Nowadays, advertisements have undoubtedly become part of our daily life. They can be found anywhere: from fliers, magazines, televisions, to buses, walls or buildings. They fill our society with colorful pictures, vivid melodies and fancy videos. They adorn our world with their diversity and creativeness. However, as ordinary customers, are we ever skeptical about advertisements’ effectiveness, especially when their costs are extremely high ( for example, reports say that a commercial on Super Bowl 2011- an annual football championship league of the US- costs nearly three million US dollar per 30 seconds) ? In fact, advertisements not only acquaint consumers with products and qualities, but they also play critical roles for many other purposes such as building brand name, grabbing public attention and influencing consumers’ emotional impressions about the products. Three different advertisements from the famous beverage brand Heineken shed light on how a firm uses advertising for these goals.
The first advertisement, a black and white picture that first appeared in 1950, serves the main purpose of marketing a new brand and product to new customers. According to Heineken’s history, the brand began its first importing to the United State in 1933. However, due to the Great Depression and World War II, Heineken experienced serious decline in material and production. Only when the war ended and Heineken next successor entered the US as sale promote was the US market developed. In short, in 1950 the United States is still a relatively new market for Heineken. In the ad, there is picture of a waiter carrying a tray with a glass of beer. The beer glass image is very big and outstanding. The waiter walks confidently: his belly extends forward while his head faces the sky, suggesting that he fully believes in, or even is a little proud of, the beverage in his hands and its quality. Tagged along with the images are the brand name that appears