Chivas Regal Bad Ad | Teen Ink

Chivas Regal Bad Ad

January 17, 2011
By Steven Benna GOLD, Pewaukee, Wisconsin
Steven Benna GOLD, Pewaukee, Wisconsin
13 articles 0 photos 0 comments

This advertisement is about Chivas Regal, a premium scotch whisky. The ad is targeting high class, working men and women in their middle ages, anywhere between the ages of thirty and forty-five years-old. The target race for this product is Caucasians because all of models are white.

The picture is of an apartment building with one room with the lights on. Surrounding that room are other rooms with the lights off. In the dark rooms, people are doing everyday activities such as reading, talking on the phone, and working on their computers. In the illuminated room, there is a party going on. At this party, people are dancing.

The caption under the picture, “Live every day like it’s a Friday,” implies that with this whisky, every night can be a fun night. Friday nights are ideal party nights for adults because it marks the end of a workweek. This is bad because the ad is promoting drinking as a stress reliever. The ad is using group dynamics to make the party seem better.

At the bottom of the advertisement in large writing, the ad says, “THE CHIVAS LIFE.” Inside the word “CHIVAS” are pictures of the target market. All of those people are talking, smiling, and having a good time. This is offering a simple solution. It is suggesting the solution to the stress and frustration of working is this whisky, which is a problem. Alcohol doesn’t fix anything. It may make someone feel better for a short period of time, but it will catch up to them the next day. If not the next day, it will in the long run. Next to the writing is a bottle of Chivas and two glasses of it on the rocks, a typical way for middle aged men to drink their alcohol. The Chivas life is made out to be a life of fun. People who live this lifestyle live a fun life, and they have a group of friends that live the same way as them. The problem is that the ad is saying drinking whisky is necessary for a fun life, and that is not true. Whisky is an expensive, high class alcohol. If this ad were true and drinking whisky was, in fact, the only way to have a fun life, that would mean only upper class people can have fun.

Inside of the lit up room is the party. The people at the party are dressed formally, in collared shirts and nice dresses. They are also dancing. This is made out to be a party for the upper class, which suggests that the target audience is upper class workers. The people at their party are still in their work clothes, and their work clothes are classy and fashionable. No one at the party is actually drinking, but along with the words “THE CHIVAS LIFE” and the bottle of the product, the party scene is the focal point of the advertisement. While they aren’t actually drinking, it is implied that the reason they are having a good time is because of the alcohol.

The one light surrounded by all the dark rooms makes the party the focal point. The other focal point is the only other form of color in the ad, the bottle of alcohol and “THE CHIVAS LIFE.” Because of this, it appears that the drinking led to the fun at the party. This promotes alcoholism. Encouraging people to drink will not help them; it will make them reliant on alcohol. When they don’t get it, they will be more upset than they were before.

What is being left out of this advertisement is the side effects. It says “Live every day like it’s a Friday,” but that doesn’t take into account a hangover. Also, it doesn’t show how alcohol effects you in the long run. Living like a Friday means relieving stress after a long week at work, and this ad is saying the only way to do that. If someone were to listen to this ad actually “live every day like a Friday,” that person would be considered an alcoholic and would have a much greater chance at liver problems. Upper class working individuals don’t party every night. That is the big lie technique.

This ad shows a group of people having fun and multiple individuals surrounding them living a dull lifestyle. This is not true because people can have fun by themselves, especially on a weekend, and many people prefer being alone as opposed to partying. Partying is not bad, but partying to get drunk is. A party in an apartment complex does happen, but that doesn’t mean the people who aren’t at the party are having a bad time.


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