This ad for Baileys Irish Cream Liquor was featured in the March 2013 issue of People magazine.The colors featured in the ad are muted, grey tones, with a hint of sepia. These colors are all monotone besides the quotes in the middle of the page. In the ad, there is a woman in her mid twenties to thirties dressed in a sequence dress. The woman has flawless, glowing skin, blonde hair, and intense dark blue eyes. She is leaning her body on a ledge, on a high rooftop in a city. There is a small glass of liquid, assumed to be Baileys, lightly gripped in her hands. Her hands with the glass are hanging over the edge of the building, making her demeanor seem relaxed and content. The women is looking directly at what is thought to be the audience, with a sly smile, intending that she is enjoying the drink, and the city.
In the center of the advertisement, right under the woman, is the saying, “CHEERS TO THE WOMEN OF THE RED CARPET,"in big, white, block letters. Underneath the text, is the Baileys' logo and their moto, “CREAM WITH SPIRIT." In the bottom right corner, there is the Baileys Original Irish Cream liqueur bottle with a glass with ice and the drink. Then, on the bottom left corner, there is the Facebook symbol with “BaileysUS” and the warning “Please Drink Responsibly."
The target audience is young, white women who aspire to be beautiful, rich, and famous. But how does Baileys achieve this? Through persuasive techniques.
The main persuasion techniques used in this ad are association, beautiful people, charisma, cause versus correlation, and timing. Association is used by linking drinking Baileys Liqueur to being famous. The woman in the ad seems to look like someone famous by the way the shes dressed, and her confident demeanour. She also is in the city, which is a popular destination for people who wish to become famous. All of these reasons prove to be wrong because dressing well, and living in the city won’t make someone famous. Also, Baileys is known to be a higher class liqueur, so wealthy and higher class people are normally associated with drinking this product. This is saying that all social classes aren’t allowed to drink Bailey’s, such as middle class- to low class people. Obviously this isn’t true. Another technique used was beautiful people. The woman is obviously beautiful, and has confidence radiating off of her. This technique subtly implies if you drink this liquor,you will become beautiful, and confident. But the idea of associating beautiful people with this particular drink is wrong in many ways. No one is going to become beautiful by consuming this drink. But they can actually become the opposite. Alcohol can bring out the worst in a person, along with showing ugly sides. It clouds judgement, and causes unwanted situations. This connects with the technique of charisma because if someone was to consume Baileys, they could appear to be strong, confident, and bold. But if too much alcohol is consumed, it can make the person be the total opposite. This can make a bad impression on people, and someone might not see the person for who they really are.
The next technique used is cause vs correlation. This ad is suggesting if someone drinks Baileys, then they could be on the red carpet. And the logo talks about women on the red carpet. So it is assuming that famous women who are on the red carpet drink Baileys. But anyone can choose any alcohol to drink on the red carpet, not just Baileys. It insulting other alcohol companies saying that their product isn't good enough for the red carpet.
Finally, timing is used as a way to persuade people to drink Baileys. This ad was in the March 11th, 2013 issue of People magazine, which was only two weeks after the Academy Awards. The Academy Awards is associated with the red carpet and famous people. This would cause people to connect the Academy Awards with the famous people who were on it, and Baileys. This could persuade people to drink Baileys.
Another fact about the ad that makes it bad, is that the woman who is portrayed is supposed to be someone famous, who has been on the red carpet. But, unfortunately, she is unrecognizable. She looks similar to the actress Olivia Wilde, but her identity is not specified anywhere on the ad. This made it difficult to connect the women to the quote, because it is not stated if the woman is someone famous or not. It is just assumed that she is. This makes the viewers of the ad confused as to why this woman was used in an ad about famous women.
This ad portrays values, such as acknowledgement, and beauty. These values are shown by the the motto, the woman's looks, and her demeanor. For the motto, it refers to the women of the red carpet. When women are on the red carpet, they are acknowledged. Everyone knows who they are, and what they’ve done. This acknowledgement shows they are valuable, and to keep doing a good job. Now with the value having beauty, it isn’t just about the outside looks. People do strive to look beautiful, and think that it’s the answer to everything. But someone can’t just be beautiful on the outside, they should strive to be internally beautiful also. The woman in the ad is beautiful, but not just because she is drinking Bailey’s. Alcohol doesn’t have the capacity of showing true beauty of a person, it can only alter who a person is.
Unfortunately, there is important information that is left out of the ad. For starters, it doesn’t say how much Baileys costs, which would be something people would like to know before buying the product, especially if the buyer is looking for an affordable alcohol.It also leaves out the facts about the alcohol, such as how many ounces are in a bottle, its proof ,and how much is a responseable serving. These facts are important because consumers want to know how good or how dangerous this alcohol may be. Also, it leaves out where it may be purchased, this could be a problem if it is only sold in certain places.
In this ad, there are stereotypes that are reinforced. A huge stereotype shown is that to have a good time, you have to drink alcohol. Not only is this offensive, but it also isn’t true. There are many different ways someone can have fun that doesn’t involve alcohol. It also shows the stereotype of beautiful people. It shows only a beautiful woman on the cover, it doesn’t show the average person. This could be considered an insult. It could cause peoples self-esteem to go down. The ad is also associating wealth and fame with Baileys. But famous people aren’t the only ones who drink Bailey-anyone can. Ads like this one sway away from the truth about who can drink Baileys Irish Cream Liquor and can be insulting to almost anyone who sees it.