Patron tequila gets to bottom of, uh, stuff

I'm a little disappointed in this effort for Patron Tequila, since, unlike the new campaign from its competitor, Partida, it contains no tales of binge drinking. Anyway, the m.o. is that some things—like the perfection of Patron Tequila—are not debatable, while other things, such as "Mac vs. PC" and "The Beatles" vs. "The Stones" definitely are. The theme is carried out in a series of ads, and also on the Web site, where people are allowed to debate the merits or demerits of each protagonist, and they seem to be doing that. Interestingly, I saw a copy of one of the spots on this compilation video from BestAds on YouTube, and the point/counterpoint was "Truth" vs. "Truthiness"; the version on the site, however, says "Animal House" vs. "Caddyshack," so I wonder if the Colbert camp got to them. If you choose to visit the Patron site, don't do it while under the influence of tequila, or anything else. The navigation is giving me the spins, and all I'm drinking is VitaminWater.

Another politically-incorrect alcohol campaign

I'm looking at this Canadian Club print campaign and wondering if we're seeing a trend: of overtly politically-incorrect alcohol ads. Ad Age points out the obvious: that this campaign is very, very "Mad Men." If the pictures don't get the point across, there's the headline: "Your Mom wasn't your Dad's first." Of course, sex in alcohol advertising seems almost as old as sex itself, but there's a huge leap (into the sack) between this campaign and, say, Miller Lite's "Cat Fight" of a few years back. Same with the Partida "Tequila Confessions" campaign I posted about last week, in which a guy admits having a child in Chicago because of a night he drank too much tequila. Well, you know what your mother—the same one that wasn't your Dad's first—always said: Honesty is the best policy. Created by Energy BBDO Chicago.

Is Partida campaign too honest about tequila?

Just checked out the campaign for Partida Tequila that I originally saw at Adweek.com, and the only way to really experience its excessive honesty is to go to the tequilaconfessions.com Web site, where people admit what happened during/after they've had some tequila. Says the man-on-the-street pictured at left: "I was in Chicago. It started out as an innocent drink with a friend, a few shots of tequila later, dot, dot, dot, I have a child in Chicago." He also explains that he likes Partida's finish better than that of some tequilas he drank in college that "kinda wanted to make you vomit, immediately thereafter." (To see it, to to the site and the video will automatically start to play.) Under the special "bartender confessions" link, a female bartender at Dos Caminos in Soho comments that there is "a strong connection between tequila and maybe just falling asleep in public places" recounting the time—fittingly, on Cinco de Mayo—a woman fell asleep at the bar and her friends departed without her. It got to be closing time and the staff, "kinda of like pushed her outside, and she kinda like met up with some people—we were hoping she knew them—and she kinda woke up and followed some people off in the distance. We think she's good ... she's fine." Anyway, interesting to see if the hammer comes down on this campaign, since, at the very least, it is politically incorrect in the extreme. And the Web site doesn't even ask you for your birthday before you start, um, imbibing the videos. Created by Colangelo and Partners Public Relations.