From Busch to Thums-Up: The Global Interchange

Abstract

The researcher attempts to establish the global impact of the cultural logic of the American beer commercials on the ideological logic underlying the Indian soft drink advertisements of Thums-Up. The researcher adopts the research findings and methodologies of Lance State’s qualitative research on American beer commercials (1991). State uses “theory and research in popular culture and anthropology, semiotics and structuralism, and critical and cultural studies” (1991) to unearth the cultural grammar of beer commercials of the American brand, Busch. The researcher applies similar analyses while studying Thums-Up commercials in the light of State’s research, post the global impact of multi-nationals on Indian soft-drink products. In the process, the researcher reconstructs the underlying cultural ideology of Thums-Up as an instance of global extension of the American myth of the Frontiersman that underscores their alcohol commercials.