BLOG # 7 Advertising Consumer Culture Desires

One of the mock ads that stood out to me most on the Adbusters website is the "Absolut Hangover" spoof. The use of a noose designed in the shape of a vodka bottle, along with the wordplay on "hangover", was disarming to say the least. The message was simple - alcohol kills- but immediately effective because of the careful consideration to design.

In the reading "Advertisement, Consumer Culture, and Desire", we learn that advertisements are a promise of an abstract future, or the way things "should be" if whatever product, service, or event is being sold is incorporated into our lives. By mocking an advertisement for hard liquor, the "Absolut Hangover" highlights the way excess alcohol intake is a type of suicide. It takes something that is perceived to be glamorous and fun and puts a morbid spin on it to highlight the dangers of overindulgence. The mock ad is a promise of a future, but this promise serves as a warning. The key difference between this and the original is that this is a future nobody wants.