Did Mila Kunis Change an Entire Industry?

As a kid, I knew of three bourbon brands: Wild Turkey, Maker’s Mark, and Jim Beam. My parents did not drink spirits, so my familiarity with these brands came from their advertising in Sports Illustrated. My teenaged friends believed that bourbon was a drink for our grandparents.

Times have changed. Many Americans now view bourbon as a trendy libation with many different brands and price points to choose from. A drink that was once seen as a cheap way to imbibe, now contains hundreds of ultra-premium labels. The Bourbon Trail in Kentucky has become a must-see tourist destination for drinkers. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), American Whiskey sales of one-liter bottles, of which bourbon is by far the largest beverage in the category, grew by 73% between 2013 and 2023. Without a doubt, tv advertising has created a large correlation with this growth.

US TV advertising for spirits has had an interesting journey. Ads for alcoholic beverages besides beer and wine never appeared in the medium until 1996 when an ad for Crown Royal appeared on a local Corpus Christi, Texas, station. The spirits industry got together in television’s infancy (1940s and 1950s) and agreed not to place ads for fear of severe governmental restrictions on sales all the way up to a return to prohibition. This alliance held until industry participants believed a new tolerance for hard liquor existed and too many alcoholic beverage sales were going to the beer and wine segments. In the late 1990s, the industry was still very careful to primarily air ads in late night and on programming catered heavily towards adults. That all changed in the early 2000s as first NBC and then other traditional networks began airing ads for spirits outside of late-night slots. Many of the ads weren’t particularly memorable, outside of an award winner for Southern Comfort in 2012. However, they did have a positive effect on sales growth in the category. From 2003-2013, the aforementioned American Whiskey category grew by 35%.

What changed to accelerate industry growth from 35% to 73% in the ensuing decade? I would argue that Mila Kunis fueled this trend. In the first quarter of 2014, Jim Beam began airing a series of television ads featuring the Ukrainian-born actress (Black Swan, That ‘70s Show) to highlight their brand. Adults who didn’t know Knob Creek from a doorknob all of the sudden viewed Jim Beam as a hip and cool drink. The attractive Kunis, with her strong TV presence, enticed both men and women of a younger demographic to try bourbon for the first time. The growth of an entire market category literally could be credited to one ad campaign. Though the ads haven’t aired on tv in years, they live on in the world of YouTube.

The next time you watch the horses in Louisville, look at Corvettes in Bowling Green, catch the UK Wildcats in Lexington, enjoy Moonlight Bar-B-Q in Owensboro, follow the trail throughout the state of Kentucky, or relax at your place of residence, if bourbon is your drink, raise a glass and thank Mila Kunis for its newfound popularity. (Please drink responsibly and only if you are at least 21 years of age.)

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