“The transference of culture in time can, in large measure, be described as the conservation of sign systems serving as a control on behavior.”

-Doris Bradbury

As a college student, living in an alcohol saturated environment is relatively inevitable. Without generalizing the personal choices of individuals, it is safe to assume that the years between youth and adulthood, during which time the legal age of consumption is reached, are the years in which alcohol is most prevalent.

Therefore, although alcohol needs little advertisement, individual brands are in a constant battle of recognition among the elite drinkers.

 In my print ad research, I stumbled upon a string of Evan Williams Bourbon Whiskey ads, all featuring two side-by-side pictures, one of a conservative, awkward girl, the other of a curvy, sexual woman

Although there were a plethora of examples to choose from, I decided to focus my analysis on this specific one:

            On the left side, we see a girl who would most likely be described as “cute.” In what seems to be a black and white school photograph, she is wearing a dark sweater layered over a white turtleneck, so that only a sliver of her neck is showing. Her smile, almost hesitant, features slightly gapped front teeth, and her rounded glasses graze her cheekbones. Her hair is stick-straight and parted close to the middle, framing her slightly bushy eyebrows. The photo captures the top of her head to the middle of her well-covered chest, and the caption says, “Before Aging.”

On the right side of the picture, under the caption, “After Aging,” we see the colorful image of a woman framed from the crown of her head to her midriff. Her hands rest on her hips, with her thumb brushing the waistline of her skirt. Her entire stomach and chest are bare; a white top with a plunging neckline is tied up just underneath her breasts. She wears a simple silver necklace around her neck, and her dark hair is wavy and tousled, although still stylish. Her lips are pursed in a cheekbone-defining manner, and her perfectly plucked eyebrows are arched as she stares down the camera.

Between her bellybutton and waistline, there is another caption written in smaller letters: “The longer you wait, the better it gets.”

At the bottom of the page, between the two pictures, is a bottle of Evan Williams, with the stamp that says, “Aged 7 Years.” In the bottom right corner, another caption reads, “Evan Williams. Aged longer to taste smoother.”

After absorbing the basic images of this advertisement, I put on my trench coat and picked up my magnifying glass and began investigating the underlying meanings expressed through the symbols in ad. This text-centered analysis, called semiotics, is a way in which we interpret signs in media in order to understand our socially constructed reality. As we flip through magazines, zone out during commercials, and drive past billboards, we are often oblivious to the impact that these signs have upon our interpretation of our world. However a deeper analysis of the ingredients poured into a media text offers eye-opening insight into how affected we are by even the smallest details.

That is to say, we are often mistaking obliviousness for absorption. The details are so engrained in our society; we don’t even realize the associations we are making until they are spelled out. This is where semiotics comes in to play.

The basic idea of semiotics boils down to the relationship between a signifier, the image or word, and the signified, the concept. Media texts are brimming with signs and codes that are common in society, although they may be interpreted in a variety of ways. Some signs are symbolic and offer an ambiguous connection to the meaning, while other signs express exactly what it is that they stand for (iconic). Since meanings can vary in texts, based upon the context and the person, it stands to reason that advertisements attempt to reach a wide variety of understanding, especially for a product such as alcohol.

Understanding signs can be separated into two separate categories: syntagmatic and paradigmatic. Syntagmatic looks at the sequence of signs to form a whole, which paradigmatic analyzes the deeper layers of the sets of signs in terms of their common meanings.

For a more in-depth look at semiotics, click here or here.

            Upon researching semiotics in preparation for analyzing my Evan Williams advertisement, I used “The Maiden With the Snake,” a semiotic analysis of a perfume ad, as a source of inspiration. The intricate way in which every detail of the picture was picked apart and explained helped me focus my mind upon the intricacies in my analysis. For example:

“The warm colors. The ad shows a yellow orchid in the woman’s hair and full red lips and fingernails. Red is commonly used to suggest passion.”

As I began picking apart the details of my advertisement, I chose to use this method in which to clearly separate and understand each sign, breaking each aspect down into a table comparing the two sides of the photograph in both syntagmatic and paradigmatic fashions.

“Before Aging” “After Aging”
Color Black and white image gives the feel of an old-time photo. The image is pixilated and slightly grainy, giving the impression of a photo that is reminiscent of an older time. The black and white also reminds the viewer of black and white television, which is another implication towards an older time period. The image is in color, which shows us that it is a photo from a more current time period, in addition to the fact that the quality of the image is much clearer. The teal background matches the background of the bottle on the bottom, implying that they are much more aligned that the “out of touch” black and white image.
Clothing Conservative and multi-layered. If you were to take off the top sweater, there would be a second sweater, and then a turtleneck after that. The clothing acts as a protective padding between her and the world around her. The high cut of the turtleneck gives off implications that she is a “prude” and very far from promiscuous. The promiscuous top she is wearing is a stark juxtaposition to the turtleneck. Not only does the shirt reveal most of her well-toned body, but V-neck and shirt ties form the shape of an “X,” implying explicitness or “X-rated” activities are to happen with this woman. Her bottoms are skin-colored, allowing the eye to skim over it and the mind to believe that she is wearing nothing.
Eyes Her eyes are hidden by glasses, which have been associated in pop culture with nerdiness. Although it is becoming an extinct insult, we all know what it means to be called a “four-eyes,” and we know that glasses are not associated with sex appeal of any kind. In addition to this, her eyebrows are slightly unruly, and she doesn’t seem to be wearing much makeup. Her gaze, which can be described as nothing other than seductive, beckons the viewer into the scene with her. Her gaze is dark and mysterious, and although she doesn’t seem to have on a ton of eye makeup, her eyes still stand out against the neutral background of her face. Also, in stunning contrast to the black and white photo, her eyebrows are perfectly plucked, and consequently arched in a questioning, enigmatic gaze.
Smile You can almost hear the photograph counting, “1, 2, 3, Smile!” as you look at her smile. It is calm, controlled, and relatively emotionless in terms of reading any more into her thoughts. She seems to be smiling sweetly for the camera, without much emotion behind the upturn of her lips. The corners of her lips turn down, reflecting innocence, and the slight gap between her teeth screams that she is a young girl. The pursed lips give any man viewing this woman the impression that she is unattainable. Although her lips aren’t plump or parted (images of sexuality), the tight corners and slight protrusion, feeds into the aura of mysteriousness that she is emulating.
Body We see virtually nothing of her body. Although she is very covered up based upon what we can see, the camera also doesn’t allow our minds to even run free, since it cuts her off at mid-chest. In comparison, this leaves almost nothing to the imagination. Her cleavage, which prompts images of sexuality and is consequently a turn-on to men, is the focal point of the image. Her bare midriff, emphasizing her curvaceous, slender waist, is cropped off by skin colored bottoms, leaving little to any active imagination. This body screams “woman,” and not only that, but it screams, “woman who knows how to work her body.”
Hair Her hair is straight, dark, and relatively plain. We don’t see much of it, but we see enough to know that it doesn’t have much of an impact on her overall image. Her hair is tousled and sexual, giving the impression that she just finished rolling around in the bedroom. The waviness highlights sexuality and the darkness framing her face illuminates that ideal.

All of these signs lead to one final point by Evan Williams. While their advertisement seems to circulate around the juxtaposition between these two women, it also highlights a larger picture. Through their use of signs, the woman on the right is more sexual, more beautiful, and more appealing to males, the gender more likely to be associated with bourbon whiskey. The coded message in this advertisement is this: drink this bourbon whiskey, and end up with a woman like this, it will be worth the wait. Although this may be a highly unrealistic comparison, as a print ad it is a genius construction of the correlation between sex and alcohol.

It comes down to this (am I talking about the woman or the whiskey?): don’t you want a taste too?