Belvedere Vodka Ad Under Fire For Rape Implications

Belvedere Vodka is facing severe backlash over a questionable ad.

The company posted the ad to its Facebook page on Saturday, according to Jezebel. The image depicted a woman looking horrified while a man grabs her from behind. Text on the image read, "Unlike some people, Belvedere always goes down smoothly."

Immediately after Jezebel posted the ad, bloggers and commenters launched a firestorm of attacks against the company, arguing that the image was making light of sexual assault.

"This is the most awful piece of promotional material I've seen published in the last several months, if not years," Amy Tennery of the Jane Dough wrote.

Business Insider called the image, "disgusting."

Though Belvedere has since removed the post and issued several apologies, the backlash still continues.

One Twitter user reacted to apology, "FAIL. Never touching your product ever again."

"Belvedere Vodka, your apology is insufficient as it does not accept responsibility for promoting rape-culture," wrote one commentator on the company's Facebook page.

As Forbes put it, "If you find yourself rushing to take down an ad that could be interpreted as making light of rape, you're doing internet marketing wrong."

Check out the ad below and let us know what you think.

Comments

[houseofvespucci]

03:50 PM on 04/04/2012

Sales of Greygoose are about to skyrocket...

[jl13]

05:10 PM on 04/01/2012

"If you find yourself rushing to take down an ad that could be interpreted as making light of rape, you're doing internet marketing wrong."

That sums it up well, this ad is so poorly done on so many levels I would have taken it for a hoax.

[Diane Sample]

05:42 PM on 03/28/2012

This ad really sends too many mixed messages. Is she's choking and he's happy to be a hero and preform the Heimlich maneuver or is she terrified that he is so drunk he will not take no for an answer. Either way it is a certain fail and offensive and does not makes me want to drink this vodka
ever.

[jack Winn]

10:16 AM on 04/03/2012

I'm just guessing they weren't aiming at the HP demographic.

Ironically - as a poster pointed out - HP has had the ad up longer than the advertiser did.

I often suspect certain people love being horrified - and if somebody else won't do it for them, they go out & do it for themselves.

[jf329]

12:55 PM on 03/28/2012

What exactly is confusing? A man with a goofy, sly grin is grabbing a clearly unhappy, unwilling woman. He wants something she clearly does not. Will it end in rape? I guess we can't really know. Is it possible that many rapes have started out in what appears to be a harmless situation like this? Most definitely. It was not the intent of the ad, but it is obvious that no one was very sensitive to the interpretations. It was a bad idea in any event and the company was right to apologize - now we need to move on.

[GibbsSlap]

05:38 PM on 03/27/2012

Clear proof that the ad MEN should not sample the product. It seems to bring out their true natures.

[Primesuspect]

08:45 PM on 03/29/2012

Clearer proof that men should not be in the workplace :)
Let them stay at home and be champions at what they do best: play video games, watch sports for hours and surf porn. All between sips of their vodka drinks.

[hanoirockz]

07:48 PM on 04/02/2012

I didn't see anything about the ad being produced by an all male staff, can you direct to that information?

[libertymen]

09:04 AM on 03/27/2012

If it offends the ladies,then get rid of it.
To me it is confusing.
As to what is going on.
It could be Surprise,I got home early!!!!
It looks like it is happening in the laundry room.
where the ladies go to fold in peace.

[InedaName]

08:48 PM on 03/27/2012

She doesn't look surprised in the good way.

[xxbitterkittyxx]

10:56 PM on 04/03/2012

"where the ladies go to fold in peace."? You are part of the problem. If you think women belong in the kitchen or laundry room, you probably don't take rape seriously either.
*edited for offensive language

[libertymen]

09:00 AM on 03/27/2012

She looks surprised?
Maybe it is out of season?Spring?
All this warm weather makes it grow?
Seeing rape in this takes a certain mindset.
I find the picture to be uncertain as to whats going on.
Frankly, who cares?

[xxbitterkittyxx]

10:58 PM on 04/03/2012

The image may be unclear and that is why captions are used on such pictures. Thus, the caption is the authors intended interpretation of the photo. Read the caption, look at the picture, and put two and two together.

[RebeccaSioux]

05:00 AM on 03/27/2012

Who was their target audience? Frat boy rapists or roofie hounds? Both? I don't understand why people these days say there's a War on Women.

[derekw007]

11:55 PM on 03/26/2012

That's not my bellybutton! That's ok - that's not my finger!

[Allan Hall]

09:52 PM on 03/26/2012

It's pretty ambiguous. You guys are looking for sexual assault, and you guys found it.

[BloodGlutton]

09:05 AM on 03/27/2012

I try to be as open minded about these things as I can - because no company WANTS to have this sort of negative backlash - but no, it's not very ambiguous at all.

[SallyStrange]

03:15 PM on 03/27/2012

You think people go looking for sexual assault? Yeah. You're not worth taking seriously.

[Allan Hall]

04:39 PM on 03/27/2012

Yes. People often find the extremes in things when they interpret something in their own way. Tipper Gore found sadomasochism in the song "Under the Blade" by Twisted Sister. The song was about Twisted Sister's drummer's throat surgery.

You can easily say the man is not going down smoothly. He's failing horribly at an attempt at being smooth.

[Snippert]

08:17 PM on 03/26/2012

If I was never told it was about rape, I would have never guessed it. I found it confusing.

[VA Jill]

06:16 PM on 03/26/2012

What IDIOT came up with this? More to the point, what idiot Supervisor APPROVED it? It looks like something a couple of drunk frat brats would conceive.

[Grandma E]

06:05 PM on 03/26/2012

This is exactly what Booze does. Makes men think they can TAKE it all. Do you see the look on his face. This is horrible, what a message to send to young men!

[Allan Hall]

09:53 PM on 03/26/2012

What a misandric comment. Women can't have that feeling when drinking?

[Primesuspect]

08:46 PM on 03/29/2012

Women can seduce; they can't rape a man - unless it's a knifepoint. And I don't know any woman who wants or needs it that badly.

[grailknight]

10:46 PM on 03/26/2012

It's a pretty bad ad, but really, only men drink booze?

[Taurus89]

11:30 AM on 03/31/2012

No one is saying that *but* the ad itself.

[mushimom]

05:44 PM on 03/26/2012

This is ad is beyond revolting!! What were they thinking????

[Vivvy]

09:02 PM on 03/26/2012

Clearly they weren't.

[elicourey]

11:36 PM on 03/26/2012

at least they took it down within an hour, Huffington Post has been displaying it for over a day.

[bessielil]

05:34 PM on 03/26/2012

This ad would be PERFECT as part of a pitch scene at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Chortles would abound.

Other than that, it's not good for much, as the vodka company quickly realized.