What makes a beer worth drinking?

Well…the flavor of course! But how do you even try a beer you haven’t tasted before? Recommendations from friends and bartenders, magazines and ADVERTISING. Case in point, Stella Artois, a Belgian beer with a long history. If you’ve ever gone to an independent or art house movie theater, you’ve probably seen Stella Artois advertised. These commercials usually have no talking, and feature Old World settings. Generally, the idea of most of them is that you would always rather have Stella or that you won’t give up your Stella, no matter what. I saw one on cable television recently. It showed two robbers who have just dug their way to a pot of money. They toast with Stella Artois, and while they are doing this, the pot of money catches fire. For a split second they consider using the beer to put out the fire, but think better of it. Moral: no amount of money is better than a nice cold Stella Artois.

Demonstrating the power of persuasion, I was faced with a choice of beers recently that included Stella. I had to try it. After all, they claim it would make me happier than a pot of money. (It was fine, I would drink it again, in case you are wondering.)

Bottom line is that this advertising is effective because it has a very specific point shown in outrageous ways. It also uses the images to convey a European/historical feel for Stella Artois. In my opinion, this type of advertising is far more persuasive than the American beer advertising we see for the big companies like Budweiser and Michelob. In any case, the taste of those beers speaks for itself.