can find no healthy messages in this ad.

The unhealthy messages include:

 -       It’s good to drink beer on the beach.  (This can lead to dehydration and other ills.)

-       Beer should be worshipped.  (In fact, alcohol is addictive and can be abused.)

-       Indigenous people are stupid.  (See above.)

9.  What part of the story is not being told?

Many public beaches in the US prohibit both alcoholic beverages and glass containers.

Despite the caricature of idol worship, indigenous religious practices are complex and subtle.

For many years, Anheuser-Busch has been criticized for making beer ads that target kids.  A poll conducted just after the 2007 Super Bowl found that the four favorite ads among viewers under 17 years old were Bud and Bud Light commercials.  Other Bud commercials that year featured dogs and gorillas in humorous situations.  See them at www.ifilm.com/superbowl

Beer ads that appeal to children and youth contribute to underage drinking, which:

- is a factor in nearly half of all teen automobile accidents – the leading cause of teen deaths.

- contributes to youth suicides, fatal injuries and homicides – the next three leading causes of teen deaths.

- is linked to two-thirds of all sexual assaults and date rapes of teens and college students.

- is a major factor in unprotected sex among adolescents, increasing their risk of contracting HIV or other sexually-transmitted infections.

Source: “Facts about youth and alcohol,” American Medical Association, 2004.

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