Alcohol = Sex and Women

 

      According to Killing Us Softly, portraying men as the iconic sex figure rarely occurs in advertisements. Using men, as sex figures is not as enticing as using women. If you look at all the advertisements whether it is for perfume, clothes, appliances, etc, the product and the women’s body will go hand in hand with attracting the viewers. This way of selling a product has been an existing marketing strategy for a long time. Breaking this marketing strategy will be very difficult but all we can do is try.

      I will focus on alcohol advertisements. The two things that come to a man’s mind when the word alcohol is mentioned are sex and women. Now this may not be true to all men but for the marketing strategy of these alcohol advertisements, it is quite accurate. If you look at these pictures, the main theme is women and the portrayal of breasts. I believe when viewers look at these photos, they will look directly at the breasts and not at the alcohol. This is what attracts the viewer’s eye, especially for men. The target audience is for men and their consumption of alcohol. 

      In this first image, the woman is lying on her back between the man’s legs and does not look directly at the alcohol but up at him. Now, the main focus of this advertisement seems to be the woman and her big breasts and not the alcohol bottle, which the man is holding on his right hand. The alcohol bottle has little affect on the advertisement. As viewers look at the big picture, they will only notice the women and would probably think the ad is about sunglasses and not about alcohol. Viewers will first direct their eyes to the breasts then to her surrounding, which the closest is the pair of sunglasses. If the alcohol wants to stand out, at least have the woman hold it instead of her pair of sunglasses. Everything in this advertisement looks computer generated because in reality the woman would not have perfect size breasts and extremely flat body. The guy’s shoes are so computerized that the rest of his foot looks cut out.

      In this second advertisement, the main focus is the breasted image, which is supposed to be the top of a mug. Even though the image is on the side, the hands and the sided breast image clearly makes the content sexual. The phrase on top states, “It doesn’t matter what you see. What’s important is what it is” which tells the viewers it’s not what you think it is. Then in smaller captions on the bottom right it states: “What’s important is the beer,” with the full image of the mug that was cut off from the side. People who look at the big picture would instantly think of breasts without a doubt. The idea is already there and it does not matter whether or not they give the full image on the bottom.

      Why does the marketing strategy of alcohol have to contain some female content in it? Why can’t the advertisements be like this?

Here is a relaxing scenery consisting of a man just standing on the pillar watching a sunrise. This advertisement is a little romantic but there is no female content that shouts out to the viewers. In fact this advertisement seems to target females by using a shirtless man asking: “late to bed…you in?” However, even when they use a shirtless man as their promoter, he seems a lot more conservative than the previous ads using women. These are some alternatives than to use women as sex figures to sell alcohol. Everything is not about sex. Here is an example in which there is no content of sex involved in the advertisement for alcohol.

      This advertisement looks professional due to the man’s suite and how he presents himself. His left arm is under the right arm while holding a glass of the alcohol. There is no evidence in which uses woman to sell the alcohol. This ad looks like a social gathering or business party rather than a sexy night out looking for someone to spend it with. There should be more advertisements like this to promote alcohol. This would be the drink I would buy if I went to business parties or any high-class outings. Advertisements in general try to market their product in accordance to their audience. Whoever wants to have a professional night out this is the drink to get.