Alcohol consumption is a prevalent social activity in today’s society. There is a diverse selection of drinks that people may drink in any situation such as cocktails, wine, and beer; however, there is a gender association with each type of alcohol that can be explored that can produce further sociological implications related to alcohol and gender. Beer, whiskey, and bourbon tend to be considered “manly,” while martinis and daiquiris are considered to be “girly.” All of these ideologies are supported by gendered advertisements and portrayals in the media relating to the certain types of drinks that are consumed. Mostly, alcoholic advertisements portray a sexualized or marginalized woman with a dominant and confidant man, which seems to perpetuate the gendered categorization of drinks and different types of alcohol within different social settings. Other times, alcohol advertisements enforce solely for one gender, which also supports the relationship with certain alcohols with a particular gender. The following advertisements will illustrate the specific gender targets based on the alcoholic drink.

TINCUP Whiskey’s “Up Here” advertisement exemplifies an alcohol (whiskey) ad that is geared specifically toward men, as it does not even include women. It begins with an aerial shot of the rugged mountains and men, who seems to be climbing the mountains. The men also are covered in copious amounts of facial hair that also contributes to the theme of rugged and raw masculinity within the advertisement. After a long day of climbing, the men seem to have set up camp and pour themselves a cup of seemingly refreshing whiskey by the fire. In the background, the super deep and husky voice repeats, “it’s just man and the mountain” [00:00:17-00:00:19]. First, the portrayal of men with beards, chopping wood, climbing mountains, and camping plays on the hyper masculine ideal of the man in society. The extra hair and the activity in the nature insinuates a strength and toughness that is expected of men in society. The fact that the advertisement is for whiskey and portrays such images justifies the very notion of alcohol being gendered by society. The ad relays the message of whiskey as a manly drink and establishes the ideals of men as pure strength and ruggedness.

SkinnyGirl “Lady” advertisements show the opposite spectrum of alcohol advertisements geared solely towards women. The ad only features women and shows groups of girls lounging with martini glasses, friends dancing at a club, and a woman pouring SkinnyGirl products into wine glass, cocktail glass, and martini glass. In the last montage, the woman speaks over and says, “All the options you need, without the extra calories you don’t…drink like a lady” [00:00:06-00:00:10]. This ad already establishes women as its sole target by stating, “drink like a lady.” In this way, the ad insinuates the particular scenarios that were shown of the women is the way in which women drink in society. The women in the ad are all light-hearted and laughing, just having fun with friends, but this scene is deeply contrasting to the TINCUP whiskey ad’s portrayal of men enjoying their time. Furthermore, the ad mentions the “health conscious” version of the drink, which plays on the idea of women’s body ideals as maintaining the thin body standard set by society, which in turn indirectly insinuates an overall delicateness of women rather than the strength that was portrayed in the whiskey commercial. It’s also important to note the specific alcohol that was featured like cocktails, mojitos, wine, but not whiskey, beer, or bourbon. There is this variety with the SkinnyGirl products, yet there is the variety geared specifically towards women.

The Belvedere Vodka commercial features a woman in a revealing dress (open back and deep-v in the front), who asks for a drink at the bar. In an intricate number of shots, the martini miraculously comes together with a series of mysterious happenings around the bar (limes fall from the air, something pushes the vodka bottle over to pour into the shaker, a knife flies across the bar to slice the lemon garnish for the completed drink). In the closing sequence, the woman thanks with, “Excellent choice, Mr. Bond” [00:00:35-00:00:40]. This ad involves men and women, but the woman is the focus, with her perfect hair and revealing dress. Her dress puts focus on her body, which ads an element of objectification of the female body in the ad (gendering). Again, the drink made is for the woman, so it happens to be a martini rather than a shot of a different drink such as whiskey or beer. The reference to Mr. Bond at the end of the ad shows a sort of gratitude to the man by the woman, which indirectly establishes a hierarchy of men over women (as if the woman needed the man?). Overall, this ad involves both men and women, yet it pushes a certain drink choice towards women and also manages to objectify the actress in the commercial.

It is clear that alcohol can also be gendered in the realm of food and drink. Alcohol ads seem to push these ideas of what men and women should or should not drink. This in turn perpetuates these notions into the everyday of society, and people tend to drink certain drinks or develop a liking to certain types of drinks because of these initial pushes in one direction or the other.

Works Cited

TINCUP Whiskey- “Up Here” Youtube.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.