Pernod Ricard absolutely doesn’t want Absolut … associated with hot female bartenders.

The beverages giant has pulled the vodka brand from a calendar for Revolution Vodka Bars in the UK, featuring their staffers in provocative poses.[more]

April’s image in the so-called Vodka Vixens calendar is a woman pouring vodka over herself, with the text, “Here’s to April showers.”

Revolution says an “administrative error” to blame for not getting valid permission from Absolut to be featured in the 2011 calendar and promotional video, and the company has reprinted new editions of the calendar minus Absolut. Brands that did remain in the calendar include Wyborowa, Zubrowka and 42Below.

While Pernod Ricard apparently isn’t willing to overtly use sex to sell Absolut, it’s not as though liquor ads (or most ads, for that matter) are populated by ugly models stuffed into chunky sweaters.

Rokk Vodka does a pretty good job of lampooning the sexy glamour that is the trademark of many liquor ads. The ad features an attractive blonde narrating while male “models” (see if you can spot SNL’s Andy Samberg) in white shirts are seductively sprayed with water in slo-mo − by a glum Viking with a hose.

The vodka industry has certainly done a good job of making itself a luxury status item in recent years, and it is a bold move for one of their own to pop that bubble of conceit. With so many vodka brands competing to see which one can be the coolest, it’s nice to see one with a sense of humor.