Whiskey has been the background of men's culture and ideals in America since the late
eighteenth century. Through my analysis of these advertisements I have found that whiskey
has interpellated men to drink it a certain way to portray a certain ideal. In the
American south, men have been associated with the myth that you are judged on how manly by
how you drink your whiskey. The more bite the whiskey has the tougher you are. This segued
into how men are perceived through advertising. Men are be positioned as subjects of
power, whether it is with a woman, a crowd, or wealth. With the way men are portrayed one
can't help but to view these men and fetishize that lifestyle into a myth. A myth is
dangerous because, "it is perceived as something 'natural', as a factual system when it is
in reality, a cultural system. When we come upon a 'natural' reality there is nothing to
discuss or question, since it is the 'norm', the 'pattern' (Salvador 80)". When a myth
becomes a factual system or norm that is when it becomes the generalization, such as
whiskey is masculine and whiskey will give you a life of class. These generalizations are
things that have been helping to produce one's self. With the shaping and molding of a
persons self one has to be careful that this myth is not overtaking reality.
Salvador, Pau. "The Myth Of The Natural In Advertising." Catalan Journal Of
Communication & Cultural Studies 3.1 (2011): 79-93. Communication & Mass
Media Complete. Web. 7 May 2013
