History Served Straight







Whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. There are many different whiskeys that are made from different grains including, barley, malted barley, rye, wheat and cork. Whiskey tends to get its brown color from the aging process in wooden casks and due to the aging process a general rule of thumb is the older the whiskey the better. "Distilled spirits (liquor) consumption in the United States has been an area of social concern as well as governmental regulation since the first settlers brought their alcohol with them to the colonies" (Liquor Advertising 819). Whiskey is one of our biggest exports as a country and has continued to rise in popularity. "Thanks to favorable trading conditions, aggressive marketing and a growing appetite among foreigners for U.S. liquor. Spirits exports grew 16.5% last year, reaching a record $1.34 billion -- outpacing wine's $1.14 billion and dwarfing beer's $334 million, according to new data from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a liquor trade group. Whiskey, including bourbon, accounts for 69% of spirits exports." (Bourbon Boom). There are some theories that alcohol has had such a huge impact on the economy of the world that without alcohol, modern civilization would not have flourished (see "How Beer Saved the World", Discovery Channel). With the growth of spirits has also come the competition of different brands and alcohols.

The world of advertising has made an interesting shift from how products accentuate their attributes (taste and flavor) to what products can do to improve your life. Advertising for products that have been around for a period of time has not only created campaigns, but also a culture associated with their product. The culture that is surrounded by advertisements has been made to interpellate the viewer into becoming the ideal person that the producers want you to be. When a person becomes the "ideal" consumer it looks something like a fan. Davisson and Booth define some of the common images of a fan are, "These common images of fans, people who have developed a relationship with an artifact of popular culture, illustrate what can be termed a fanatic, or one who expresses a fanatical devotion to that relationship or to an artifact (33)." The culture that has been and is created by the media is modeled after hegemonic culture. Margaret Duffy describes in Gender and Utopia in Advertising how "[...] advertising is a bellwether of cultural trends, a mirror of social values, and a powerful, usually malevolent forces that shapes those values" (Manca, 5). Today images that mirror our culture have us mimicking those images back creating an endless cycle. We determine what goes in to the media just like they tell us what makes society's hegemonic culture. Whiskey has stuck to similar core values throughout its existence. It is smooth, not for the faint of heart, and in my experience through the consumption of this beverage it can singlehandedly improve your image.



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References

Davisson, Amber, and Paul Booth. "Reconceptualizing Communication And Agency In Fan Activity: A Proposal For A Project Interactivity Model For Fan Studies." Texas Speech Communication Journal 32.1 (2007): 33-43. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 7 May 2013

How Beer Saved the World. By Martyn Ives. Perf. Henry Strozier. 2011. Discovery Channel.

Manca, Luigi and Alessandra. "Gender and Utopia in Advertising". Lisle: Procopian Press, 1994.

Schultz, E. J. "Bourbon Boom Overseas Fuels Record Spirits Sales." Advertising Age 83.6 (2012): 2-20. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 7 May 2013

Wilcox, Gary B., Kim Kyunkok Kacy, and Heather M. Schulz. "Liquor Advertising And Consumption In The United States: 1971-2008." International Journal of Advertising 31.4 (2012): 819-834. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 7 May 2013