Frankly, I got it immediately (maybe because I'm a guy?). It's about him drinking her beautiful. Get a Courage and you get over it (the butt) or her attitude “does my butt look big?”.

...I think this ad belongs in the Photoshop Disasters blog, too. I couldn't point why, but her anatomy is really, really strange and out of proportion. Also, she's got no neck.

I immediately thought that it was a "does my butt look big" scenario, honestly because the woman's butt is featured in a prominent position in the shot, and it is much larger than the butts of women we'd normally see in advertising. (Note: that is not in the slightest a criticism of the woman's appearance, but a criticism of advertising standards and the types of bodies normally portrayed in the media.) Also, there is a shopping back in the background, and a tag still on the dress, indicating that she's showing off a new outfit to her partner.

But no, I don't know whether he's supposed to get the courage to tell the "truth" that her butt looks big or "lie" and say that it does not.

I'm not sure that it is about drinking her beautiful, I think it's about ridiculing the outfit. The dress has a tag on it, she's not wearing her shoes, which are placed next to an open shopping bag, so it seems to me that she just bought the dress and now she's trying it on/showing off for him.

Definitely "does my butt look big," which is supposed to represent "tough situation I want no part of but am forced into by my girlfriend," presumably because she wants him to be honest AND she wants him to say no (but the honest answer is yes). I think the mythology behind this situation actually has the man feeling pretty non-judgmental about the whole thing; supposedly the woman is more concerned about her appearance than he is.

I agree with Jesse's comment -- that the ad's implication is the man is distressed (and needs courage) because he has been asked a prickly question ("does my butt look big?"). I don't think the woman's attractiveness is in question or positioned for ridicule.

Hm, my immediate reaction was different from other commenters'.

I read it as, "Take courage, even though you have a fat wife."

Regardless of how it's taken, it's obvious that we are supposed to find her fat, poorly dressed, and/or ridiculous, and that the man is somehow suffering over this undesirable wife.

BTW, Tony, if the woman's attractiveness weren't in question, I'd think they'd use a skinny blonde, maybe with a dumb look on her face. This woman is obviously meant to overstep the ideal bounds for female beauty.

My first reaction was: She's lovely --- nice smile, nice boobs, nice butt, nice calves --- and wants to have sex with him, and he's shy. I mean, I've gone on dates like that: gorgeous guy, into me, but I'm still inhibited. And terrified. What if I perform badly? What if I've misread my date? Clearly, the woman in the ad is more confident of herself than the man is.

I didn't notice the tag-and-bag until reading the other comments. And I'd imagine that the intention of the ad was what y'all saw, not what I did.

I got Theo's reading, frankly. I never understood "does my butt look big" to be a trap; on the other hand, I've never had a fight over such questions.

My first reaction was also that the man needed courage to approach a beautiful woman -- and I was absurdly shocked and pleased that she was a curvaceous beautiful woman! I thought perhaps this was an ad from another culture than mine, or perhaps a niche of my culture, because I couldn't imagine it was from my native mainstream culture.

Then I looked more closely at the man's face and realized two things: 1) he looks acutely *afraid*, not just nervous about making his move, and 2) he's staring at her butt.

Clearly, he is afraid of her butt.

I also didn't pick up on the tag, the shopping bag, etc until other commenters pointed them out. So my second reading shared Gwen & Anna's confusion.

After reading the comments, I believe that she is modeling a new outfit for him and wants his opinion. But the overtones to me are much more broadly "Take courage, o man who is dating a fat and possibly dangerous siren and now must answer her incomprehensible queries with the right lie!"

I find it interesting that one criteria some people use to judge competing explanations is offensiveness; that is, the more offensive, the more likely. Just pointing it out.

In the stupid universe of beer ads, men are not supposed to be relying on beer so that they can get through their horrible relationships with unattractive women. Really. It's true. That's not cool.

If you use a skinny blonde, the "does my butt look big" question becomes rather easy to answer, and the man no longer needs Courage.

There are more or less sensible ways to interpret these things.

If you need help recognizing the specifically Western (it's a UK beer) and gendered message here. I suggest skipping over to Shakesville and reading the 40+ posts on "Assvertising." If you buy in the drink-her-beautiful line of inquiry, here's one that seems especially relevant:
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/06/assvertising_19.html

Note that in the real world, even if the woman's appearance followed media conventions (thin, blonde) already mentioned, she would STILL THINK that her ass looked fat and would need reassurance. We are supposed to sympathize with the man. We aren't supposed to sympathize with the woman, who is totally gorgeous, because the fact that this woman actually has a "large" ass is what presents the man with his quandary and requires him to "man up" (gag) by drinking a beer.

Hi, I'm a regular reader, first time commenter.

I think this ad directly refers to the 'insecure woman' character played by Arabella Weir in the popular UK tv sketch show 'The Fast Show.' The character's catchphrase was 'does my bum look big in this?' (Weir even ended up writing a novel with the same title!)

Its one of those impossible questions that men are supposed to dread dealing with, and this is clearly the dilemma facing the man, who is urged to 'take Courage.'

Since this was originated by a female performer who was making a joke (indeed a career!) out of her own insecurities, this complicates the interpretation for me.

And since the woman in this ad is definitely attractive, although she doesn't conform to the idealised body type normally used by advertisers, I would be reluctant to assume a sexist or derogatory implication to this ad. As I see it, she's thrilled with her new dress, he has doubts but doesn't want to upset her. After all, they are obviously in a relationship so it can't be about him being scared of her as a 'fat' woman. And he's hardly Brad Pitt!

"I don’t think the woman’s attractiveness is in question or positioned for ridicule."

And I want to live in your fantasy world. It's obviously ridiculing her looks. If there were nothing wrong with her, why would he need courage? If it isn't about her looks, why is her rear end so prominently featured.

C'mon. This ain't rocket science.

__

"After all, they are obviously in a relationship so it can’t be about him being scared of her as a ‘fat’ woman. "

Clearly, you don't know any married men.

"We aren’t supposed to sympathize with the woman, who is totally gorgeous, because the fact that this woman actually has a “large” ass is what presents the man with his quandary and requires him to “man up” (gag) by drinking a beer."

Exactly. While I'm totally unsurprised that people are trying to pretend its not sexist (because, conveniently, NOTHING ever is), but this time its just painfully obvious.

Actually when I first saw the image before reading your full post, my immediate thought was that 1) for some reason a man and an attractive woman were in a room with a couch, 2) she was more than willing to be there and even looked to be enjoying herself, and 3) that he needed the beer to give him courage to take her out or something.

Oh what we wish to see.

This is clearly a horribly misogynistic advert perpetuating the "beer goggles" trope. I'm surprised there have been so many other interpretations posited - I just don't see them. Even if she is asking whether she looks nice, the implication is that she doesn't, he CERTAINLY doesn't think she does (look at his face), and that if he drank beer he would find her sufficiently attractive to answer 'honestly' either verbally or physically (it's no coincidence that her shoes are off and the stairs are clearly visible). Really offensive ad, yet again using the myth (or dubious reality) of male intuitive understanding - it's only aimed at men of course, because 'women don't drink bitter' - to justify saying one thing while thinking another and using alcohol to ease that duplicity. Ugh.

Notice how the ad uses a not-super-skinny woman in it, but ridicules how she looks. She has a very attractive face and seems to be a very eye-catching picture for guys who have the courage to look at their partner's butt saying "does my butt look big in this" but i think it should be posted everywhere around london because its quite sexy

kid

This innocuous Courage ad has just been banned by the UK's ASA because "three members of the public believed the poster implied that the beer would give the man confidence to either make negative comments on the woman's appearance or take advantage of her."

Although this simple poster seems to have confused a few people on this site (and the three complainants), it didn't confuse the ASA, which appears to have banned it for slightly different reasons:

"We considered that the combination of the text and the image of the man with an open beer can and half empty glass of beer was likely to be understood by consumers to carry the clear implication that the beer would give the man enough confidence to tell the woman that the dress was unflattering. We did not consider that consumers generally would believe that the poster suggested that the man would be unnecessarily negative or take advantage of the woman, but would simply tell the truth... we concluded that the poster breached the Code [because it suggested] that the beer could increase confidence."

Which, of course, beer does. Alcohol lowers inhibitions, which is part of the pleasure of responsible drinking. Sadly, even these ads were too close to the bone.

I liked all three of them. They were non-aspirational, down-to-earth ads.

@Bill:

What do you say when a loved one asks if you if an unflattering outfit makes them look good? That "it doesn't matter what they look like, you love them for who they are"? That may be true, I guess, but it's not what they asked.

You sound a bit hysterical there, Bill. I detect some self-righteous projection, because you clearly misunderstood a simple ad. The sales tag is still on the dress. Excuse me if you're not British - but your use of the word bitter suggests (sadly) you are. Anyway, that's my £0.02, I don't want to get into an on-line argument. All best.

Nice butt

Drinking Courage beer = having the courage to tell her her ass looks BIG in that new dress and in general!

Subliminally it suggests Courage Beer gives a man 'cock', as in courage/attitude/machismo, as its logo suggests.

MY first reaction was. Why is he sitting there like that go over there and have the time of your night. I mean do you SEE those curves g-d damn stop stalling and get to it....

....then the explanation and I was pretty bummed. I'll take her off his hands if he can't treat her with some respect.

My interpretation is that the woman has just come home with a new dress and is modeling it for the man. the man is distracted from watching TV (sports probably)and is being put in the position of being forced to answer a loaded question. You see, for the man, there is no way to win, when asked this question. The dress makes her ass look big because that is the nature of her ass. Either he must lie to keep her happy, or he must tell her yes, the dress makes your ass look big, and she is unhappy. The question is a trap. The woman doesn't have an accurate self image, and she is seeking external validation. The guy just wants to kick back and have a beer while watching TV. The "courage" to tell the truth in social interactions is quite courageous indeed. We routinely lie in everyday small talk, to do otherwise would be rude. How do you answer the casual question (from an aquaintance or stranger), "how are you?" There is only one appropriate answer, "fine", regardless of how you really feel.

Oh my god. Where did you get your doctorate from? Are you being facetious? The scenario doesn't really matter. It could be 'does my butt look big in this dress', but the thing the guy's supposed to do is the same. Basically, it boils down to this- you have an incredibly sexy woman with a huge butt turning it to your face and teasing you. The guy's supposed to say and do whatever it takes to *bed* her. 'Does my butt look big'? 'Do I want to bang you right now'? He's supposed to tell her it looks big and proceed to have sex with her. That takes courage. She's far from laughable or unappealing: if the average guy see's this woman in a club he drops his date and buys her a drink pronto.
This is my male perspective. I think many women don't get how we work. Most men prefer the butt to be bigger (keeping everything's lee the same). However, if the question was 'does my stomach look big in this' we'd definitely hope the real answer was no.

Khan khan