Recently Captain Morgan—a brand of rum sold in the United States—has started up a new ad campaign called the Ultimate Pose-off. Using this successful ad campaign, Captain Morgan hopes to target men— preferably ones who are single and in that “bachelor” stage of life—by creating a contest where men pose in the same way as Captain Morgan.
As per a typical alcohol ad, it's pretty obvious that the ad is focused on the male audience with obligatory pretty girls and an appeal to physical fitness. Despite the fact that the pose of Captain Morgan is standing straight up with one leg up, the commercials treat this pose as something requires a great deal of training, blood, sweat, and tears. Of course, since there is very little fitness actually required for this, it becomes almost a parody for physical fitness and something almost anyone can do. Instead of a normal passive ad, it also is a contest, where people can send themselves doing the Captain Morgan pose, vote on other people's poses, and someone somewhere will win something. And what sums up alcohol better than people doing harmless acts that still compromise dignity?
While this is a rather ineffective ad in the Provo, Utah area, I think it's well known in the circles that actually drink alcohol. I have heard references to this ad in casual conversation, and any ad that can be referred to in casual conversation where all the listeners know the ad is pretty effective.
The most fascinating thing about this ad is that it's an effective argument even though the ad isn't even about consuming liquor, it's about posing as a figure on the bottle. The effects of association, I suppose. Of course, many alcohol ads have nothing to do with how it tastes, which could be considered odd since most food-related products base their ads around taste. However, alcohol isn't about taste, it's about the 'culture' around what one drinks.
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