My youngest son, Marc, arrived home from Europe recently. He surprised me with a lovely gift – a new Absolut bottle. It has vodka in it, but that is beside the point. Someone will drink it. The important thing is the bottle – Absolut Exposure – part of the Traveler’s Exclusive series, which is only available at airport duty-free shops.
Here are a few others from my collection. In case anyone thinks this is an odd thing to collect, I should explain. Many years ago I started collecting Absolut vodka ads from magazines. I liked their clever advertising campaign and the ads are simple to collect. I keep them in plastic sleeves in binders – one binder for “places” and a couple of others for all the rest, filed alphabetically. I enjoy flipping through them occasionally and a few of my friends have looked through them as well. Then one day in 2003 I was in a liquor store (must have been shopping for cooking liquor) and I spotted an unusual Absolut bottle with artwork by Romero Britto. I was intrigued. I bought it, and when it was empty I kept it. Seems innocent enough, don’t you think? Then I discovered that Absolut produces special edition bottles, and some of them are quite beautiful. I was hooked. I now have about 2 dozen bottles in my collection. Here are a few of them:
I’m not trying to collect all of their bottles. They take up a lot of space! Of course, I do want to see the new Traveller’s Exclusive bottle that will be wearing a denim cover with a zipper. I think it will be so adorable that I will need to own it.
The Absolut company has recently make changes to their print advertising, and the new ads are not very interesting to me. The good thing is that I have discovered the availability of ads online. I am now able to collect all kinds of ads that I would never have been able to have, since they were printed in very specific magazines, and sometimes only in other countries. I’ve discovered that I don’t need to physically possess the ads. I’m happy to add them to my Pinterest boards. I have several Absolut boards and they are stunning if I do say so myself. You can check them out on Pinterest if you like.
Time To Be Inspired 
You had a good and attentive eye to notice in the first place! I feel like a dud…I have never really paid attention! LOL! But I sure will now! I love your collection and think it is just such a great conversation piece. You’ll have to figure out how to display them ALL, and just keep on collecting. I would love to see them all lined up! 🙂
LikeLike
I liked that Absolut ad campaign, too, and I’m not a vodka drinker, either. Do you have or recall the ad they did where an Absolut bottle was made into a lava lamp? Have you ever considered making a lava lamp?
LikeLike
I’ve been through all my ads because I was sure I had that one but no such luck. I do remember seeing it. I seached the web and found it – Absolut Glaad. (I can’t always figure out who or what they are referring to) But in my search I found numerous instructions on making a lava lamp. Much as I love a good project, I don’t think I’ll be making one. Let me know if you give it a try ha ha.
LikeLike
Interesting! I’m familiar with Absolut, but unfamiliar with their bottle collection. Oh my, a new interest!
LikeLike
If I could just figure out a way to store them “flat” I’d be laughing!
LikeLike
Just let the air out of them!
LikeLike
Thanks! I never thought of that.
LikeLike
First of all…I love the new look! Secondly, I adore Absolut-print campaigns too. One for my favourites was the one (or maybe it is a yearly thing I don’t know) where various fashion designers designed haute couture gowns inspired by Absolut. Just fabulous.
LikeLike
I like those ads too, even though my favorites are what I consider the “old school” play on words ads. But also amazing to me is the sheer number of different ads they have done! Thanks for dropping by.
LikeLike
Thanks for the feedback on my new look. The only disappointing thing is that the color at the sides of the page doesn’t show up on ipad or phone apps. Guess you can’t have everything. I don’t know how often Absolut did their fashion ads, because I never saw very many in print. Too many ads were only published in Europe. Of course it used to give me a mission when travelling – looking for new ads. I’d like to say I’m saving time by using Pinterest to collect ads, but we both know that’s not really how it works!
LikeLike
Very cool Traveller’s Exclusive. Art in advertising says a lot about a company.
LikeLike
I’d really love it if they had an email list to let people know when new products were introduced. It would save me so much time!
LikeLike
Gorgeous bottles,Terri.Do you have them on display,where do you keep them?
Ranu
LikeLike
Thanks, Ranu. I have a display cabinet in one of my work rooms. They are crowded and you can’t see them all clearly, but they are all together.
LikeLike