Cabana's Ads: When It Gets So Loud You Can't Avoid It

I swore to myself when Cabana Cachaça's racy ads and Web site started to make waves -- "straight-up porn" according to Time Out Chicago -- I'd just ignore it. It's pretty clear that their marketing is going for the linkbait factor and I'm not inclined to indulge it too much.

But, when you're a blog that's all-cachaça-all-the-time, there's an expectation that you'd have something to say about such a widely covered campaign.

First, let me just say that America's Puritan roots are showing a little too much these days. One might think that, decades after pure-as-the-driven-snow Julie "Mary Poppins" Andrews insisted on showing the moviegoing public her breasts, and days after the FCC gave CBS a pass for Nipplegate, that we'd be past all this.

Nope. Not a chance. Alas, there remains this irrational fear. A uniquely American fear of the female nipple that's getting bigger.

(Err... The fear, I mean.)

On the other hand, I personally tend to find the whole "sex sells" ethic cynical, especially when you're selling a product (alcohol) that, when tied too closely to sex, often results in rather unfortunate consequences in the real world.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a prude and you're not going to find me hanging out in front of Cabana's importer naked wearing a sandwich board chanting "Spirits Not Skin!", "Cachaça Not Crotch!", or "Tipples Not Nipples!"

However, I'm inclined to pay more attention to a cachaça brand that has more to say about the craft and the product.

Surf over to BlogHer for the best roundup of this campaign I've seen so far, exploring the ads much more deeply than mere reactionary feminism.

One commenter even wonders whether it is the women who are being exploited...

...or the men.