Vodka ad... could this be any more obvious?

Sexism ad example #1

Alcohol ads are always typically over sexualized and objectified, but it is always at the woman's expense! The woman in these ads is always being objectified because of her hotness or slutiness, or she is being creepily pursued by mulitple men in bars, or she is being convinced to do something. This is always the case for alcohol ads!

Analyzing this particular ad, the first thing I notice is that there is a woman applying lipstick and there is a man, but the only part of him showing is below the waist. The woman also happens to be at his waist level, so she is on her knees assumably. She also seems to look as if she was just caught in the act of doing something that other people shouldn't be watching or assuming about. Oral sex, that is what this is ad about, and just getting women sexual in general.

The next thing I started to think about when analyzing this article was what does a man take away from this vodka ad. My perception, as a woman, is obvious but this might actually stick with men. They are going to a see a gorgeous woman at a faceless man's waist line, and they are going to associate this sexually enticing picture with the product. Unfortunately, a good number of men buy into the cultural norm that giving alcohol to woman could help them get lucky, and it keeps them in a dominant position over women. It is quiete paralyzing for our culture actually, but for men too. Our society is telling men that they can not get gorgeous women like this unless alcohol is involved. This completely destroys the social dynamic of men and women, and it over sexualizes situations with alcohol, and it just ruins everything basically. A man sees this ad, and he knows that with the help of this extravagant alcohol he can get more beautiful women and he can get sexual favors from him because they are going to love his vodka that much.

I would never create an ad like this. If I had to create a vodka ad, I would do something centered on a party and emphasize the alcohol's association with a party environment. I would make sure to not include this over sexualized norm in alcohol advertisements because it is really destroying how men and women think about each other in heterosexual settings, and it is damaging how men and women see themselves and their ability to meet and impress people sober. I would never reinforce the idea that men can only get women with alcohol or the idea that women should be returning sexual favors for anything! This ad is so damaging in so many ways, I just cannot believe that I have to sift through advertising techniques like this on a daily basis.