Adam Sargent

In this analysis I will consider an advertisement for Superior (a Puerto Rican rum) by Bacardi that appeared in Rolling Stone magazine (October 30, 2003). However, this analysis deals with themes in, and will make reference to, other advertisements in the same campaign (specifically those on this web archive from Entertainment Weekly, 3/22/2002 and Stuff Magazine, 3/2002). I hope to situate and analyze the way this ad represents and projects a certain construction of sex, gender and sexuality.

In 1862 Don Facundo Bacardi established the Bacardi Company, in Cuba, (now Bacardi Ltd.) as a family run rum distillery. By 1916 the company had established a subsidiary (Bacardi USA) in New York. During the Prohibition years (1920-1933) the US subsidiary sold all it's assets to shareholders and relocated in Miami after Prohibition (Bacardi USA headquarters is currently in Miami) (Hoover). In the 1950s and 60s the Castro regime seized the Bacardi company distilleries and the family was forced to flee to the Bahamas (Bacardi Ltd. is now based in Bermuda) (Miami Herald Dec. 13, 2002). The company suffered from lack of diversification in the 80s but in the 90s they acquired a number of diverse spirit companies including Martini & Rossi (1992), Dewar's Scotch (1998) and Bombay gin (1998). Since the 1970s Bacardi rum has been the largest-selling spirit brand in the world (Reuters, June 1998). The Bacardi USA subsidiary is the largest subsidiary of Bacardi Ltd. and accounts for about 40% of corporate profits (Miami Herald, December 13, 2002). The $15 million "Bacardi by Night" ad campaign was launched by Bacardi USA in 1998 and specifically targeted young adults (Advertising Age 69:22). It is important to note that this campaign and spirits ads in general are advertised mainly in magazines as this is the only national medium allowed to them (radio and television being restricted) (Ferguson 1967:417). This is a self imposed ban most likely related to the liquor industry's supposed "self-regulation" against advertising in mediums with too many underage viewers[1]. It is important, then, to note that Rolling Stone has large percentage of underage readers, which Bacardi has taken heat for advertising to.

The text of the ad in Rolling Stone reads; "Fundraiser by day. Bacardi by night." Bacardi's marketing manager, Marco Perez, stated that the message of the campaign was that, "Bacardi is the real you, the person who comes out after doing the things you've go to do." (Advertising Age 69:22). Thus, the aim of the campaign is to associate Bacardi with a "real" self, separate from the "fake" day self of obligations. This is accomplished by prominently displaying a Bacardi drink being consumed by a person who has broken out of their asserted day identity, and thus is more "real." Judith Butler (1990) notes that the presence of an interior self is fabricated through the acts, gestures and desires that produce it as their invisible cause. Thus, the notion of an interior self, separate from society, is in fact "an effect and function of a decidedly public and social discourse." (1990:136). We should understand this campaign, then, as a politically constructed assertion about what constitutes "true" gender and sexuality. In this light, the claim to be simply reflecting the "real you," can be seen to be a strategic positioning of an assertion outside the realm of social consequence. The Bacardi self is disconnected from the "day" self and is given the value of "real." The message is that drinking has no social consequences except to allow a "real" self to emerge. By this logic the ad merely reflects "naturally" gendered persons, as opposed to representing constructed subjects, gendered in specific ways, that have larger and much more sinister implications than implied by the "just letting loose in the club" rhetoric of the ad.

In the Rolling Stone ad (as well as the others) gender is constructed in the context of an explicit hyper-heterosexuality, as we can see from the overtly sexual "riding" position of the subjects. The thrust hips of the man as well as the "cowgirl" look of the woman add to the overtly sexual nature of the position while at the same time adding to an image of animalistic, transgressive (but acceptable) release. The image caters to its audience by conjuring images of the excitement of the drunken rock concert. The man's matted hair, unshaven face, open shirt and powerful arm around the woman come together in producing this image of masculinity as wild, powerful, animalistic and overtly heterosexual. He is clearly in control, ambiguously supporting or consuming the woman. The message is that masculinity is constituted of a wild, aggressive power that is proven in the sexual consumption of women. Women are shown to be willing agents in constructing a hegemonic masculinity. This is represented by positioning the woman as actively straddling the man, which she is clearly enjoying. In some senses the woman can be seen as the initiator of this male controlled sexual encounter. The image suggests that she has actively put herself in this position, but it is clear that she will not threaten the man, who is ultimately in control of her position (this theme is especially present in the Stuff magazine ad). That this is all framed within a club implies that these people don't know each other. The message here (reinforced by the placement of the drink in the man's hand) is that Bacardi allows a specific heterosexuality between a dominating, wild man and a willing and powerless woman. That this situation is presented as inconsequential and "natural," masks the very real and dangerous potential of rape in the situation. The image decontextualizes these actors from the asymmetrical gender inequalities that differentially effect the outcome of alcohol use. The image portrays drunkenness as inhibition and consent, however, we are not shown anything about what the consequences of these situations are in a society where date rape is a reality that all women are forced to face.

Sources Cited

Arndorfer, James B. "New Bacardi Ads Revel in Night Life to Skew Younger" Advertising Age, June 1, 1998 v69 n22

Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge

Hoover's Online. Htttp://www.hoovers.com/bacardi-usa/-ID__40051/freecofactsheet.xhtml

MacSwan, Angus. "Bacardi U.S. Chief Sees Spirits Rising" Reuters, June 8, 1998

Walker, Elaine. "Bacardi Moving Way Beyond Just Rum" The Miami Herald, December 13, 2002.

[1] For an FTC report on this issue see http://www.ftc.gov/opal/1999/alchoholrep.htm