Are women the only people who are classy and with a mind? Of course not! But that is what this ad is telling us. In this ad, from Elle magazine, there is a picture of a beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed Caucasian woman in a gold, sparkly dress wearing expensive diamond jewelry. She is holding a glass of Baileys and is leaning over the top of a building in what looks like New York City. On the right page of the ad there is a quote which states, “BE A GIRL WITH A MIND, A WOMAN WITH ATTITUDE AND A LADY WITH CLASS.” Under that quote, there is the Baileys logo and “CREAM WITH SPIRIT.” On that same page, in the right hand corner, is a picture of the Baileys bottle along with a half poured glass with ice. In the left hand corner of the left page, there is a Facebook logo and “BaileysUS.” Under that, it says in about twelve point font, “Please drink responsibly.” Along the outside of the left page, in six point black font it says, “BAILEYS Irish Cream Liqueur. 17% Alc/Vol. ©2012 R & A Bailey & Co. Imported by Paddington, Ltd., Norwalk, CT.”

One of the first persuasion techniques this ad uses is beautiful people. They use a good-looking model who is all dressed up and fully manicured. This woman makes the ad attractive, so it catches the consumer’s eye. This is bad because it can cause depression and low self-esteem since women are held to such high standards in society today. As sad as it is, outside looks are what people strive for. This leads women to believe they will be as gorgeous as the girl in the ad if they drink this product. But no alcohol will make you more attractive.

Another persuasion technique used is charisma. Again, the woman in the ad looks confident and attractive and makes people, specifically young white women from ages 18-35, want to be like her. The message is that drinking will make you confident. Alcohol will not make you confident. This is not good because people will start drinking irresponsibly, especially underage women who are trying desperately to fit in.

The last persuasion technique used in this ad is extrapolation. Extrapolation is expressed in the quote about being a girl with a mind, a woman with attitude and a lady with class. That quote over generalizes. Drinking a specific drink can definitely not just give you those characteristics. To have those characteristics, you have to grow up with them and value them, not just magically have them.

The message this ad is promoting is that by drinking Baileys Irish Cream, you will be a girl with a mind, a woman with attitude and a lady with class. This is a bad message to send because a drink really can’t change somebody’s characteristics. A person’s morals and experiences are what gives them mind, attitude, and class. It is actually a very offensive message to tell people they can be like that by drinking this liqueur because women who don’t drink alcohol can have these characteristics.

There is a lot of important information left out of this ad. For example, it is only portraying that women drink Baileys. In reality, it can be consumed by both genders. They also left out the price of the liqueur, which is approximately $40.00 per bottle, to avoid turning consumers off. In addition, these things were also left out: where it can be purchased, what the negative and positive effects are, what it tastes like, how many calories it contains, how much is a serving, and how many servings are in a bottle.

This ad is offensive because it stereotypes wealthy white women and excludes men. If a man were to see this ad, it would most likely make him feel embarrassed to drink this product because of how girly it is. It also offends other women in general because of the statement it makes about having mind, attitude, and class.