The message that seems to be put forth in the ad for Pinnacle Vodka is, if you buy your husband or boyfriend Pinnacle imitation whipped cream flavored vodka he will be whipped and submissive to you, which results in him doing the housework. Upon viewing this ad I immediately became defensive and irritated. There was such inequality of labor division in this relationship that the woman had to bribe the man with vodka to get him to do housework. This indicates that housework is out of the norm for the man.
I found this advertisement in the middle of the December 2012 issue of Cosmopolitan. Pinnacle Vodka wanted to create an advertisement that appealed to the readers of Cosmopolitan. The Cosmo website identifies their readers as women who are sexually liberated and independent. The Cosmo woman knows she is as competent and intelligent as her male counterparts; she can achieve and have everything. As with most advertising and media today, Cosmopolitan and Pinnacle Vodka promote heteronormativity (promotes heterosexuality as the preferred and normal sexual orientation) and refuse to even acknowledge homosexual relationships.
I subverted the image to have the man sitting on the couch while the woman vacuums. The image represents an undesirable distribution of power in a relationship. The use of the word whipped now takes on a dominant/submissive connotation, which does not fit with the ideal Cosmo woman. If changing the gender roles in the image makes it undesirable for advertising, what does that say about the realities of our equality?
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