A Distant Thunder

Pabst explains it all. He has come to explain it all.


As far as the ad one down is concerned:


Yeah, it's a good ad. Here's my opinion why:

1) I'll bet it doesn't look like any other ad in SI - which is one of the reasons readers will stop and look.

2) The headline will not be ignored. There's only three reactions you want from a headline:

a) that's new

b) I've never thought about it that way.

c) I've always thought about it that way.

Depending on who you are, this headline delivers one of the three with a roundhouse punch.

3) The copy has an authentic sounding voice

4) There's an essential truth behind the concept.

5) It made me laugh and the joke holds up pretty well.

6) It's clearly targeted at young guys - that it seems creepy to you is because you're not the target. Write an angry letter and it will be used as proof in the client's boardroom that the ad is working.


Is it in poor taste? De gustibus non disputandum est. One man's meat is another man's poison.


I mostly like it because it knows where it's going and what it wants to do when it gets there. It makes fun of today's (woosie) "cocktails"
without really saying a word about them. It appeals to an inauthentic nostalgia for an imagined past (as does the the series "Madmen") when men were considered, well, MEN. But that's part of the joke.


Just trying to cop an attitude and sell some booze. And doing it with a verve not often seen hereabouts.


Greg Pabst


He is a god. Give him the city.