Absolute Marketing

1) What attracted you to this ad?

Well I was shocked when I first saw this ad because usually I'm used to seeing very healthy, attractive, and youthful-looking people advertising for alcohol. Ads are now even featuring characters with special appeal to children. But this ad shows the dark side of alcohol, which not a lot of ads show. Underage drinking is spreading like a virus. Teenagers are drinking everywhere you look. It is not just teenagers in college that are drinking; there are numerous teenagers in high school, middle school, and even elementary school! Today's media is throwing today's youth right into the world of alcohol. Teens today are very knowledgeable about alcohol. They can tell the difference between Absolute and Grey Goose. The media is introducing too much knowledge to today's youth. Despite the problems caused to young and old by alcohol, society sends mixed signals to its youth. Media presents alcohol drinking with peers as not only acceptable but also to insure friendship and as a romantic beverage. People's perceptions of risk are strongly shaped by what they see in the media, so many people may have distorted views about the risks of alcohol use. If the media doesn't report on the link between alcohol abuse and youths, most people won't be fully aware of the risks.

2) What is the target audience for this ad and how did you determine this from the ad?

Sadly the victims of alcohol advertising are those which have been targeted, the youth and heavy drinkers. They are same youths who have suffered fatal accidents and heavy drinkers who suffer from alcoholism today. Alcohol advertising is a major contributor to the drastic levels of consumption of alcohol by the youth today, because alcohol ads target the youth the rates at which alcohol related tragedies such as suicide, homicide, and accidents, are occurring continues to grow. Despite the many efforts of people across the United States to reduce these risk factors such as, MADD, and counter advertising, the simple and steady fact of the matter is that until alcohol companies completely stop advertisements targeted to youth and appealing to all, the United States will continue to suffer tragedies. The worst, yet most effective part about these alcohol ads is that they glorify drinking. They are funny, sexy, and cool. They don't show the hangover that comes afterward or the alcoholic at age twenty five. The media won't tell anyone this, but they know what they are doing. They are targeting younger audiences to get costumers for life.

3) What is in the ad indicates the target audience?

Well I think the dead body says it all. Usually when you hear the slogan " Absolute on Ice" you don't expect to see a dead person's feet with the name tag on it. The media today is very influential, and by viewing alcohol being glamorized some teens think that it is acceptable to drink. Many teenagers are fascinated by some of the alcohol commercials on television such as the comedic Budweiser ads, and researchers believe that this fascination may lead them to try the product being advertised. Advertiser is making the effort to stop teenagers from drinking nearly impossible. No matter how wrong something is to do, people (especially teenagers) will do it if they want to. The media is making teenagers want to drink. The level of alcohol consumption and binge drinking by college students has become a serious problem and many negative consequences, including alcoholic and death, since they lack the experience and knowledge to understand and evaluate critically the purpose of those persuasive advertising appeals, can not differentiate between commercials and programs and cannot distinguish between reality and fantasy. This ad is simple and it targets the underage and binge drinkers by showing them if you drink too much this might be you one day.

4) What changes would you make to the ad to make it more effective?

In my opinion this ad is simple and effective, but if I had to change something I think I would show the whole body of the person. We don't know how this person died, he/she could have gotten into a accident with a drunk driver or they could have be the drunk one, we do not know. There needs to be more ads like this one that sends a forceful message to the underage and