Captain Morgan

Captain Morgan is another company that has rather eye catching unique advertising. Their ads focus on the fun, party aspect of alcohol. Instead of promoting the classy, clean aspect of the rum much like Bacardi, the setting for all their ads is a fun atmosphere and their mascot, The Captain, is always there. Their slogan is “the Captain was here” and they incorporate that by drawing the captains mustache and goatee on one of the persons in the ad, as seen in the ad below. One ad was even a young guy, clearly passed out on a couch with the mustache and goatee drawn on his face. That exemplifies the underlying unsaid message that Captain Morgan does not really enforce drinking responsibly, such as the ad, if someone drinks too much, they’ll just pass out.


Their ads are effective because they have their product in settings that are attractive to their target market. The audience they target is often younger adults in their 20s to 30s. Most recently, they have moved away from this target market and moved towards targeting the general working public. Their latest commercial has people in everyday jobs such as a dentist, a lawyer, etc. and when the camera focuses on them they put one knee up, the commercial ends with, “They had a little Captain in them.” The everyday consumer who doesn’t know about Captain Morgan gets the commercial at the end when they should a picture of the Captain, as seen below, with his leg up on the keg. However, commercials are not really Captain Morgan’s main advertising outlet. Rather, the majority of their ads are print ads in a variety of magazines.
Captain Morgan’s rum is most focused on their consumers who are already drinking their alcohol. I believe that through their ads, rather than try and solely gain new customers, they target their drinkers to help them gain consumers by word of mouth and promotion.