The Male Consumer is a Loser!

Imbibing liquor is men’s main antidote or escape from their inadequacies regarding women. The “male consumer is a loser” (Messener & Miontez de Oca 1).  The different media types are telling the masses this over-abundantly.  One of the ideas the media are subliminally planting in their heads is that they will really never get the girls they see. These “Average Joe[s]” (27) will never be lucky enough to get the girls they oogle in the “Sports illustrated swimsuit issue” or in the Super Bowl commercials (22).  And in turn, media are telling them that the consolation prize is alcohol.   Alcohol is the retreat for many men when it comes to dealing with women.  Having a beer with the guys is the man’s ultimate escape from dealing with his own feelings of insecurity and inadequacy as well. It also allows him “to escape the emotional needs of his partner while retaining regular access to sex” (14).  Ultimately, this makes women become objects instead of equals. The problem with reality is that men often see the women who are the real girlfriends as “bitch [es]” who just want to control men’s lives (24).  This again circles around to alcohol with which men can enjoy momentary power over their girlfriends by drinking in excess and complaining by trash talking their girlfriends, as long as the girlfriends are not within earshot.  This is why many ads for liquor and other alcoholic beverages accompany a beautiful, surgically enhanced woman wearing scandalous clothing, or lack thereof, that their girlfriends would never wear.  Those women create a fantasy that male consumers can have sex and alcohol without the girlfriend.  However, this feeds men's insecurities because they know that this is a fantasy that will never come true.   And this is a sad way of thinking that perpetuates the truth that the “male consumer is a loser” and always will be (1).