Alcohol advertisement differences

The other night I was watching t.v. when a commercial for a Chilean wine came on the air. This got me thinking about the differences between alcohol advertising between the United States and here. In the U.S., nearly every channel, every day, have commercials for beer, liquor and other ways to inebriate oneself. These commercials are normal and it is completely fine to have a commercial representing young adults drinking to the hilt. However, here in Chile, I have noticed that advertisements are geared toward the pleasure and quality of drinks here. Only the finer, well known wineries seem to advertise as well as some of the imported beers such as Stella Artois and Corona. And while there are commercials for beers, such as those of Corona, they are all geared towards the pleasure of the drink itself, not it's effect and the crazy party that will come around if everybody drinks enough of them. The mass consumption of alcohol, especially among students and young adults, plays such a large role in the United States and it shows through advertisements. On the other hand, here the idea of drinking is much more subdued, and only the finer, more sophisticated parts of the enjoyment of drinking are shown through advertisements. This difference is very simple and can seem trivial, but I believe that it shows a great difference between our cultures, through the way that these products are advertised.


Here is a take from one of the Corona ads shown here in Chile. It is simple and stresses more, the enjoyment of your vacation with a Corona beer, instead of the enjoyment of your vacation because of a Corona beer.

On the other end of the spectrum, here is a Keystone ad (a terribly cheap beer) from the U.S. The only true thing that you can take from this, is that Keystone is a beer you can drink excessively for little money. It is most certainly directed towards young adults and students.

After reading a section of the textbook, I understood that certain companies must decide whether to expand their marketing and production to other parts of the world. There are always environmental and firm-specific drivers that push a company towards one part or another. There is certainly a cultural reason as to why Corona is able to market and sell it's product here in Chile while Keystone beer would not last a month.  People here simply do not accept drinking alcohol for it's effect only and the ads reflect that idea.