The Concept of Alcohol Advertising - Essay Example

? Bubbles and Biff By Lecturer’s Bubbles and Biff Images used in advertising do not target an idealized viewer and have no intended dominant meaning for audience to understand. However, many such images are not easy to understand and therefore in many cases lead to different interpretations by targeted audience (Williamson 7). In this regard, alcohol advertising is one form of advertising that takes different levels of signification as witnessed by Skyy Vodka advert. The complexity of duality connotations found in Skyy Vodka advert contributes to its effective look that targets both young female and male viewers as it influence them to possibly purchase the alcohol at a later time. The advert is designed to create a strong positive association with Skyy Vodka brand amongst female and male young professionals in order to achieve high sales. To create such positive association, the advert uses sexual connotations, both male and female young professionals, photography and it brings out the advert protagonist who remains in control of the entire advert. Skyy Vodka advert is highly charged with sexual connotations. The woman in this advert occupies a huge part of the advert page. She is wearing dark led lipstick, dark eyed make ups and nail polish. Noticeably, the makeup and her red lipsticks as well put much more emphasis on her eyes hence making her more seductive. Her open mouth draws some attention as it implies that she is ready and open to imply a sexual appeal. The dress she has worn is white in color and highly revealing around the chest region hence drawing the audience attention to her desires and sexuality. The garment white color connotes virginity or purity in women. However, this general view gets challenged as the lady (bubble) chooses to remain chaste for an extended period of time. The lady is wearing gold earrings, snake band around her upper arm and a gold necklace. Notably, the necklace is long and runs between her sharp pointed breasts drawing viewers’ attention. The snake-shaped arm band has varied meanings. For instance it depicts her as a bad girl considering that snakes are highly associated with seduction and trickiness. Similarly, it can be associated with the biblical story of Adam and Eve who was unable to resist the temptation offered to them by a snake. Nonetheless, as opposed to fruit offered in the case of Adam and Eve, the offering in this case has more of sexual orientation (Andrews & Mary 59). Having a closer look at the lady, she has worn black sandals with spike heels and has straps that run up her legs to the knees. Ideally, high heels are not used by women for comfort, but to make legs and butt look more appealing for the men viewers. Further, the straps that runs upwards to the knees seek to send the eyes upwards towards such a seductive bubble. This complex picture draws two critical things. First, on her left hand side is a tie and hand that bubble is closely attracting. Even though, the person to whom the tie and the hand belong to is invisible, it is highly suggestive that the advert makes the viewer to take this person to be a male (Biff) who is being drawn by the beautiful charms of bubble. The black suit and tie worn by the male friend is suggestive of men in our society, but more importantly gives an impression of a kind of man who belongs to either middle or upper class and therefore highly likely to be working in corporate circles. The man is presumably a successful man and as such very complicated. This is reflected by the smart tie and suit he has worn. However, his image remains stereotyped as his image is partly hidden. The tie as one of the men clothing that is visible has a phallic context. This is because it emphasizes sex charged images common in many advertisements. The man is holding an empty martini glass that seems to be once full of Skyy Vodka. This connotes that Skyy Vodka has the capability to stimulate sexual situation set up by bubble and thereby turning Skyy Vodka to a sign of fun and sexual excitement. On the right hand side, a camera is seen and bubble is closely pulling it to her side. This gives an implication that at some point bubble and the Biff are intending to photograph themselves in course of this great moment of entertainment. There is a white fluffy rug on floor underneath bubble which is set up for such a certain purpose. This gives the viewer a thought of some naughty activities between the gentle man and the lady that are highly likely to follow. Bubble’s hand holding a camera gives a perspective that she is still in full control. This is further affirmed by the fact that her eyes are not directly looking at the man which depicts that the lady is still aware of the viewers and hence draws them into the advert. Basically, advert images are meant to have a male view that makes female visual object a sense of pleasure. Males’ presence in an advert should be voyeuristic which gives the pleasure of viewing while not being seen. The lady is seen to be influencing the audience to actually join the scene as opposed to merely having a usual visual look at the advert. Looking closely, the advert has two dominant meaning. First, it is intended to exert significant influence men considering the woman image is presented as an emphasis on their status as sexual being. The lady is position in the advert to be looked at and lusted over by men. Notably, her revealing clothing, open mouth and her seeming openness all target a male viewer. As such, an idealized male viewer will self recognize within the audience and thereafter try to associate with a lady as he drinks the Skyy Vodka. Noting carefully, the man who appears to be in either middle or upper class is a professional and is holding an empty martini glass and continues to pull closely to the lovely lady. This implies that drinking vodka will pull men to the floor with such beautiful women who like taking naughty pictures of themselves with men taking alcohol. This advert was not placed in male magazines, but instead in September issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. This magazine targets young adult females belonging to middle and upper social classes. In addition, this advert could also work for other classes of viewers as it hold other diverse meanings that could be deciphered from is seemingly complex meaning (Betterton 35). The lady is wearing a dress that is quite revealing though a highly expensive outfit. Further, the gold jewelry and extensive make up is also a sign of someone with adequate resources to spend on enhancing the physical appearance. Those ladies reading cosmopolitan can reciprocate this image while the male viewers could also seek to identify themselves with similar feminine subjects. The image of this advert implies that beautiful females exerts a lot of power on males and is also a source of liberation. Some people may interpret this image as that of a beautiful lady who is simply using her sense of beauty to gain pleasure from men through alcohol consumption. Nevertheless, the lady is seemingly in control of a camera which is associated with the power she continues to exert. For a female idealized viewer, the image of a beautiful woman has an impact of liking to be of that nature in order to successfully seduce men as a way of deriving pleasure. As such, drinking Skyy Vodka serves as an incentive for achieving such pleasure. This advert seemingly attracts both males and females as ladies are attracted to the flashy life that attracts men while men get attracted to beautiful ladies. Introduction of Skyy Vodka depicts that it connects such beautiful women to men and therefore, viewers may construe that taking Skyy Vodka may lead to a kind of pleasure. However, the same images can also assume anti-feminist connotations according to viewers’ personal interpretations. This supports Althusser argument that there is no distinct meaning in images and what is important is for the viewer to decode and consume the intended messages (15). Nevertheless, both females and males can easily identify with this advert and as such easily assimilate what it offers. For positivity’s of this advert, Skyy Vodka represents an enabling element of what they desire for pleasure. Conclusion Having a keen look on the advert, it is beyond any doubt that the advert seeks to create a strong positive association with Skyy Vodka brand and mostly targets both young female and male professionals for the brand to achieve high sales. However, for the advert to achieve that it uses a combination of factors including sexual connotations, both male and female young professionals, photography and brings out a protagonist who remains in control of the entire advert. Ideally, the advert has a picture of a young modern lady as depicted by her makeup and dressing mode. Similarly the same is viewed from the young male profession whose dressing code also resembles that of a young modern man. These images depart from the old adverts which used only images of aged men in advertising consumption of alcohol (Courtney & Thomas 45). This shows the nature of modern society where consumption of alcohol is no longer restricted to the old generation, but can also be consumed by the younger generation as one ways of deriving pleasure. Works Cited Althusser, Lenin. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2001. Print. Andrews, Montour, and Mary, Talbot. All the world and her husband: Women in twentieth- century consumer culture. London: Caswell, 2000. Print. Betterton, Rosemary. Looking on: images of femininity in the visual arts and media. London: Routledge, 2000. Print. Courtney, Alice, and Thomas, Whipple. Sex stereotyping in advertising. New York: Lexington Books, 1983. Print. Williamson, Judith. Decoding advertisements: ideology and meaning in advertising. London: Marion Boyars, 2002. Print Read More