Shots! Shots! Shots!

Shots! Shots! Shots!

Let's drink!

We Americans love to round-up and have drinks together at parties, sporting events, bars and night clubs. Yet a common myth shared among us revolves around the idea that going out to socialize with alcoholic beverages will increase the good time we're having. Of course, we do have good times sometimes, but sometimes we don't because we drank too much. The myth - binge drinking leads to[1] shown in liquor commercials are such complete reversals from actuality that it can be dangerously misleading, especially to one specific gullible group - young people.   

more fun - is set into our minds. Alcoholic beverage companies invest millions in tempting ad campaigns that draw us to their phony blueprint for having a great night on the town. The most vicious of these ads are the ones for hard liquor that show young adults taking shots. The visual metaphor portrayed in the liquor commercials is a complete contradiction to the actual experience of drinking shots. When broken down, the signifieds

Clarification

Shots are 1 - 1.5 ounce portions of liquor or liqueur[2] poured into small glasses and consumed with a group. There's often a toast, celebration, or other silly gesture that suggests a reason for doing shots. Shooters, or bombs, which are concoctions made from a mix of not only liquor and liqueur, but also a sweet, sour, or energy drink, are also considered shots.

Mixed drinks, beer, and wine are not shots.  

Nothing Good Ever Happens After Shots

liquid courage leads to liquid stupidity

and lures laughing liquid lovers

into a night of sea-sick sex

and a morning of regret

Drinking too much is a lesson that's never learned. As a man in my mid-thirties, I know my struggle with the illusion of control when drinking is shared with many my age group. Judging the level of one's problem with drinking is not my point here. My intention is to present what I believe to be a common debacle when drinking with friends.

Does this sound familiar?

You want to go out, but you have important things to do tomorrow. You think that if you just go out for a little while, and not drink too much, you'll be fine. So, you talked yourself into it. You're out! You're having more fun than you thought you would. Then some jerk asks, "Wanna do a shot?" Your response is, "Ahhh . . . ." Yet the times you should have said, "no," you didn't. And the following day feels like torture - the culprit - the shots.  

Depth in Liquor Ads

Roland Barthes explains in "Depth Advertising" and in "Saponids and Detergents" how laundry detergent ads con us into a grandiose concept of soap (Barthes 2012). We watch kids spill drinks, slide in mud, and even cut themselves, leaving treacherous stains on their clothes. Mom comes to the rescue and does the laundry. Then we see a graphic illustration of miraculous stain fighting molecules killing their way through cleaning the garments. Finally, mom pulls the clothes out of the dryer, gives 'em a big sniff - ahhh - that's fresh!

Barthes's depth concept can be seen in liquor ads in two distinct areas: the people drinking and the liquor itself. The people in liquor ads are always attractive, well-dressed, clean-cut, sophisticated, and engaging. The drinkers are always out with the opposite sex, they're laughing, and they're engaged in some physical activity like dancing or a game. No one ever looks unbalanced, dizzy, or intoxicated. The patrons are having the time of their lives! Romance is insinuated in many of these commercials as well. All of this, of course, is a total contradiction to the reality of doing shots - cut to - praying to the porcelain god.

Like the people in liquor ads, the liquor itself is also depicted as neat, clean-cut, clear, icy-cold, and pure. It's poured into glasses slowly, it's sexy, it's premium. It's ostensibly not at all like what is actually foreshadowed after doing shots - the frothy, chunky, and vile hue of puke.

Examples

The "Power and Cool" resemblance in 1800 Tequilacommercial with Michael Imperioli

The active cutie runs around, meets different men, and then meets her friends in the Smirnoff Sorbet commercial

Tough guys bond in the Jagermeister commercial

A group of friends set to have the perfect night with shots of tequila in Jose Cuervo Silver commercial

   

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Works Cited

Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Hill and Wang, 2012.

Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics: The Basics. 2nd. Routledge, 2007.

Filippone, Peggy Trowbridge. About.com. 2008. http://homecooking.about.com/od/cookingfaqs/f/faqliqueur.htm.

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[1] One of the two concepts of a sign as it's explained in the Saussurean model (Chandler 2007, Ch. 1).

[2] Liqueurs, also referred to as cordials, are sweetened spirits with various flavors, oils, and extracts. Liqueur alcohol content can range from 15 to 55 percent. Rum, whiskey, brandy, and other liquors can serve as a base for liqueurs. Cream liqueurs have cream added (Filippone 2008).