Dreams of Men versus Women: Heineken Commercial Essay

The host shows her new walk-in closet, full of clothes, shoes, and jewelries, and her friends react with high-pitched screams and hugs. This action goes in hand with their flat characters, as the audiences anticipate women to express and over-exaggerate emotions. In the mid-excitement, a new group of characters are introduced. A group of four European males in their 30s, much like the female group of four, are screaming, squealing, yelling, Jumping, crying, and fanning inside a walk- in fridge, full of Heineken beers. These males are round characters, because their actions are unpredictable to the audiences. There is no narrator in this video. The story is communicated directly to the audiences without any added commentaries. There is a short statement at the end of the video: â€Å"Heineken, serving the planet†, which serves as a logo and theme of the product. The event takes place in someone’s home, most likely a condo. There is a house- warming party taking place, and the atmosphere is happy and lively. The major active event of this video is the group of four European males reacting and expressing their motions to the walk-in fridge full of Heineken beer. This event is shown in much detail, including close-ups of each man’s facial expressions and body language. The major stative events of this video are excitement, cheeriness, and happiness. These events are portrayed throughout the video, from the beginning to the end. The minor events of this video are: the house-warming party and the group of European females reacting to the walk-in closet. The video displays enough information to let the audience know that there is a house-warming party taking place – there are eople hanging out, drinking and talking in the apartment, and the host is guiding ner guests and gesturing around each room. Reaction ot the temale group is shown in some detail so that the audience can see the resemblance between the female and male groups. There are a number of cause-and-effect relationships that can be pointed out in the Heineken beer advertisement video. The relationship that is most important to the purpose of the video is Heineken beer walk-in fridge causing the group of males to overly express their excitement. Another relationship that has an effect on the goal of his video is walk-in closet causing the group of females to overly express their excitement. These two relationships are independent of each other, but must be compared with each other to deliver the message effectively. Another cause-and- effect relationship that can be mentioned is the house-warming party causing the male and female hosts to show off their new home. This relationship is the beginning of the story, but is not absolutely necessary to deliver the message. All three effects are caused by human action – showing around the house and expressing excitement. The temporal relation of the Heineken beer commercial is syntagmatic, because one event leads naturally to another. The story maintains the same speed throughout the video, and the temporal speed is similar to the real world. The intended audience of this Heineken beer advertisement is mature middle-class adults. This video is targeted towards men, more so than women. The video is portraying Heineken as a passion of men and mocks women during the process. The audiences are presumed to have stereotypes toward men and women: women express their emotions much more dramatically compared to men, and women are uch more noisy and bouncy compared to men. This advertisement is suggesting that the worth of beer to men is comparable to women’s passion for fashion. The event seems to be the most important in terms of contributing to the ultimate moral. The characteristics of actors and actresses also play an important role, especially in identifying the intended audience. However, the main method of getting the message across was the action of men expressing their excitement and bouncing up and down like little girls. There are several potential implications of this advertisement to a bigger matter. This ideo is reinforcing the existing stereotypes of men and women. Actions and reactions of actors and actresses imply that it is abnormal for men to express their excitement. The video also reinforce that women are suppose to love and have passion for fashion. In many families, boys are raised to be tough and to hide their emotions, whereas girls are raised to look pretty and to express their feelings. The Heineken advertisement implies that it is normal to have gender stereotypes. Although there are undeniable differences between genders, popular culture encouraging stereotypes can lead to sexism in our lives.