Mila Kunis defends those bourbon ads

Mila Kunis is the new spokeswoman for Jim Beam.

Mila Kunis has defended her new role as a spokeswoman for a popular alcohol brand, saying she deliberately didn't play the role of a "girl in a bikini".

The Friends With Benefits actress is the new spokeswoman for Jim Beam, and while she says she's not trying to change the masculine image of the spirit, she wasn't going to give in to alcohol advertising cliches either.

"Breaking the stereotype of bourbon being a boys drink is really not necessarily my goal - I'm not trying to break any barriers," she told nzherald.co.nz.

"It's just that I think showing that a girl doesn't have to be in a bikini half-naked with an alcoholic beverage for it to be sexy, is a cool thing."

Kunis' role in the global marketing campaign, which will hit 100 countries, includes a series of TV ads where she learns how bourbon is made, rolls a 225kg barrel of bourbon, learns the "Kentucky chew" and stretches her acting chops as a time-travelling guide through the brand's history.

One of the seven ads was filmed in New Zealand, although the actress shot her role in it in Los Angeles just after she wrapped work on her upcoming sci-fi blockbuster, Jupiter Ascending.

Kunis sparked headlines recently with a rumoured engagement to her former That '70s Show co-star Ashton Kutcher, but personal questions were strictly off-limits when she spoke exclusively to nzherald.co.nz.

She offered the standard Hollywood desire to visit New Zealand "one day", but it's hard to see when. Right now she is flat out, having just completed three new films, including The Angriest Man in Brooklyn with Robin Williams and Game of Thrones' Peter Dinklage.

"There's no difference between shooting ads and movies - they are very similar. You are just telling a story in a short space of time. Or at least, you're trying to," Kunis said.

Kunis expects a second series of ads to be shot later this year to "continue the story-telling" - but there's no word on whether they will finally bring her to New Zealand shores.

- nzherald.co.nz