She’s blind folded, her fingers curled in fear, teeth bared, she’s screaming. Just behind her lurks a man’s face, smiling demonically, a deadringer for Jack Nicholson’s grinning psycho-killer in “The Shining.”
The latest horror movie? No, a new ad for Belvedere vodka in Gourmet Magazine’s May pasta issue. There within the pages of recipes for orecchiette with cauliflower or pappardelle with lamb ragu, a rape scene. I count three penises in this ad. Can you find them?
Belvedere Vodka ad from Gourmet Magazine
Tonight, after the kids finally went to bed, I headed for the couch with two very different publications, or so I thought, Us Weekly and Gourmet. Except, I guess, when it comes to reaching out to vodka drinkers, highbrow and lowbrow find common ground. Tossing away the rape scene, I opened Us, and there was a menage a trois, a campaign that might win the tea baggers, sorry, I mean the tea parties, some new followers.
I count three penises in the Skyy ad too, including the bottle itself, and the two cherry stems, one ejaculating, but my husband disagrees, saying no guy wants identify with the cherry stems. For the key to hidden penises in the Belvedere ad click here. (Hint: sexually frustrated.)
Skyy vodka ad from Us Weekly
“…her fingers curled in fear, teeth bared, she’s screaming.” Really? She looks pretty happy to me. I agree that the ad with the man grabbing the woman from behind is distasteful, but in the ad above? Not really. At least be factual in your description.
You are correct Margot Magowan, it’s up there, right in the image. Good ole Moe probably has never heard anyone call another person a racial or sexual slur either. Ain’t mad atcha Ya Moe, got love for Ya, and this is about “seeing into” or “seeing beyond” what they’re trying to show you. And of course you have to have given some pre-thought to how people are influenced and manipulated. Ever had that happen to you, Moe? Naaaah.
Very powerful stuff, this type of manipulation. Good thing we don’t have to rely completely on men to recognize it and point it out.
Maybe the ad campaigns portrayed in Eddie Murphy’s “Boomerang” weren’t exaggerations. The deeper issue for all such observations is that there seems to be some evidence that people respond to this type of sexual suggestion in a way that helps promote sales. When this strategy helps someone put a finer vodka on their table or buy a higher class BMW, we can expect it to continue. Both the advertiser and the effected make it work. A hilarious and sad commentary on the state of human evolution.
Sometimes a bottle is just a bottle.
I think I saw a camel, a rabbit, and a vagina in the ad too.