My interest within advertisement is leaning towards how alcohol is advertised. Within my essay I bring up a few main things which cause adverts to be unethical. My practical will aim to be as ethically inclined as it can be. As it will be practically impossible to be completely ethical, I will aim to do my best and evaluate why I could not achieve a completely ethical design.
From my essay I have devised some rules and guidelines to which I will try to comply:
Do not diminish the audiences self-esteem.
Do not suggest or make false claims about your product.
Do not advertise through association.
Present logical reasoning.
High quality aesthetic can be forgiven if it does not break the previous rules.
Below are a few examples of alcohol advertisements which I believe are not as ethical as they could be.
This Skyy Infusions vodka advert advertises through association with sex. It is very common within alcohol advertisement for the use of sexual imagery as the two themes overlap. Many people go to bars and drink alcohol in hopes of having sex. Many companies use this to their advantage and suggest that the alcohol will help them in this matter. The use of the slogan 'Go Natural' is use of the technique 'weasel words'. The statement doesn't have any meaning towards the product. Vodka is a man-made substance that is bad for ones health. Suggesting that it is natural and therefore good for you is misleading.
Again the use females within a beer advert has connotations and suggestions of sex. By replacing the word 'fun' with a bottle of their product gives the audience an irrational belief that bud light is fun.
One of budweisers more ethically inclined campaigns is their designated driver campaign. It encourages the audience to designate a driver and drink responsibly. They have done this in a fun and creative way so as to not give the audience an 'unfun' belief of the Budweiser brand.
Chambord have developed a series of video advertisements that depicts their brand as a weird and quirky one. The advertisements do not make any statements about their actual product and use randomness to try to raise a general awareness of their brand. I would not say that this is particularly unethical but it is illogical.
Hendricks Gin have presented themselves in a similar quirky, weird way that suggests a much richer, old fashioned history.
Baileys have targeted a female audience in this ad campaign. The use of an attractive female advertises through association which is illogical and deceptive. The slogan suggests that emotionally strong females drink Baileys. This tells the audience that they should drink baileys if they want to be 'a girl with a mind, a woman with atittude and a lady with class'. They have glamourised their product to such a ridiculous extent.
Building a strong brand seems to be very important with in alcohol advertising. Jim Bean give them selves a strong brand that has attitude with statements like the ones below. These statements suggest a blunt but honest personality which will resonate with the product.
A very common ad technique I have noticed is the use of advertising through associations. Below Glenfiddich have used imagery of a beautiful landscape with two men hiking. To their target audience this is a luxurious image which they would like to be more involved with. The phrase 'One day you will' gives the audience hopes that they can be associated with such imagery. This type of advertising is illogical as glenfiddich has nothing to do with hiking.
Russian Standard have highlighted buzzwords which suggest luxurious and possibly sexual connotations to glamourise their product. By placing their product in the spotlight they suggest importance to their product. It is hard to decide whether this use of semiotics is unethical. It is slightly deceptive, but the content of all adverts would be very dull if not for the use of semiotics.
A theme of class and superiority is painted in this advert for Haig Club. Despite it being David Beckhams company, he is still helping them advertise through association of him. Certain audience may be buying into the glamorous lifestyle that is suggested they can have with the product.
