Gentlemen who like ladies take note: your footwear matters. Don’t believe me? Ask nearly any woman what the first thing they check out on a guy is (and no Romeo, it’s not your butt) and you’ll find that it’s your choice of foot cladding that tops the list. Sharp shoes are universally impressive while stupid choices tend to equal a colossal waste of time. As the saying goes (and Bozo the clown proved) “shoes make the man.” It’s logical when you think about it. Shoes are like roots, they form the base of the man and if a guy can’t get his base together then what the heck good is he?

What you wear on your feet affects your attitude and your personality. Think about that house party where they made you remove your mud-encrusted shoes just to enter. You shuffled around the place like some genderless dweeb while the hot girls towered over you in their indoor-approved heels. How can you not look like some pee-stained pre-schooler as you rub your stocking-ed feet together trying to hide the holes deftly sliced through by your Neanderthal-like toenails?

It is at this nexus between shoes and socks that the flip-flop plies its trade. The name says it all. More of a descriptive sound than title, flip-flop succinctly and correctly describes the style of footwear it represents perfectly. There is almost nothing practical about these shoes. Walking in them requires practice to avoid losing them. You get to feel and absorb nearly every crack, rock or twig you tread on and are required to mentally block out the rhythmic slapping sound they produce just to protect your sanity. And forget about running. In fact, doing anything at all beyond padding around a pool deck is an exercise in frustration. These flappy flibbets seem designed exclusively for those with absolutely nowhere to go and absolutely nothing to do.

Enter Malibu Rum – a creation of the islands (we are told) and their laid-back way of life. In their currently running ad we open on a pair of bright white flip flops pushing the pedals of a yellow bike. The camera pulls back to reveal a handsome and studiously unshaven young man wearing a dark suit and cycling along with a carefree smile on his face. We follow with him as he observes many other be-suited individuals wearing their tell-tale flip-flops. Everywhere he goes we see folks sporting the footwear of freedom. They even appear on the feet of what could only be Secret Service agents running alongside a presidential motorcade. Well yo-yo-yo, the whole town is casual, man! The agents are even playing Frisbee for pity’s sake. Eventually our hunky dude drops his bike and heads into a hotel, stopping just long enough to make the city’s lone loser feel like a doof for wearing sensible shoes. Hunky guy proceeds up the stairs to alight on the hotel’s festively appropriate rooftop party where of course everyone cool is partying together in their flip-flopped awesomeness.

It’s a great ad. Even though I can’t stand wearing flip flops myself, the use of them in the ad perfectly conveys a lifestyle of freedom from responsibility and effort like few others could do. As I watched hunky dude roll through the streets with Malibu on his mind and flips on his feet I was momentarily transported to a slower, more laid back way of life. Slip on a pair of those bad daddies, shoot some Malibu rum and you too can abandon any desire to get ahead in life. They’re for chillin’, not for climbing no corporate ladders, mon. Go ahead and test it out – attend your next job interview dangling a bottle of Malibu from your hip while wearing flip flops and see how far you get.

The pros say the new campaign is targeted at the brand's core 18- to 24-year-old female consumers, who they claim account for 40% of Malibu’s brand volumes. This means that while your ultra-casual job interview may not lead to any officially paid employment you might just win over the sexy-suited HR manager whose been looking for an island boy to keep back in her pricey urban condo-loft. And why not? There’s more than one way to provide for oneself when you posses the spirit of the islands. Now that’s livin’ mon.