When you enter the Sobe Lifewater website you see the drink’s logo, a lizard with the word “Sobe” to the right. Underneath the logo, there is a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model holding a sweating bottle of Sobe Lifewater. The model is lying in the sand in a seductive pose, covering her genitals. When you first look at her you think she is covered with tropical plants, but as you view closer you realize that its body paint and she is actually naked. As you look at this nude woman, your eyes scan down her body to browse the various other links you can visit such as a 360 panorama of the model, more photos of the model, and to get to the Sports Illustrated website. Your eyes are then drawn to big bold letters saying, “Hydration Exposed.” The advertisement takes place somewhere tropical. The sweating bottle looks mouth watering as she holds it next to her body, also dripping in sweat. Her body lying in the sand triggers memories of warm days at the beach, you begin to almost feel the sun on our face. By now I’m getting thirsty.
As we turn our attention back to the Sobe logo, if you even notice it, its small, and pushed into the corner of the page, seemingly hidden. I find this particularly interesting because it is the logo of the product, what you will look for when you go to buy this product, yet it is the smallest image on the page. To me this proves that the company believes that the target demographic will more readily remember the product from the image of a naked female than from its own logo. Under the logo, it says, “Flavors with benefits,” which is a clear jab at the recently growing acceptance of the relationship status of “friends with benefits.” This promiscuous trend encourages sex with no emotional attachments. It has become so popular it has been the plot to several big budget Hollywood films. A naked model with her sex organs barely covered is used to draw our attention to buy, a drink? How could this method of advertising be so effective? The woman is obviously attractive, so men want to be with her. Women see this desire in men, which leads them to yearn to be this woman in the advertisement. This insinuates that beverage consumption, this beverage in particular, is some how correlated to ones attractiveness or sexual life in general. The slogan of this advertisement is “Hydration exposed”. This is definitely a sexual innuendo and makes it obvious that sex appeal is this advertisement’s main method of gaining consumers.
I believe the intended audience of this ad is young adults ageing from 18-25. This generation of people is on the go, working, going to school, and hanging out with friends. They, more than any other age group, are more likely to buy these beverages at gas stations and grocery stores. It is common knowledge that this age group is also known for their sexual interest and exploration. I happen to fall into this demographic being 21 myself. This drink appeals to me as a young woman wanting to be thinner. I see the
