Canadian Club Whiskey

The ad I have selected is from a Rolling Stone magazine, and it advertises Canadian Club Whisky. The ad is made out to look very authentic and retro with its grainy pictures and the sort of plain colored text that accompanies it. The photos show fathers in a rock and roll lifestyle. There is an old photo that takes up most of the space on the ad, and it shows a band with the father performing on stage in a suit. Underneath the picture is the text that speaks directly to the reader. To summarize, it says, “Your dad drank Canadian Club Whisky”. Underneath these texts are more old photos of bands and fathers. I think this ad is trying to sell its product by saying that you should follow your dad’s lifestyle, and you can do that by drinking his choice of drink; Canadian Club Whiskey.

The ad is using the technique of speaking to “you” directly. So these pictures of dad’s in a band are supposed to be your father. The pictures and text show the type of lifestyle that your dad had. He was in a rock and roll band, and he “had groupies”. He played solos, and when he drank, he drank Canadian Club on the rocks. The lower left picture shows a dad passed out on a girls lap. That picture suggests drinking and sex, two prominent lifestyles of a rock and roll lifestyle. The picture to the right of that shows a band dressed in hippie clothing with long hair. This gives a whole other feel to that rock and roll lifestyle we all know compared to the big picture at the top. All of these pictures are trying to portray how your dad lived in his generation, and to accompany the lifestyle; his choice of drink was always Canadian Club.
The text’s and fonts in this ad say a lot about the point they are trying to get across. I think they are going for that rugged, traditional manly lifestyle. By saying “He drank cocktails. But not in martini glasses,” they are saying your dad was not a wimp. They say “Damn right your dad drank it” to tell it like there is no doubt about it your father was a hard whiskey drinker. Your father was very popular and sophisticated. “People paid to see him”. The choice to put the text “Canadian Club” in cursive gives the product a classical look to it and suggests that high-class people drink this drink.
The desire being created through this ad is the want to be like your father was. They first do this visually through identifying the type of lifestyle your father had as I explained earlier. This also has an aural sense to it because the period your father lived in while being a rock star relates to this choice of drink giving it traditional value. They use this father son connection to try and evoke a certain stylistic expression that accompanies people who drink this product. If you drink this product, you will, in a sense, live like your father did. You may not become a rock star, but the closest way to follow your father’s lifestyle is by drinking Canadian Club Whiskey.

Another ad by Canadian Club Whiskey uses essentially the same techniques as the first ad for selling its product. However, this ad gives the father a more rugged manly look. The old grainy picture at the top shows the father playing a game of billiards. “He didn’t wheel his luggage, drive an automatic, or drink anything rimmed with sugar.” This text is saying that the father never takes the easy road in life, and to accompany this rugged sophisticated lifestyle of his, he drinks his Canadian Club Whiskey. Both of these ads are using the same techniques to sell their product, but just in slightly different contexts. They are both trying to get you to follow your dad’s lifestyle by drinking this whiskey, but they are just changing the lifestyle that your father has. In one ad, the father is a rock star, in the other he is a rugged, simple, yet sophisticated man.

When a boy grows up, his dad is a big role model to him. He will watch him fix something in the garage with power tools and do all things that give him man-like qualities. All of these things, the boy hopes to do on his own one day. The advertising company knows this, and they use this to their advantage by creating this father-son connection that we all have through their product. They speak directly to the viewer, making it feel like they are important, and that the text has specific relation to just them. You may not be like your father was in so many ways, but one way to be like him is by drinking this whiskey, and that is the main idea and desire that drives this ad.

Kyle Probst
Laura Bennet