Alcohol is often marketed with the thinly veiled message that alcohol is a social lubricant and will likely get you laid. In this case though they are not beating around the bush with their tagline “the ultimate panty remover”
The Complete Campaign Landing Page (new window)
What the Hell is Absinthe Anyway
Absinthe is a very strong (60% to 70% by vol) green alcoholic drink that has slipped in and out of fashion and in and out of favor with the courts for a couple of hundred years. It is a distillation of the wormwood plant, green in color, with rumored hallucinogenic properties, give it a rather unique “position” in the alcoholic spirit world that is reflected in the art world. Some movie sightings of la Fée Verte (The Green Fairy”) such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Interview with a Vampire, From Hell, Van Helsing, and HBO’s Carnivàle do hint at this drink’s reputation.
It’s all about context
Absinth.bz “seems” to have taken the position that absinthe could be the new “Roofy” with this recent campaign. Now I say they “seem” to have taken the position, but this may be one of those unfortunate marketing choices, that seemed like a good idea in the pitch meeting, but in the cold hard light of day, sounds far worse than intended. I have heard the term “panty remover” before in reference to a particularly swish car, and in that context it didn’t strike me as wildly inappropriate. I could even see “the ultimate panty remover” as a tag line in an ad campaign for a particularly ostentatious car and I don’t think I would give it much of a second thought. But in the context of a “barely legal*” alcoholic beverage, with a reputation as a hallucinogen, it does give you pause.
This landing page that was served up when I clicked through from a site that proported to be “the mens portal” and the “online equivalent to maxim” so this is a pretty specifically targeted ad. I imagine this is an ad that the company only wants a select few people to see, if you go to the front page of the site, it actually could pass muster as work safe, with the sauciest reference being to one of their product packages “Ab-SIN-ity”. Which begs the question, how can you possibly expect to hide anything this salacious on the internet?
The one aspect of this campaign that helps position this more as erotica as opposed to “endorsing date rape” is the quote here from Marilyn Mansons wife.
Aside: I’m not entirely sure what inhibitions this attractive young lady has to lose, but clearly she lost them.
I’m actually very much on the fence as to whether this is a brilliant ad, or a huge marketing error? It could potentially destroy the company, or propel it to stardom? Who knows, but I’m fascinated as to what happens next.
Afterthought: In some ways this reminds me of that Dudley Moore film “Crazy People” where he is an ad man so “crazy” he tells the truth, like this bit of copy:
Reference:
One of the more interesting wikipedia article details Absinthe’s long history
A friend pointed me to another related article on Absinthe in Wired
It’s amazing that people complain about how there’s no truth in advertising, yet when some companies finally take it up, people complain about the truth.
Newsflash: ALL alcohol can be considered a panty remover. It makes people do stupid, funny, idiotic things. Absinthe’s high alcohol content just helps you to get to that point quicker.
Though I agree with you on the taste. Don’t ask me how I know either.
The “reputation as a hallucinogen” is true for old absinthe’s as they had a high concentration of THC (the same chemical found in Marijuana) and thujone, a hallucinogen. Absinthe’s sold today in America are made from a southern wormwood. This has much lower levels and gives you mild sexual arousal at best, no worse than several shots of tequila. True Absinthe with thujone is illegal in the US and the absinthe’s being sold here have none in it, this is why most of them are labled as “Absinth” without the e.
Calling it the new roofie without getting all the facts is irresponsible, though you gave a fairly balanced look at it, your slant was definitely visible.
One thing I’m certain about — the ad is by no means brilliant. Any monkey could have thought of equating sex with liquor.
Sadly, I’m sure it will be a very effective campaign if it is large enough to get a reasonable amount of attention.
“The “reputation as a hallucinogen†is true for old absinthe’s as they had a high concentration of THC (the same chemical found in Marijuana) and thujone, a hallucinogen.”
Sorry Rick, but that’s nothing but bullsh*t and misconception. There is/was no THC at all in any vintage absinthe. (And the thujone levels weren’t higher than 5-7 mg/l, though false rumours and myth often talk about levels of 100-250 mg/l. Several chemical analysis taken on pre-ban absinthes has proven that.)
Thujone being a “hallucinogen” is wrong as well; it’s a poison in its pure state that will affect your nervous system and give you severe convulsions, and finally lead to death if ingested in relatively small amounts. But the thujone levels in absinthe will not affect you at all, especially since ethanol itself is protecting your body from thujone poisoning! You will die from alcohol poisoning thousands of times before feeling the least ill from the thujone… Recent medical studies has proven this too.
Where was this stuff when I was young and single and needed it? Saw this add bought some me and the wife had a crazy time.
Crass marketing which is perpetuating the myths of absinthe. It is not hallucinogenic, it is not the ultimate aphrodisiac.
Most of the Czech drinks, which pretend to be absinthe, taste foul, and have to be burnt to be half-bearable. They have hardly anything in common with real absinthe from its birthplace in Switzerland.
Real absinthe is becoming more and more popular around the world and is now legal in every non-Muslim country in the world except the USA. Check my blog http://realabsinthe.blogspot.com/ for more info.
Alan writes: “It is not hallucinogenic, it is not the ultimate aphrodisiac”
That is your opinion and not one shared by modern sceience. See:
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20000401/fob4.asp
Alan writes: “Most of the Czech drinks, which pretend to be absinthe, taste foul, and have to be burnt to be half-bearable. They have hardly anything in common with real absinthe from its birthplace in Switzerland”
An opinion. Of course, you work for a newby Swiss distiller and would be interested in rubbishing the high thujone Czech absinthes, wouldn’y you?
Writes: “Real absinthe is becoming more and more popular around the world and is now legal in every non-Muslim country in the world except the USA”
The absinthe distillers are interested in overturning the USA ban. The reason it is banned is purely because of the THUJONE. All of a sudden THUJONE doesn’t matter (doesn’t work)….how very convenient. The truth is otherwise.
Alan invites: “Check my blog http://realabsinthe.blogspot.com/ for more info”
Very foul mouthed and ill tempered community, Alan. A lot of puerile name calling and borderline slander / racially motivated taunts.
BTW: You are not the same Alan who once said the following to Bloomberg:
BBH Spirits Ltd., the No. 1 seller of absinthe in the U.K., the biggest market for absinthe, defended the popularity of its Hill’s Absinth brand and other Czech-style absinthes as filling a need for “what consumers wanted.”
The French and Swiss are “a little bit annoyed they left the market open,” said Alan Moss, sales director for BBH.
Wormwood
“French and Swiss absinthes are very different than Czech and other eastern European absinthes,” Moss said. “The main criteria of what makes absinthe is the presence of wormwood and that’s in Hill’s.” Hill’s and many Czech absinthes don’t contain anise, though, a key herb in France’s green absinthes and the clear Swiss brew.”
You have changed your tune. Anyone would think that you worked for a rival distiller and wanted to trash the Czech brand. Surely not!
I’m afraid the piece Anthony quotes is NOT the up-to-date view. Read the Wikipedia articles on absinthe and thujone. Old absinthe did not have the thujone levels quoted by this article, and neither do modern absinthes, or products that claim to be absinth.
Thanks for bringing up my background. it’s highly relevant in that having worked a little on Czech products, I have now definitely seen the light. Absinthe made without all 3 historic key ingredients (wormwood, anise and fennel) is not real absinthe.
I don’t want to sound racist, so, to be fair, some other countries have marketed poor quality drinks pretending to be absinthe, and, again to be fair, it’s quite possible that this crass marketing referred to in the original story was created by non-Czechs.
Now if someone from the Czech Republic could create a good quality absinthe without marketing it by hyping its ingredients or its date rape qualities, I would be delighted. It’d be good for the image of the Czech Republic and good for the future of absinthe.
It pains the historians that such an elegant drink is being perverted the way it is. Although when it comes to money marketers have no limits.
The phrase panty remover has been used in marketing with numerous brands of alcohol over the years.
Old rehashed concept.