Marketing > Magazine Ad Analysis: FRIS

The magazine ad I picked for my discussion is an ad for a vodka named FRIS. Well, I have to say that I don’t anymore get offended by advertising of alcoholic beverages, but I know that some people do. Even though this ad is not offending me, I can clearly see the ethical issues that can be brought up in this context.

The first problem with this ad is that it appeared in a magazine that targets mostly a young female audience. I think the magazine was Glamour, and I imagine that mostly teenage girls or young women in their early twenties are its readers. So it may seem that this ad encourages them to consume alcohol.

Another problem is that this ad tries to appeal to and manipulate somewhat our unconscious motives. Yes, I know it sounds like something Mr. Papaille would say, but it is true. The copy says: “It’s got the competition green with envy” If this vodka is targeted to a young female audience, we can easily see what aspect of our lives the ad tries to appeal to. We all try to compete with one another; this is what living in today’s success-oriented world requires from us.

The third thing, - and maybe I just imagine it as being a problem- but in the bottom left corner of the page there is a gold medal sign, indicating that this is the winner of some alcohol related award. I mean come on. Let’s not associate drinking with sports. Ads shouldn’t even imply any kind of connection between sports and alcohol, they are two completely different things. Also, how nice it is from them to help us pronounce the word FRIS. All we have to do is “just say FRIS” (freeze).

There is one short sentence on the bottom of the page that says “Drink responsively”. I don’t know if they required writing this in the ad, or it’s them fulfilling a little responsibility.

I don’t think this ad should be or could be changed to appear more responsible, since no matter how they present the drink or phrase the copy, it’s still an ad for an alcoholic beverage in a magazine with a largely young female readership. So I’d have to say that this ad fails to be socially responsible. However I don’t think that this ad would offend anyone particularly, only the nature of the product can be questionable. This is not a terribly bad ad in terms of ethical issues. Alcohols has always been a controversial product, but let’s face it, people buy them and drink them on a regular basis. The major issue with this ad might be that it appears in a medium with an underage audience.

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