gluttony

n : excess in eating or drinking

     The above ad is self-explanatory,"The night began with a bottle of Cuervo and ended in with a vow of silence." I would wonder how the night ended with a vow of silence -- Did the cat get their tongues? No. They were drunk. A perfect example of gluttony and the storyline to many alcohol and addictive product campaigns. Gluttony is described as excessive eating or drinking. We are all guilty of this sin with or without advertising. Sure enough, advertising is there to reinforce the sinful idea doing something to the extreme. Even the laughing characters in the above ad seem to be having a jolly ole' good time. Or better yet, are these the animals that you see when you drink too much Cuervo? That is it! These are divine visions from excessive drinking. Hello God, is that you?

     This Playstation ad appeared in FHM. The above copy reads, "The mind gets more powerful the more you feed it. So gorge it on the most varied and technologically advanced mental assault course in the world. Stretch it with greater and more demanding tests of speed and agility. Expand it with dazzling depth and detail. At the same time, distort it with the built in sounds of The Prodigy or The Chemical Brothers. After that, do with it what you will." 

     Does this ad suggest doing something in excess? Gorge? I rest my case. Yes, gluttony is amongst a lot of ads suggesting excessive behavior. The above ad appeals to younger kids who are more inclined to use the Playstation. What kind of message does, "The mind gets more powerful the more you feed it," send to kids? I am thinking it is not one of moderation. This message has the potential of creating an inner beast in Playstation consumers, almost to the degree where "Gorging" on the product is the only path to success. Even the loser in the ad shows signs of "gorging" on his Franco American Spaghetti! 

     This ad appeared in a Woman's magazine. I call this reverse gluttony, the idea that one has to do something excessive in the opposite direction. "0% Fat. 100% Fun." Is this needed to appeal to women? I really do not think so. Apparently, it is believed that this car needed to be positioned as fat free, with no extra calories, filled with features that are craved -- Is there such a thing? Can a car be something that is craved? Positioning as food, something that somebody wants in excess, but cannot have due to social strings. This is a terrible ad if I might say so!

     The idea of this ad takes the known meaning of gluttony to the opposite extreme. Instead of showing an ad portraying obese women comfortably lounging into a Plymouth mini-van, using the headline, "100% Fat, 0% Fun" (which may be more appropriate and have a larger more viable target audience than Karen Carpenter wanna-bee's), Plymouth puts a car on a Popsicle stick. Outrageous. 

     This is clearly an ad reflecting societies obsession with gluttony and gluttonous related behavior. Advertising works through people believing these types of portrayals and images. They identify with the notion and meaning of the message which can be powerful to the weak. Gluttony is personified and multiplied through the emotional stimulation advertising provides.

     I believe we all are and can be gluttonous people. Imagine it is happy hour at your favorite pub/bar/watering hole/warming house, there are .50 cent well drinks, .25 cent import taps and work is cancelled the next day. Are you going to consume excessively? You go to Vegas for the weekend, free Samuel Adams in the bottle, free Bloody Mary's with top shelf Vodka, $1.25 shrimp buffet, biscuits and gravy for .49 cents -- wall to wall eating and drinking and what do you do? You consume heavily at you favorite establishment. Many drinks are washed down, eyes become blurry, head starts to hurt,words become verbal darts to the innocent stranger, and the liver becomes more rotten than it was before. In Vegas, you drink! You eat! 

     At this terrace those who ate and drank excessively are starved. A tough lesson for the weak minded. The seventh and final sin is dealt with at the seventh terrace. This is the sin of lust. 

intro / pride / envy / wrath / sloth

greed / gluttony / lust / conclusion