January 24, 2003
I read an article which had a really funky interpretation of a recurring theme in liquor advertising.
A lot of people have heard urban-legends about hidden sexual imagery embedded deeply within cigarette ads... that Joe Camel is actually a picture of someone bonking a pregnant penguin or whatever the heck people say it is supposed to look like. (I've never been able to see images like that in tobacco ads, but that's beside the point...) Then, of course, there are those ubiquitous ads which portray men as stupid, inept, angst-ridden, pathetic and useless dolts. Quite irritating, but those commercials also make women feel good. (Which should be everybody's highest priority, I suppose. But enough of that...)
Anyway, the next time you see a few liquor ads in print (not beer commercials) try to see if it has a recurring theme. Often, a glass of the product is being held in front of an attractive woman. (Yes, that is unsurprising, but give me a sec here. I'm getting to the interesting bit...) The woman often has rather average-sized breasts. They are not particularly large breasts, for that would distract you from the product. In fact, the woman is not wearing something that is too revealing. Sexual imagery is not really being pushed here, which in of itself is a bit unusual when you consider how many forms of advertising want you to associate products with a semi-naked chick.
But anyway, the trick here is that the drink glass in the ad is most often held by the woman at or about nipple-level. Why not in front of the stomach? Why isn't the glass held above the nipple, as if to drink? Try holding a glass of water in front of your nipple for a sec. To me, it doesn't feel like the most natural position to hold a drink. But no, the glass in the advertising is often held at or about the nipple. On some level, perhaps the hidden message behind this advertising might be equating liquor with mother's milk. Trying to appeal to the infant in alcoholics. Trying to cash-in on the regressive impulse for suckling at mater's teat. (Ew.)
It's a weird idea, isn't it? I was really skeptical; in fact I scoffed. But I kept this idea in mind the next few times I saw some liquor ads-- and lo! A nipple-level glass was true for quite a few of them! Usually the glass is fairly close to the nipple! Maybe there is something to it? If it is all done only by coincidence, then it is a pretty strange coincidence, eh?
I'm not saying that this was necessarily a conscious trick played by advertisers. I suspect that at some point in decades past, advertisers ran a huge number of images to focus groups. They tabulated the feedback and determined which drink positionings were most effective. And, perhaps by trial and error, they managed to arrive-upon placing the glass next to the nipple as the ideal place to hold booze for the camera.
But still... if it is just done by accident, it's kind of weird, eh?
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