Gini (soft drink)

For other uses, see Gini (disambiguation).

Gini is a French lemon soft drink created in 1971 by Perrier and which was purchased by Cadbury Schweppes in 1989. It has been manufactured by Suntory for many years. It is well known in France, where its slogan is La plus chaude des boissons froides (French for 'The hottest of cold drinks').

Advertising

The drink is particularly known for its advertising strategies.^[1][2][3] The brand has often flirted with innuendo and sexuality in its advertising notably in a 1970s campaign featuring the Argentinian boxer Carlos Monzón surrounded by naked women leaping from a stallion in the desert and seizing an "erectile" bottle from the sand.^[4]

The most well-known advertisement was from 1983, directed by and with music from Serge Gainsbourg. The clip featured the French actor Pierre Cosso sharing his Gini and girlfriend with another man.^[5][4] Further ads featured couples drinking Gini after having had sex with the byline À quand remonte votre dernier Gini? (French for 'When was the last time you had a Gini?').^[6]

The brand was associated with the group Pink Floyd in a 1974 advertising campaign. In return for appearing in the advertisement, the brand sponsored the group's short 1974 tour in France.^[7] In his autobiography, the band's co-founder and drummer Nick Mason describes being followed around by a "frightful gaggle of groovy people in dark glasses and leather jackets sporting, gigantic Gini bitter lemon signs".^[8] Roger Waters wrote a song about the experience called "Bitter Love" and claimed that the money received was donated to charity following accusations of the band selling out.^[9]

References

1. Barnier, Virginie de; Joannis, Henri (2016-04-13). Marketing & création publicitaire - 4e éd.: Réseaux sociaux, Mobile, TV, Radio, Print (in French). Dunod. ISBN 978-2-10-075076-4.
2. Durandin, Guy (1982-01-01). Les Mensonges en propagande et en publicité (in French). Presses universitaires de France (réédition numérique FeniXX). ISBN 978-2-13-068347-6.
3. Brémond, Janine (1976-12-31). La Publicité (in French). Hatier (réédition numérique FeniXX). ISBN 978-2-401-00334-7.
4. "Gini: Aphrodisiaque". Stratégies (in French). 2002-02-01. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
5. "[Gini] La plage, 1983". madparis.fr. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
6. "Gini, pour nous les hommes". Stratégies (in French). 2002-04-26. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
7. Oullion, Jean-michel (2011-05-19). Pink Floyd: Magiciens, alchimistes et milliardaires (in French). Scrineo. ISBN 978-2-36740-060-0.
8. Mason, Nick (2011-09-01). Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd. Orion. ISBN 978-1-78022-175-5.
9. Blake, Mark (2008-11-25). Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd. Hachette Books. ISBN 978-0-7867-2708-7.

External links

• Official website