Sexy guts   Tongue tied   Razor Cut Robby the Robot

Sizzling Sex?

This Jim Beam ad really offers some hot stuff.  Take a closer look at the enlargement below.  The 'letters' s e and x are reasonably clear.  The e is reversed and somewhat distorted but the S's and X are clear enough.  Hot stuff, indeed.  And, if you did not notice it, the relevant sexy male appendage is apparent pointing downwards to '5 o'clock'.  This must be an example of the Jim Beam droop, associated with too much alcohol consumption. It certainly runs counter to any expectation that might be aroused in viewers after 'noticing' the sexy letters.

Note that the caption draws your attention to this area of the ad.  It said 'I wish I had the guts.'   However you would probably also need some guts to face up to the individuals depicted between Jim's legs.  These appear as if they were being reflected in a shattered mirror or the mirror hall in a funfair. See the illustration on the right for an indication for who might be after you. Or, perhaps, they are after the droopy penis.

Such imagery is relatively common in spirits ads. So this ad would seem to indicate that Jim Beam drinkers are afraid of the darker side of life. Or perhaps sex scares them.  Take your choice of these interpretations after viewing the additional  embedded material in the Jim Beam ads below.

A tasty tip?

Here is another Jim Beam ad.   The model is clearly all tied up. But note that he has something on the tip of his tongue.  And, like the ad up above, the caption helpfully draws your attention to this aspect of the ad.  On the tip of the model's tongue, just discernible in this image is once again the letters s e and x.  And these are not the only Jim Beam ads that tried to associate sex with Jim Beam bourbon. 

Advertisers must be really desperate when they have to utilize unethical ploys like this to try and sell their clients products.  A more prosaic argument would simply state that there are no real differences between bourbons so far as the average drinkers is concerned. And anything will do to help distinguish them in the minds of consumers. However, that does not explain why all such ads tend to emphasize the same themes. The companies surely evaluate their advertising for impact.

Razor sharp

Here's another Jim Beam ad that offers insight into the mind of the typical heavy spirits drinker. The guys who give the distillers companies their profits. At least, it is the type of insight accorded by psychographics experts who analyse the lifestyles, values and attitudes of drinkers and other consumers. 

Who uses a cut-throat razor nowadays?  This implement is much more likely to be used to decapitate someone and is commonly used by the demon  barbers of literature.   In the context of the ads above one might also find expect to find some association with sex. This also seems to be present. Examine the area underneath the chin of the man shaving.   His bristles seem to grow in unusual directions and can be 'read' as if they were letters. It would be easy to do this without any conscious attention, especially if there had been a little bit of priming provided by previous sexy ads or if the magazine the ad was printed in emphasized sexual matters. Can you think of many young people's magazines that don't?

Overall, the range of connotations of this ad are really quite worrying, especially when one thinks of a cut-throat razor in combination with sex.  This could mean Jim Beam offers spirits drinkers the unkindest cut of all. It may even plant ideas of castration in some individuals minds. But most likely it simply means 'Drink Jim Beam and cut yourself off from the world, including sexual worries'.

Robotic fun

You will really need to find an original copy of this ad to find out anything of interest other than what is obvious in this miniature.   This is an ad that uses the almost 'traditional' means of inserting the word sex into the background.  To make such ads effective, sex has to be associated with the product in the mind of the viewer.  Expect, therefore, the letters of the word sex to be in close proximity to the brand name.

And, sure enough, if you look at the area around the Jim Beam bottle you are likely to perceive the letters of the word sex.    However, note that this type of embedded material is always potentially hazardous to comment on as it is too easy to project the products of ones imagination onto what one is looking at.  See the Imagination page for more information on projection and related topics.  One can only be reasonably certain that this type of borderline 'message' exists if other ads in the same series use more obvious ploys. Guilt by association in other words. It's not very fair but then has unethical advertising ever been considered fair.

Note also that ads rely for their effect upon a range of factors. It is noticeable that a couple of Jim Beam ads contained robots. This could be a visual commentary upon a notable cohort of Jim Beam drinkers i.e. they function like robots. Or it could be that lots of science fiction fans like Jim Beam. Given the disparaging visual commentary upon sexual activity in the ads above one can also note that Robots are also asexual. The mind boggles at the psychological profile that distinguishes Jim Beam drinkers from other drinkers. Not much perhaps, but set your imagination rolling and see how many other interpretations you can come up with.