Comedy / Parody Monday - "The Baron"
I'm not even going to pretend that this is for your viewing enjoyment, because it isn't. What is presented below is an advertisement for Dewar's Scotch Whisky*, which styles itself as the "Drinking Man's Scotch". The featured ad, which I wish was a parody, is reportedly part of a US-only ad campaign, as Dewar's felt it had to position itself differently here...and if that doesn't say something disturbing about North American culture, I'm not sure what does. So, without further ado, if you feel like watching it, you can, but please stick around for the analysis:
***** UPDATE - December 11, 2013 - 10h00 ***** The video has now been removed from Vimeo, but you can see the rest of the "Drinking Man's Scotch" ad campaign material, including stills from a third video deemed too risque by Dewar's own legal team, by clicking here. Needless to say, given the backlash against "The Baron", Dewar's is probably pretty glad they didn't releash the "Handsome Hamish" ad...
***** UPDATE - December 11, 2013 - 12h30 ***** The content of the web page that the link above points to has now been removed, but the Google Cache is available here (for now).
Now, what does this ad say to you? Is it sexist and sizest? Yes, it certainly is both of those. But the bigger question is why advertising gimmicks like this - "the man's man" and/or the "woman as object" - linger on in North America? Why are they seen as acceptable here, but not elsewhere? Further, why do companies ignore the fact that a growing segment of the whisky market is actually educated women who aren't simply hangers on: they aren't out drinking whisky because their partner is, they are out there with their friends, both male and female, drinking whisky because they enjoy whisky, and this sort of ad is exclusive, not inclusive.
In some ways, this goes right back to the whole 'Fake Geek Girl' concept that reduces women to passive observers and/or subjects of the male gaze, to be judged and approved by men, based on a set of criteria designed by men. And that, quite frankly, is a load of BS. Women are our mothers, our sisters, our wives, our friends, our daughters, our co-workers, and they deserve to be treated with respect. It is not our place to tell them what they like and how to like it, and companies that advertise in this way don't deserve our business...and in all honesty Dewar's White Label, which is what is being advertised here, is terrible, terrible whisky, which maybe says something about "The Baron's" tastes...
As the closing line of the ad says, "You can't buy friends, but you can buy friends a drink," to which I say, yes, you can buy your friends a drink, and I hope that when you do, you buy them something better tasting and far more complex than Dewar's White Label (or even Aberfeldy*)...and the last time a whisky loving woman bought me a drink, it was a dram of Aberlour 16 year-old double-cask matured single malt Scotch, and it was quite good, thank you very much.
So, in support of Johanne's (Whisky Lassie) boycott of Dewar's, I'm providing a link to the online petition she created, which asks Dewar's to pull the ad and work toward producing more inclusive and less demeaning advertisements: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stop-dewars-meet-the-baron-advertisement
***** UPDATE - December 10, 2013 *****
See also Fred Minnick's take on this issue here. Mr. Minnick is an award-winning journalist who recently published Whisky Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish Whisky.
***** UPDATE - December 11, 2013 *****
Late last night Dewar's agreed to pull the ad from YouTube (although it is still on Vimeo in a few places) and issued what could be construed as an apology. That hasn't, of course, been the end of it. Other bloggers and media outlets picked up the story and ran with it, including Oliver Klimek at Dramming.com, The Huffington Post, The Houston Chronicle, The Spirits Business, Grub Street, and more from Fred Minnick (where you can see the text of the Dewar's response).
Kudos to Whisky Lassie and her #whiskyfabric for mobilizing to fight this battle...hopefully the industry will get the message...but only time will tell.
* John Dewar & Sons owns a number of distilleries, including Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Craigellachie, and Royal Brackla, as well as the Dewar's brand of blended Scotches, and some other non-whisky spirits, such as Bacardi, Grey Goose Vodka, and Bombay Sapphire Gin, among others.
***** UPDATE - December 11, 2013 - 10h00 ***** The video has now been removed from Vimeo, but you can see the rest of the "Drinking Man's Scotch" ad campaign material, including stills from a third video deemed too risque by Dewar's own legal team, by clicking here. Needless to say, given the backlash against "The Baron", Dewar's is probably pretty glad they didn't releash the "Handsome Hamish" ad...
***** UPDATE - December 11, 2013 - 12h30 ***** The content of the web page that the link above points to has now been removed, but the Google Cache is available here (for now).
Now, what does this ad say to you? Is it sexist and sizest? Yes, it certainly is both of those. But the bigger question is why advertising gimmicks like this - "the man's man" and/or the "woman as object" - linger on in North America? Why are they seen as acceptable here, but not elsewhere? Further, why do companies ignore the fact that a growing segment of the whisky market is actually educated women who aren't simply hangers on: they aren't out drinking whisky because their partner is, they are out there with their friends, both male and female, drinking whisky because they enjoy whisky, and this sort of ad is exclusive, not inclusive.
In some ways, this goes right back to the whole 'Fake Geek Girl' concept that reduces women to passive observers and/or subjects of the male gaze, to be judged and approved by men, based on a set of criteria designed by men. And that, quite frankly, is a load of BS. Women are our mothers, our sisters, our wives, our friends, our daughters, our co-workers, and they deserve to be treated with respect. It is not our place to tell them what they like and how to like it, and companies that advertise in this way don't deserve our business...and in all honesty Dewar's White Label, which is what is being advertised here, is terrible, terrible whisky, which maybe says something about "The Baron's" tastes...
As the closing line of the ad says, "You can't buy friends, but you can buy friends a drink," to which I say, yes, you can buy your friends a drink, and I hope that when you do, you buy them something better tasting and far more complex than Dewar's White Label (or even Aberfeldy*)...and the last time a whisky loving woman bought me a drink, it was a dram of Aberlour 16 year-old double-cask matured single malt Scotch, and it was quite good, thank you very much.
So, in support of Johanne's (Whisky Lassie) boycott of Dewar's, I'm providing a link to the online petition she created, which asks Dewar's to pull the ad and work toward producing more inclusive and less demeaning advertisements: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stop-dewars-meet-the-baron-advertisement
***** UPDATE - December 10, 2013 *****
See also Fred Minnick's take on this issue here. Mr. Minnick is an award-winning journalist who recently published Whisky Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish Whisky.
***** UPDATE - December 11, 2013 *****
Late last night Dewar's agreed to pull the ad from YouTube (although it is still on Vimeo in a few places) and issued what could be construed as an apology. That hasn't, of course, been the end of it. Other bloggers and media outlets picked up the story and ran with it, including Oliver Klimek at Dramming.com, The Huffington Post, The Houston Chronicle, The Spirits Business, Grub Street, and more from Fred Minnick (where you can see the text of the Dewar's response).
Kudos to Whisky Lassie and her #whiskyfabric for mobilizing to fight this battle...hopefully the industry will get the message...but only time will tell.
* John Dewar & Sons owns a number of distilleries, including Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Craigellachie, and Royal Brackla, as well as the Dewar's brand of blended Scotches, and some other non-whisky spirits, such as Bacardi, Grey Goose Vodka, and Bombay Sapphire Gin, among others.