Exploring Marketing through Human Behavior

A Swedish agency recently released an advertisement campaign that, at first glance, appears to be for whiskey. The video begins with many similarities to any campaign for a masculine alcohol. The colors are dark giving the scene an intimate bar feeling, the narrative is even a description of the whiskey referring to it as “smooth.” The tone of the video then changes as a man takes a drink. This ad is in fact the beginning of an anti-drinking campaign. . The alcohol is no longer the subject of the video, but instead it is the dark and scary affects alcoholism can have on someone and his or her life. It includes statistics about alcoholism in Sweden that increases the credibility of the campaign. It also ads a level of cognitive dissonance, it adds tension between the viewer and what they believed they were getting out of the advertisement. The cognitive dissonance intends to make the viewer think about their actions when they drink. It ends by saying “not so smooth, is it?” touching on the fact that this alcohol is not as smooth as you think.

More information about the video here: http://creativity-online.com/work/i-q-smoothness/25247