Vodka by Patricia Herlihy

Author:Patricia Herlihy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reaktion Books

Ketel One Vodka. Launched in the Netherlands in the 17 th century, this brand is named after the copper pot stills originally used in distillation. Now owned by Diageo, the company is famous for its ads proclaiming, ‘Gentlemen, This is Vodka.’

Distillers are indeed attempting to seduce women into drinking ‘feminine’ vodka, such as Damskaya, manufactured by Deyros, a Russian company. A lavender feminine-shaped bottle draped in a billowing skirt, suggestive of Marilyn Monroe, bears the inscription in Russian, ‘between us women’. Damskaya is supposed to appeal to working women who can afford $12 a bottle of 40 per cent alcohol to be had in five flavours including lime, vanilla and almond. Will this be the drink of choice at career women’s hen parties? Clearly the manufacturer hopes so. Some users of Smirnoff Vodka in Spain have formed a chat room in which they dress up their avatars, decorate their rooms and chat about their interests, an activity that suggests the participation of young female drinkers.

On the other hand, if you are a young and trendy single male, your choice might well be Svedka, whose advertising persona is a robot with prominent breasts, hips and thong-clad rear. The Svedka robot, or cyborg – half robot, half woman – is sometimes described as having ‘a mechanical dominatrix look’. To lure those who consider themselves to be ahead of the pack, the ads proclaim ‘Voted No. 1 in 2033’. To emphasize the brand as one for young clubbers, the bottle has been redesigned to resemble a tapered body, with the brand name Svedka standing out against a vibrant, coloured background. Even more explicitly sexual is the packaging of Sexy Tina Milky Vodka, consisting of vodka and Irish cream liquor in a container shaped like a breast. The makers hope to appeal to bachelors and women who wish to purchase provocative gifts for their male friends. Ketel One has also put out an ad designed to make men drinking their vodka feel macho. Part of it runs, ‘There was a time when men were men. It was last night. Inspired by 300 years of tradition, Ketel One. Gentlemen, this is vodka.’

To reach the African-American market, various brands sponsor music festivals featuring jazz, hip-hop or other modern music. One example comes from the British firm Diageo, which sponsored a Fourth of July holiday weekend music festival featuring DJ Biz Markie and Salt-N-Pepa, explaining that the black community is important to sales. For lovers of rock music, there is the 2009 limited edition of Absolut’s Rock bottle wrapped in a case of leather and studs, which ‘pays tribute to the vibrant, bold and irreverent world of rock’.

While in the US African Americans make up a minority of the population, Hispanics, according to the United States Census Bureau, constituted 38 per cent of the under-eighteen population in 2000 and are increasing four times faster than the white population, thus providing a critical mass of drinkers of legal age. To target the Hispanic community, or ‘cluster group’, Diageo,

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