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Attractive men have BAC's over .04%Advertising, in this information-based age, is the driving force behind the sale of everything from automobiles to women's undergarments. With that said, such ads employ a plethora of gimmicks to hold a reader/viewer/user's interest long enough to drive the product home and money into the corporate coffers. In these times, it's often easy to forget that humans are animals too, rife with needs that must be fulfilled. This premise is the reason why ads are successful at finding the flaws in our consciousness. By means of this vulnerable underbelly, ads are able to exploit our needs for economic gain. Alcohol ads are notorious for employing the "everything-and-the-kitchen-sink" method on their chief target, the average male between the ages of 18-34; gimmicks are varied in the attempt to appeal to the need for uncontested male supremacy. Re-reading the July/August 1998 issue of MAXIM magazine, a men's magazine I regularly suscribe to, my eyes fell onto an ad for Captain Morgan's Rum on page 131. The center image is of a male model sitting in a pose similar to a sunbather. The words "Geoffrey Moore" written over the model and on the waistband of his underpants prove just that: this man is a model. Topless, torso perfectly chiseled, this man may be the embodiment of what most women would find sexually desirable... Except for the the fact his face has been defaced with garish red facial hair and the words "The Captain was here" scrawled in the same defiant red ink. Our attention is then diverted to the upper right hand corner, where the perpetrator of the crime, Captain Morgan (complete with swashbuckling pirate outfit) grins triumphantly and offers a bottle of his rum to the reader. The ad is primarily driven by "impulses [of]... anger and violence" (Fowles, Jib. "Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals". p.68) directed against a model, who may be perceived as competition, and therefore a threat, to the reader's quest for sexual superiority. For the male reader, the need to aggress isn't blatantly expressed as gratuitous explosions or decapitations "for few manufactureres want their products associated with destructive motives" (Fowles. p.68). Instead, it is done in a tongue-in-cheek method. Due to its slapstick nature, no physical harm is done to the model but yet is stimulates "a degree of emotional insensitivity to feelings of hurt and loss in defeated others" (Devor, Holly. "Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes". in Signs of Life. p.450) and a feeling of dominance. So what does it take to be a desirable male? Some would say that the graffiti-ed model would fit the ideal man, but others would deride him as "effeminate and not a 'real man'". (Barthel, Diane. "A Gentleman and a Consumer". in Signs of Life. p.149). On the other hand, the commonly held belief in America is that a real man "was what he was, hard working, straight-forward, and honest" (Barthel. p.158) as well as indifferent to his appearance. Indeed, not every man in American is blessed with bodies carved from granite, so in a way this ad is an empowerment to the average man. We take comfort in the fact this model has been rendered "ugly" and thus unattractive to women. We absorb the message that we need not to look like a model, but only drink the right rum to have the right stuff. Skyy Vodka employs a different gimmick to catch the male reader's attention. The central figure in this advertisement is the man under the bed (and not the lovely pair of women's legs, although some would beg to differ). Pressed flat against the ground under the bed like an American GI in the middle of a minefield, our brave soldier warliy peeks out from the cover provided by the bed and observes the action above him. His face is covered with lipstick marks that are apparent "war wounds" or "red badges of courage" that he wears with pride. Notice that in a tense situation like this, our "GI" clutches a martini glass for dear life. Topside, a woman sitting on the bed, wrapped in a slinky red dress, is apparently conversing with another man, seen as a pair of slacks and designer shoes on the far right. We will refer to him as Mr. X. Another martini glass rests topside and remains undisturbed. Judging from how the woman's arms are positioned, it would be safe to assume that she is attempting to persuade Mr. X (it is implied that he is this woman's spouse/boyfriend) that everything is OK and no wrongdoing is taking place. Mr. X's face is not shown in the picture, so it is implied that the woman is his sole priority and he suspects no extracurricular activity is taking place. A bottle of Skyy Vodka, the product in question, rests besides the woman's feet, farther from the man and handily within the GI's grasp. Putting it all together, the idea is that the woman is engaging in an extramarital affair with the GI. Joe Schmoe becomes transformed into a fearless warrior in the battle for sexual supremacy. Indeed, he has triumphed courtesy of the magical elixir called Skyy Vodka, which endows him with superhuman sexual attractiveness. The "need for affectionate human contact" (Fowles. p.65)- which in this case is implied as sex- is fulfilled when we obsere the soldier under the bed wearing his telltale lipstick marks as badges of his conquest. To many a reader, he won or "he scored" one for the good guys. Skyy Vodka is depicted as a drink with aphrodisiac properties, capable of elevating the average Joe's attractiveness and his performance. As long as our GI remains under the bed, he stays safe from the war raging above. Note the bottle of vodka rests by the woman's feet, so the GI may feel free to take another swig without giving away his presence. There is no question of this man's virility; he is a soldier, a champion of "studliness", and the very paragon of what it takes to be a real man. Taking cover under the bed, he maximizes "the amount of space [he physically occupies]" (Devor. p.451) appearing more masculine and thus attractive to members of the opposite sex. So in fact, the gospel that "female attention will follow immediately upon purchase, or shortly thereafter" (Barthel. p.156) rings refreshingly true when a woman forsakes her commitment to be with the lucky GI with the Skyy Vodka. In the war to be all he can be, our soldier turns to the said product in order to elevate himself above the competition and claim this woman as his conquest. As Ferrari's slogan would suggest, "He is the competition" and this lucky fellow is just that. Alcohol ads provide a soothing outlet to an embattled male identity and erosion of fundamentalist "male" or "masculine" values. While more and more tout that a man must be comitted, have and express feeling, and be mindful of their appearance, alcohol ads seek to reaffrim traditional "masculine" ideals; these ads remind us it's OK to exhibit stereotypical male behavior. They seek to reinforce such gender roles and attempt to convince men that their product is the correct means to establishing that dominance we crave and strive for. Alcohol ads miply that their products imbue us with superhuman sexual prowess, heightened appeal to females and the capability to outwit the competition (translation: other men) in the quest to stay on top. Every ad appeals to their target audience in a fashion that varies. However, with all of that said, each seeks to pound home the larger message that using a certain product allows to become the kings we rightly are.
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