The Impact Of Advertising Essay
Over the last 157 years, advertising and marketing has changed considerably throughout the alcoholic beverages industry.
I have selected this topic to discuss as alcohol advertisement has been an area that has evolved significantly throughout the years and it is evident that certain art movements have inspired their marketing direction.
Throughout this selection I will explore how the advertising of alcoholic drinks has evolved, how the industry has at times, sexualised their drinks and how it has all changed in response to the times we live in. I will be mainly focusing on Smirnoff vodka which was created by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov.
Advert One: The 60’s –
These adverts are for Smirnoff Vodka. It was originally published in the 1960’s. The first advert features Julie Newmar in it and was created by George Lois in 1966. Everyone gave Lois huge props as his advertisement featured celebrities and his sharp eye for arresting images were attention grabbing. I can see that Lois has got Newmar to pose in a sexual way wearing a silky dress grab the attention of customers. Lois even included a saying “It leaves you breathless” to try and emphasise that you will have a good time when you drink Smirnoff vodka. The next advert with Robert Morse featured was advertised in 1967 where Smirnoff were trying to push the Moscow Mule and mentioned it many times in their advertisement, “Any girl can succeed with the Smirnoff mule (all she needs is a mug)”.
The strengths with the first advert were that it advertised the vodka with barely any writing, a bold picture and a sexual remark to grab people’s attention quickly. However, the weaknesses with the second advert is that there is quite a lot of writing which isn’t very big. This means that there is a lot to read when walking by. However, as this was years ago not many people were in a rush so had time to read these posters that included lots of writing.
When advertising the Moscow Mule in their advertisement, Eartha Kitt and Woody Allen both pose with a wooden donkey to drive the point home. The campaign used many African-American celebrities, which may have been forward-thinking at the time, but it also may have pushed the ball forward on homosexual imagery to some degree.
Advert Two: The 80’s -
These are some adverts for Smirnoff in the 1980’s that were featured in magazines in the UK. I can see that these two adverts include surrealism along with the catchphrase “Well, they said anything could happen” and very small at the bottom of the ad they have “Remember, whatever happens, don’t overdo it”. This represents that when you drink Smirnoff vodka it can possibly get you so drunk that anything could happen but to be aware of your surroundings and don’t do anything silly. To create these adverts, there has been use of photography and editing to create the surrealist look. The first advert is of the loch ness monster and was published in 1981. The second advert is of a magic carpet and was published in 1980. The strengths with both of these adverts are the use of surrealism as it was popular at the time so grabbed customers attention. A weakness is that they have mainly used females in their advertisement so could be quite sexist to some degree. As they took inspiration from surrealism, there has been historical influence as surrealism originated in the late 1910’s and early 20’s. Surrealism was included in a lot of Smirnoff vodka adverts in the 1980’s, e.g., being on the moon without a spacesuit and a giant bird coming down from the sky to grab someone. In the year 1980, Smirnoff got quite creative with their advertisement.
Advert Three: The 90’s and 2000’s –
These adverts are for Smirnoff vodka. The first advert was published in 1993 and is called pure party. It includes party balloons and streamers in a bottle. The second advert was published in 2021 and is about their discounted prices for world vodka day. I can see that in the first advert there has been use of illustrations and conveys to the customer that when you buy Smirnoff, you could have a party. This could then make sales go up as people will then be buying more of it. In the second ad, they have included some information such as to not sell Smirnoff to anyone under the age of 18. This had not been included on any of the previous adverts as people didn’t really care as much in the past. They also included that excessive drinking is harmful to your health which they had also not included on any of the previous ads. This advert also looks more clean, minimal and modern compared to the others. The colours are also brighter and the use of the colour red will grab customers attention.
So, how has Smirnoff’s alcohol marketing changed throughout the years? From dull to bright colours and surrealism to minimalism, Smirnoff’s marketing has vastly changed throughout the years. Their marketing in recent years has seemed to steer away from including celebrities and people to only including their bottle of vodka with some information and have also made it less sexualised. I feel that now they do not have to use celebrities and people to sell their drink by making it sexualised as the drink is now more established. As there are so many products on the market today, they have to let the brand sell itself with good use of photography and styling. I also feel that their advertising has evolved because they now need to think about how their advertising reflects the world that we live in today as using sex to sell their drink can now be seen as sexist or discriminative.
