Straphanger Joe Says There’s No ‘Sub’ in ‘Subliminal’…But There Still is in ‘Subway’

Party in the Bottle

It used to be the advertisements were subliminal for alcohol. If you looked carefully at the ice in the glass of scotch in the ad, you’d see a naked or half-naked woman, or a man and a woman, and sometimes more than that.

But the reason was the advertisers painted the ice into the picture. The lighting at a photo shoot was way too intense for the ice not to melt. So … they took advantage of the opportunity by putting in sexy messages that suggested the party was in the bottle or the party was in the glass.

There were whole drug prevention strategies over 20 years ago that addressed the subliminal messages in alcoholic beverage advertisements. I did drug prevention work in schools at the time and we uncovered the subliminal for the students so they didn’t get fooled.

Ahh, those were the days.

Now at the Bryant Park Station on 42nd Street I noticed new adds for Puerto Rican Rum. The subliminal is no longer sub. It’s right there in shades of mixed drink color. The party is in the bottle.

You’ve come a long way baby.