There’s a bus shelter near Dow’s Lake that has this ad on it. You can click on the image for a larger version, but here’s what it says:
YOUR DAD HAD A VAN FOR A REASON
DAMN RIGHT YOUR DAD DRANK IT
It’s got a picture of a young guy in jeans with his shirt unbuttoned. In the bottom corner there’s a picture of a bottle of Canadian Club whisky.
I pass this ad every morning on my way to work, and every morning I spend the next five minutes wondering what the hell it means. I don’t get it, but there’s something distinctly creepy about it.
Maybe i just don’t get it because I’m not a guy. But I’ve tried flipping it around and I still wouldn’t get it if it said:
YOUR MOM HAD A VAN FOR A REASON
DAMN RIGHT YOUR MOM DRANK IT
Whadya think? Who’s the target demographic for this ad? What image is CC trying to sell? And why DID your dad have a van anyway?
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In my experience men only seem to have vans for two reasons: 1. Getting it on. 2)Driving their band’s gear around. I’m guessing the advert is referencing reason #1.
I agree with the previous commenter; your dad had a van to get laid in, and in pursuit of that goal, he also drank the whiskey. Therefore, if you drink the whiskey you will get laid. Like your dad.
… still creepy.
I concur….Definetly reason number one… I think they are trying to make a point that since you were born your dad obviously “got some” and since he “got some” he must be cool.. and if he’s cool he drink their whisky
I should buy a copy of Sexual Innuendo for Dummies.
I know where I went wrong though. I was thinking it was referring to the van your dad had while you were a kid, not before you were even born. I couldn’t figure out the connection between whisky and driving the kids to hockey practice.
It still creeps me out though. I never thought guys were really into emulating their fathers’ techniques for getting laid.
There’s another in the same series that says something like “Your dad didn’t pluck anything.” I think this is appealing to a segment of the young male popln who are turning against the metrosexual expectations and instead are sticking with the macho, grizzly man stereotypes of the 70s. Even though the creepy guy in the ad you posted is not exactly a lumberjack, they are insinuating that he gets laid a lot in the back of his van.
I’ve seen that ad too. I agree with Jo. The CC folks are following the school of thought “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker”.
What a terrible ad. I’m scratching my ad too, and am also creeped out by the probable meaning and innuendo.
All true, as far as you’ve gone.
But what this ad also attempts to address is a longstanding perception (frustrating to the distiller) that only old farts at the Legion and such (i.e. ‘Dad’) drink CC anymore.
So what the ads (there’s an entire series) are trying to say is that yeah, only your dad drinks it, but he was cool once, too. Or something. I’m not sure if they’re trying to make Dad feel cool again (as if…) or if they’re trying to convince a younger cohort to belly up to the bar and order CC. Either way, your collective bafflement and creeped-outedness suggests that it misses the mark.
Send the link to this blog posting to the CC people and say ‘wasted your money, guys’
Ummm… my dad had a van to pick up hookers at Hazeldean Mall. Damn right he drank it (and he hung out with old farts at the Legion)!
Forget the sexual angle, in this age of concern about drunk driving, linking booze to a motor vehicle in an ad is creepy.
These ads are plastered on a vacant store front near where I work. There are four different ones in the series. I went to look at them because from across the street, it looked kind of interesting – well, better than an empty storefront. I came back perplexed too.
My first impression was: aren’t print ads for liquor banned in public spaces? Come to think of it, there are a lot more billboards with liquor ads too. Has there been a change in policy that I missed?
http://www.thescotchblog.com/2007/10/your-dad-was-no.html
GREAT LINK to the ad campaign
Coyote – there might be something to that stereotype. Every CC drinker I’ve ever known was a pretty hardcore alcoholic. Maybe CC is working to harness the genetic component of alcoholism, trying to convince the sons of alcoholics that it’s cool to be just like Dad. (I bet 80% of their revenues come from 20% of their customers.)
Mudmama – he’s one of the hardcore CC drinkers I’m referring to, but he didn’t get the van till after I moved out. I wonder if he picked up hookers in the Bug?
RWW – that’s an excellent point.
Deb – Hmmm. I don’t know if they used to be banned.
Mudmama, thanks for the link.
I just found the official campaign website, which – I kid you not – allows you to put a picture of your own dad into the Damn Right Your Dad Drank It posters. (Link updated to go to their main page)
Seems like an effective ad, based on all the attention it’s getting.
I’ve been wondering about that ad too but ended up feeling pretty disgusted by the combination of booze and motor vehicle. Of course, if they’d been explicit about a bed in the back (ie you don’t HAVE to drive drunk), that might have been better. And less confusing!
There is one where they comment on mom not being dad’s first [lay]… no kid wants to know their parents have/had sex! But we have to give them points for getting us talking… and we did all clue in to the product/ brand that they are selling…
Clearly Zoom, you’re not the demographic they’re targetting!
I think it’s aimed at the younger guys, CC has to attract the younger generation somehow if they wish to remain in business. Otherwise, all their customers will be dying of liver disease in the next 15 years.
I also dislike how they associate car and booze in one ad.
I couldn’t access their website because I clicked the continue button before changing my birthdate from today’s date so it figured I was under age. And it would not let me change it. I wonder how many underage people that feature will keep out. And is there porn on the site.
Yeah, I think CC totally missed the mark with their advertising. My partner and I were walking and saw one of the ads and he just stood there saying “wtf is that supposed to mean?” And he’s their target audience. *I* was the one who got it and had to explain it. His opinion: any ad that you have to explain the meaning of is a bad ad. But… on the other hand (as you have all said) it gets you talking.
i think it’s relying on young guys being insecure with being real and baiting them to return to machisimo days, “real man” of duct tape and belly scratching. probably humor, I’m hoping but, yeah, there’s a third ad in the series that my merciful mind had blotted out.
good point about not legal to advertize liquor? is this an illegal guerilla campaign, or was the ban only on tobacco?
I think it was illegal to show people drinking on tv and for a while, they banned all booze ads on tv, like cigarettes. Now booze is back (not cigarettes) but you still don’t see them drinking it (I think – I haven’t been paying attention).
Liquor advertising laws changed some years ago. I remember the first time I saw an ad after the law changed, and I think it was probably for Bailey’s.
My take on these ads is that they are an interesting attempt to say, I think, not only was your dad cool once, and he drank CC, so years later when you’re finding yourself relating to him in ways you did not expect, CC will be there for you.
How about the one about your dad not tweezing – really they’re all about “you soft little faggoty metrosexual, you can wear all the vintage 60’s and 70’s shit you want, but if you don’t embrace the machismo of hard liquor you’ll never be a real man.”
Mud Mama really does have a way with words, doesn’t she? I think that just about says it all for me too.
Mudmama, you crack me up!
no matter what it’s supposed to mean – and i’m leaning toward the van as rolling bedroom with pre-dad getting laid a lot ’cause he drank CC, too – am i the only one who thinks that kid looks WAY too young to be drinking legally??
I hate to disagree with the consensus here but feel it is obvious. Yes dad had a van in the hopes of getting laid but failing like most guys with shaggin wagons he turned to booze to pass the lonely nights.
Toni – part of my problem in deciphering this ad was I wasn’t sure if the guy in the picture was the dad or the son.
Dave, I like your interpretation. Dad was drowning his sorrows cause he couldn’t get laid. Not even with his really cool bumper sticker that said “Gas, grass or ass – nobody rides for free.”