Mad World: What Liquor Ads Teach Us About Guys

Mad World post by Anita Sarkeesian on June 22, 2010 - 2:47pm; tagged advertising, liquor, Mad World, masculinity.

Liquor ads capitalize on some of the worst (socialized) masculine traits, glamorize them, and sell these behaviors back to us–encouraging and promoting sexism.

Related links and articles:

Spin The Bottle: Sex, Lies & Alcohol by Jackson Katz and Jean Kilbourne
Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel by Jean Kilbourne
Collection of posts from Sociological Images about alcohol advertising.
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks (as mentioned in the video)
To learn about control mythologies and how to change the narrative read Re:Imagining Change: How to Use Story-based Strategy to Win Campaigns, Build Movements and Change the World by By Doyle Canning and Patrick Reinsborough

Full transcript available at Full transcript available at www.FeministFrequency.com! Anita Sarkeesian is a feminist media literacy advocate, pop culture critic and fair use proponent. She maintains an ongoing web series of video commentaries from a fangirl/feminist/anti-oppression perspective at her website www.FeministFrequency.com.

This project was made possible in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities (OH), a statewide nonprofit organization and an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds OH's grant program. Any views, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of Oregon Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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Comments

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I enjoyed this, but it is

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on June 24, 2010 - 1:21am

I enjoyed this, but it is also true that in advertising all wives are harpies who want to force their husband to conform to them, which probably encourages the idea that they can then ogle the single hot girls in the street! You're lucky in the US at least you don't get naked women in every shower gel, shampoo or deodorant commercial.

Yes, but

Posted by Kelsey Wallace on June 24, 2010 - 8:38am

Anonymous,

What you're saying may well be true in many instances, but what exactly does that have to do with Anita's post? She is deconstructing the portrayal of masculinity in alcohol advertisements—that certainly doesn't mean she thinks there are no other problems in the world of advertising, it just means she isn't addressing them with them in this post.

Kelsey Wallace, Web Editor

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