Bud Light, "Stranded"

by Sheldina Henderson



Once again, we are given a commercial where the downgrade of women isn’t so obvious! Come on already!! If they want to talk about women, then the least they can do is make it obvious. What are you…SCARED??

Well in this commercial, a load of people are stranded on a desert island, with no food water, or form of communication to the rest of the world. A woman was able to locate a device that could’ve been used to communicate others and get help. Right as the woman is talking; a man comes from the sea with bottles of ice cold Bud Light beer, having found a refrigerator filled with the bottles in the ocean. Everyone then shifts their focus to the man, and completely forgets about what the woman was saying.

Why is it that the woman has to be ignored when a MAN says something? How comes when the woman is informing the group of what she found, a captain is in the front? Not only that but why does it seem as if the woman is talking to the men more specifically? Yeah, there are obviously other females amongst the group, but why is it that they are behind the men? Most importantly, why is that the woman had to be the one that was ignored? Why couldn’t a man have been ignored? I bet I have you all wondering pretty hard now right?

The commercial in a way, compares to the role of women during the first wave of feminism. You know, the days of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton. Well in case you didn’t know this commercial reminds me a lot of the start of the first wave. Part of the reason for the first wave of feminism was when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were denied the right to speak at a London Convention due to their gender. Sounds familiar? Of course it does! It’s happening right here in the Bud Light commercial! So what the woman wasn’t actually “denied” the right to speak, however she was still ignored. What about the women being behind the men? This just proves that women take the backseat men; they stand in the back while the men make all of the decisions! What a mess!! What the woman had to say was way more important however, because “Man knows best”, everyone went to drink beer and listen to whom?? THE MALE of course!

As I mentioned before, there are indeed other females in the commercial. However it’s amazing how the females choose to side with the male, to drink a beverage such as beer that’s highly popular among males. How do I know the popularity of beer? Well according to a survey posted on http://japan-guide.com, thirty-seven percent of males drink beer at least once per week while an extra twelve percent drink beer daily. The percentage of women?? Only twenty percent, which is way less than a combined total of forty-nine percent!! So think about it, a MALE-dominating beverage being advertised, by a helpless FEMALE whom no one listens to! So have we come that long of a way? Its 2010 and the portrayal of women in some commercials seem to be getting worse and worse! Think about it.