Parity products are those whose qualities differ very slightly from brand to brand. It does not matter greatly which is purchased, as all perform about the same. Parity products include gasoline, soft drinks, cigarettes, milk, and beer. The pervasiveness and popularity of beer commercials makes them ideal for studying parity products.

In order to sell the many brands of beer, advertisers have portioned out beer drinkers into demographic groups, or groups defined in terms of their age, sex, education, and income. After a careful look at many commercials, it is easy to see which beer is intended for each group. Have students watch several beer commercials and match the brands to the following stereotypes used by advertisers to represent demographic groups:

• The young executive, who is aggressive, sophisticated, and enjoys himself after work with friends at the pub.
  
  
• The working man, who wears rough clothes, enjoys the outdoors, is not afraid of hard work, and meets others of his kind at the pub.
  
  
• The loner, who does his job, but lives for the weekend. At the earliest opportunity, he heads hurriedly for cottage country to sit on his boat or porch.
  
  
• The sophisticate, who frequents ordinary bars but drinks only a special beer, one so fine that he treats it as if it were champagne.
  
  
• The party animal, who loves the company of many noisy and attractive people and likes to carry on his frolicking while drinking a good beer.

Have students make up additional categories and see if their friends can match them to the brands.

• The targeting of young people is a contentious issue in beer advertising.
  
  
• Why would beer companies target teenagers in their advertisements? What are they hoping to achieve?
  
  
• What kinds of beer advertisements target teens? Describe the 'hooks' that are used.
  
  
• Identify some brands of beer that appeal to teens and discuss their advertising campaigns.

Activity

Ask students if there is a beer that is promoted to women.

• Why or why not?
  
  
• Devise a marketing strategy for a beer that will appeal to women.
  
  • Create a name for this beer and design its label and bottle.
  • Create a story board for a commercial for this beer and explain how it might attract its target group.