Cowboys Ad

Assignment #1
This advertisement was made by Cowboys Roadhouse, which is a club in Winnipeg. This is a club my friends and I go to the most making this why I got this ad on Instagram. They are trying to sell an experience where you can dress up in country attire for a night and listen to country music, while drinking their shots of Fireball and Jager Bombs on special. This is a static based ad because when viewing this ad the viewer looks at all the things they have going on that night, then look in the top left to see the date and decide if you want to go or not. This ad shows many well known country artists behind the big letters of “COUNTRY Night” with two different types of alcohol they are selling, along with people in the background at the club having a good time. With the date in the top corner so the viewer knows when this night is happening.
Moving forward, the composition of this ad is very middle to bottom heavy because they contain the main focal points. The composition used draws the eye first to the middle of the ad because of the placement and the size of the elements. This is what the producers of this ad want because it is their main selling point with all the country stars. This is a smart decision to include these stars because statistically “celebrities draw more attention to the advertisements they appear in and brands they are aligned with when compared with advertisements that do not take advantage of an individual’s celebrity status” (Choi and Nora 2007). When looking at these celebrities we see that they are mostly all smiling and portrayed to be having a good time, this is done to make the consumer feel like they will also be happy and have a good time if they attend. Our eyes are then drawn to the bottom of the image because the producer purposely did not put much else within this ad so that our eyes will be drawn down to their second selling point. This is the alcohol to show that they have “good” priced drinks to further entice customers to come. Behind the alcohol we see people on the dance floor which is packed shoulder to shoulder. This photo was clearly taken on one of their busiest nights from seeing the sheer amount of people there. By using this photo it tricks people into thinking that this night will be that busy as well. Lastly the red and orange lights in the background make it seem like a concert with the strobe lights and almost foggy effect making it seem like a smoke machine is being used.
This ad is conveying that they have the best country artists and good drink deals so you need to come to this night or you will be missing out. It conveys this message by showing all the country stars and people on the dance floor, trying to say “this can be you if you attend this night.”
I believe that this ad does an amazing job at getting the message towards its target group of audience because it’s on instagram where many young people go daily. Along with the fact they have 14800 followers on their account, which 90% of their followers are from 18-25 so posting it on Instagram reaches a vast majority of their target audience. I think they used very good means of convincing this age range since they have alcohol within their ad, and “researchers have concluded that the cultural myths and symbols used in alcohol advertisements have powerful meanings for college students and affect intentions to drink” (Saffer 2002). Since most people that attend Cowboys are college students this drastically increases their chance to get more customers. This ad does not affect me like most other college students because I personally do not like country music so this ad does not entice me to come.
Since I go to this club a lot I instantly recognised the name and branding. This is because they always have their highlight of what is going on that night along with two drinks on special. This is how most of their ads are so it is very easy for me to recognize it.
There are not mayne reviews of Cowboys but the ones I found are pretty positive, talking about how “this western themed two-storey club’s world class stage has played host to numerous concerts and events including Dierks Bently, the Black Eyed Peas, Matt Good and Default” (Tourism Winnipeg 2025). The only other place I could find people leaving reviews was google reviews where most people were talking about the “super vibrant nightlife, great music and fun events! One of the safest nightlife locations in the city with some of the best drink specials around, great for any crowd of any age” (Bastiaanssen 2024). Most of the positive feedback helps Cowboys to keep planning more enjoyable specialty nights such as 50 Shades of Rave or Blacklight Reactive Paint Party.
Overall this ad does an amazing job of reaching its target audience and convincing people to come out to Cowboys.

Works Cited
Bastiaanssen, Bryce. “Cowboys.” Google Reviews, (2024). https://www.google.com/search?q=cowboys+winnipeg+google+reviews&sca_esv=3cf292a586b28e04&rlz=1C5MACD_enCA1090CA1090&sxsrf=AHTn8zpP2QSON6T-ANZAJ5KppW1ZStgCbg%3A1738359995374&ei=u0SdZ87MFuy50PEPuPjisQc&oq=cowboys+winnipeg+google+&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGGNvd2JveXMgd2lubmlwZWcgZ29vZ2xlICoCCAEyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigATIFECEYnwUyBRAhGJ8FMgUQIRifBTIFECEYnwVI1RtQjgRY_xJwAXgBkAEAmAGOAaAB7QaqAQMzLjW4AQHIAQD4AQGYAgmgAo4HwgIHECMYsAMYJ8ICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAg0QABiABBiwAxhDGIoFwgIOEAAYsAMY5AIY1gTYAQHCAhkQLhiABBiwAxhDGMcBGMgDGIoFGK8B2AEBwgIEECMYJ8ICChAjGIAEGCcYigXCAgoQABiABBgUGIcCwgILEC4YgAQYxwEYrwHCAgUQABiABJgDAIgGAZAGEroGBggBEAEYCZIHAzQuNaAH1DA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#lrd=0x52ea773be17d5665:0x417704381d54114a,1
Choi, Sejung, and Nora J. Rifon. “Who Is the Celebrity in Advertising? Understanding Dimensions of Celebrity Images.” The Journal of Popular Culture (2007). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2007.00380.x.
“Nightlife: Tourism Winnipeg.” Tourism Winnipeg, January (2025). https://www.tourismwinnipeg.com/things-to-do/nightlife/display,listing/05687/cowboys
Saffer, Henry. “Alcohol Advertising and Youth.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, (2002). https://www.jsad.com/doi/abs/10.15288/jsas.2002.s14.173.