It seems like everywhere you turn these days there is some beer or hard alcohol advertisement showing up in magazines or on television carrying promises of success and eternal happiness if you use their product. While flipping through several magazines I came upon a series of ads for Bacardi Rum. In the ads a bunch of happy go lucky twenty somethings are shown partying enjoying various drinks in a club environment. In each ad there is a catchy little slogan tailored especially for the situation running across the bottom of the page such as: "Cubicles by day. Bacardi by night," "Trading floor by day. Bacardi by night.," and "Buttoned up by day. Bacardi by night." While many might dismiss these ads as cute and hip there is much more influence resting behind the words and pictures that cover the page.
             By deconstructing, or looking at all the pieces that make up the ad, the messages and marketing techniques that are used in selling the product come to the surface. This technique is is modeled after the work of Susan Douglas whose essay "Narcissism and Liberation" tore apart and reveled the selling strategies of the cosmetics industry. Here, the cultural myth that "drinking is cool" is played upon. In this case the most obvious
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             tactic used it the cultural expectations of the generation X business people and how they are supposed to lead two very different lifestyles. During the day at work they are expected to be professional and task orientated but when the clock strikes five they are supposed to rip off their clothes and rush to a bar where they can be up all night getting drunk. How in the world would people be able to hold down steady jobs if they are up all night drinking? Doesn't anyone get hung over or sick? Apparently not because it is assumed that these hipsters will be perfectly fine with putting back on the business suit the next morning and getting back to the ...