Belgian born Peter Forret, who recently took a trip to Bulgaria, noticed an ad campaign for Mastika, an aphrodisiac used as an ingredient in mixed drinks or in the yogurt drink Ayran. He remarked the standard of advertising in Bulgaria appears to be far different than that of his home country, Belgium.
The print campaign employs visuals of scantily clad women foisting their curvaceous features towards the viewer. A commercial has two guys ogling a girl who passes them by on the beach and casts a shadow on the sand suggesting a figure of, shall we say, larger than normal proportions. Sadly, the commercial employs the tired, much over used male arousal tactic.
One commenter on YouTube writes, “tacky commercial!! they don’t need to put 2 dummy guys with an erection experience at the beach..this shows a bit that Bulgarian girls are REALLY HOT but the guys look like shaved barbarians!”
Calling into question the appropriateness of the ad, another writes, “she has very nice booty but i don’t think this is appropriate because there is [are] children and young girls who watch TV. What signal is this sending for our children. .. that SEX SEX SEX is.. .. everywhere.”
Translated by a YouTube member, the commercial reads:
“This one’s OK too” (referring to passing-by lady)
“Look at this sun shining, we could really use a cloud (mastika mixed with water creates a cloud)”
“I’ve got a better idea”
“And if this isn’t passion!”
(to girl) “They are so ripe!”
“And juicy!”
“Then, give us one each!”
– Mastika Peshtera, passion on chrystals. (Ad slogan)
“Now that’s watermelon season”
The ad is terrible, of course, and would never run in America. It’s one of the more objectifying (and apparently gleefully so to its creators) ads we’ve ever seen. There are ways to appropriately appreciate female beauty. This is not one of them.
