Remember two seconds ago when we were talking about how marketers can get consumers to think well about their brands by promoting them during television shows they like?
There's one other way to get consumers to like your brand: Create clever advertising.
Another, more morbid, spot below. CONTINUED »
The American press corps isn't the only group anxious to see President Bush leave office in January — the Brits are twiddling their thumbs just as much. The Guardian's Bill Blanko, who refers to said American press corps as a "bunch of toadies," lays into the current leader of the free world, and his list of complaints is lengthy. Among them: "His sneering performance this week at his press conference with Gordon Brown in the Locarno Room (which lobby correspondents much prefer visiting for Foreign Office drinks parties) confirmed that he obviously loathes us. And after his surly verbal swipes at journalists, in between such horrendous Bushisms as "white-guy Methodists" (imagine the row if a British politician used a phrase like that), the feeling was mutual."
But most of all, what really bags Blanko is a little thing called alcohol — and the fact that the president doesn't drink any. And that the D.C. media doesn't drink enough. CONTINUED »
Now that the United States is allowing the sale of Absinthe goods, it was only a matter of time before the green fairy juice was transformed from a liquid-only embellishment into a more solid form. Namely, candy.
Enter Absinthe Gummi Bears, available at Tailor on Broome Street, says UrbanDaddy. "You'll mostly taste licorice—it's really the anise in the absinthe—but this gummi is smarter (and boozier) than the av-e-rage bear. It's 85% absinthe, with just a touch of gelatin and sugar added to keep things solid."
Yum. Please, Dylan Lauren, begin stocking these at your Candy Bar.
Does every alcohol company need to commission a study that says men don't want to see the Sex and the City movie? Or rather: Does every alcohol company need to latch on to the Sex hype by promoting some shameless "study" that concludes men would rather be, uh, drinking booze than watching Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha on the big screen?
Earlier today, Moosehead Breweries found 36 percent of men "will be drinking beer while watching the hockey playoffs on the night of the premiere."
Now comes a report from Canadian Club Whisky – "the liquor of choice for masculine, sophisticated and unpretentious men everywhere" – that claims "41 percent of men [said] they would not be caught dead in the theater on May 30th." Bet that percentage would go up if they could bring some Canadian Club inside the theatres, eh buddies?
N.B. Absolut, which benefited so much from Smith Jerrod's fictional "Absolut Hunk" ad used in the show, didn't bother trying to find out whether men didn't want to see the movie.
Surprise! That clever YouTube video featuring a guy perfectly pouring a Coors Light from a can to a glass was actually produced by Coors Light and its agency Avenue A/Razorfish (owned by Microsoft), not brand-devoted fellas with a video camera.
The spot on the left has been viewed over a two hundred thousand times, which means it's reached its viral effect, and now it's kosher for Coors to tell all about the videos, which comes on the heels of Levi's "pogo pants" spot, and a slew of others.
But lest you think this is the end of these pseudo ads, there's a suspicious Stella Artois that's been seen over a half million times. CONTINUED »
The ad at left, for Cabana Cachaca, is running in a few men's magazines, and is causing a little spat of controversy, owing to the fact that the model featured in the spot is not wearing any clothes. [WWD]
The ad at right, for Tom Ford's fragrance, should quiet any notion that we're entering some sort of new debate about nudity in advertising.
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These two ads are new spots from Absolut Vodka, which are paired with a TV spot labeled "Dissection," which they hope pushes the message that the brand's infused flavors, Pear and Mango, are as naturally a part of the flavor as the distilled vodka itself. The ads are part of Absolut's "In An Absolut World" worldwide campaign, which replaced the "Absolut _____."
But if you're a consumer of gay media, the message Absolut is trying to send is a little different. CONTINUED »
This ad from the American Beverage Institute, featuring "Lindsey" Lohan's mug shot, appears in USA Today today. It's a lobbying effort, to be sure, to get you to think twice about mandates for "interlocks," which are essentially breathalyzers installed in your car that would prevent the ignition from starting if you're blitzed. The message: The device would be good for the Lohans of the world, but bad for regular, everyday boozers.
It's sort of like when Big Tobacco tried convincing you that the FDA shouldn't regulate cigarettes because they can't even regulate food and drugs very well. That is, it's crap.
But the more important matter: Could Lindsay Lohan sue over the use of her photograph? And did the L.A. County Sheriff's Department grant licensing rights?
"Made of only the best pure blue agaves in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, this tasty beverage comes in three varieties (Blanco, Resposado and Anejo) for your sipping pleasure." That's one pitch for Frida Kahlo Tequila, a party bevy branded around the famed Mexican painter.
But do nightlife titans really want to be seen ordering unibrows for bottle service?
Well, actually, there are worse options. CONTINUED »
Lloyd Grove wasn't the only gossip causing stares at Fox News' White House Correspondents Dinner. That honor goes to the Boston Globe Mark Shanahan, who, the Boston Herald gleefully points out, was 800 thread count sheets to the wind. CONTINUED »
Have you heard? Journalists are getting old. AND! Losing their jobs. It's not really going to affect most of America, since they're not exactly reading newspapers anyhow, and Digg.com suffices for staying in tune with the news cycle. But their job losses are affecting some folks, namely: bar owners. Journalist watering holes are the ones facing the silent deaths thanks to shrinking news media budgets; no longer do they have a steady stream of reporter patrons walking through their doors, expense accounts or not. It's quite sad, actually. EXCEPT! It's not like The Waverly Inn is going anywhere. After all, that place is owned by the biggest celebrity tabloid editor in all of the world, and boy does he ever drink.
"Since when is it considered unprofessional for a journalist to take a drink?" That's Jack Shafer's response to the Cincinnati Post's official ban on alcohol in the newsroom. Apparently, "As hard drugs are to the hard-rocker and tattoos are to the NBA player, so booze is to the journalist—even if he doesn't drink." That is, to be a creative, functioning journalist, one needs some top shelf around. Hell, a plastic bottle of $6.99 vodka will do. Just ask Shafer's fellow Slate scribe Christopher Hitchens, who'd be out of a career with a policy like that. [Slate]
"Price-cutting and other marketing strategies widely used by the tobacco and alcoholic beverage industries are highly effective in encouraging children and teenagers to smoke and drink," declares today's New York Times.
And while experts advocate decreasing the number of alcohol and cigarette ads geared towards adolescents, they also acknowledge peer pressure, hormones and "that incredibly nicotine high" as other risk factors, concluding that teen drinking will likely prevail so long as "the 'popular' kids keep throwing those raging keggers."
In the June issue of Esquire, a gaggle of intrepid journalist-slash-alcoholics put together a comprehensive list of NYC's hottest bars. The culmination of their collaborative efforts? A wide-reaching plethra of watering holes that we weren't cool enough to have frequented (or even heard of) though our Dad swears they're "top-notch!"
The aforementioned bars stretch from 42nd to Hoyt St. in Brooklyn—which impressed us until we quickly remembered that Esquire writers never venture out of midtown Manhattan—and their list included such underground gems as Minetta Tavern, Flatiron Lounge, San Domenico restaurant, and the Bar at Keen Steakhouse. And we were trying to figure out what all these places had in common (besides being semi-overpriced restaurants) when we finally hit upon it: they're all for stuffy, middle-aged men!
So, in honor of "Where We're Drinking in New York: Esquire Edition," we hereby present "Where We're Drinking in New York: Jossip Edition" instead. Although, for the record, we think most bars are over-hyped, overpriced and overrated. Not because we're snotty and elitist but because we're really, really poor.
Intern Joseph's picks, after the jump!
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Editorial Director
