Able Consulting

I've previously titled a post about dumb advertising, I've Hated Everyone I've Met Who Works In Advertising, and this is not wholly true because one dear friend, S. Kaiserman, of the Main Line Kaisermans (and one of Alpha's soon-to-be-written, comic-tragic screenplays), is a rising star on the Cover Girl account at Grey. But, beyond our girl S., most advertisers irk and disappoint me. There's been a whole lot of confusing "hipster proliferation" of the bullshit Juno variety and, as ever, soul-numbing gender stereotypes and BAD BAD writing. Recently, I've noticed a spate of Jameson spots in subway cars. They are clean and aesthetic, but the copy is straight dim-witted, amateur, like a middle school book report...see for yourself.

Liquor is an easy sell. I remember why I started drinking Jameson: a beautiful bartender-friend-of-a-boyfriend named Dan. He was (is) a tall, scruffy, son of a Pittsburgh steel-worker/ex-H.S. football star/L.E.S. (of cooler yore) party-sire (you can still find him at Max Fish...makin' that paper, scene or non). He wanted to take a shot with me; he asked what I'd like. I said Jameson and it seemed to please him and we proceded to take many, each time we met. If I was formulating a campaign for the brand, maybe I would begin there, with a similarly alluring bartender for television (novel--objectifying a dude in a booze commercial, but with an eye toward realism). I think such a proposition would be tacky in print, and, as I said, the current stuff appearing in my Q train is good-looking, but could do without the inane, unsuccessfully jokey (in fact quite clunky) text.

When I picked Jameson for my first shot with dreamy Dan, I was responding to the bottle and the name and some notion of old-fashioned, old-worldy, boys' club value, something inherently upmarket but still a bit tough (I mean, not frou or fey)...Irish (with lace curtains). It was the right choice for the high/low, young/old interchange/moment of my Summer 2005 (and I thought the drinking of brown liquor belied my 19 years). A brand like Jameson hasn't got much work to do, and the current ads make mention of that, the success of the unchanged object, the old label, the old process/product. But why squawk about it? Trying so hard to explain itself in a public forum seems so very un-Jameson. Their adverts should be aloof and occasionally nostalgic (for the sweet, tall, strong barkeeps of our collective experience...? or the snifter in the hall of a dark, old Irish house...?). I suppose we're back at the central premise of all of my negative posts: folks with platforms are so often--um--unsophisticated.