Fun Stuff > CHATTER
Women imagined in advertising => Gender, sex and society
Boro_Bandito:
Basically exactly what Tania just said, but adding to it that in all of those commercials the men are just another one of the lovable but messy kids, who have no responsibility and can NEVER clean. Seriously, those commercials are only directed at women, and they never have the father go "Oh well! I love cleaning!", no, its almost more insulting, they have him being some giant retarded man-baby who couldn't wipe himself without the wife, but yet is still the bread winner for the family. And in the commercials where the man does clean up the mess, its because he's outsmarted by the wiles of the wife. "Okay honeybun, I'll use JUST ONE of the downy ultra-soft and strong double-quilted towels with ultra clean technology, and then you have to clean up the rest!"
This may or may not have to do with the fact that I'm the cleaner in the family anyway (its not enjoyment so much as OH SHIT THERE'S A SPECK OF DUST AND GAH THE CARPET HAS CAT HAIR VACUUUUUUUM!!!!)
Gurkburk:
Seeing how I'm a Design and Communications students at least some of my future work will have to deal with this. Now the ethics of this are, to me at least, not all that complicated since we have very detailed laws in place in Sweden pertaining what you can and can't do with an ad in regards to women. For example you can't objectify a girl by having her pose nude next to a set of tires, if you're trying to sell the tires.
Now with clothes it gets a bit trickier since you're almost required to have models and the fact of the matter is that having ugly people in your ad, other than as a gimmick, most likely won't sell you more clothes than with pretty people.
I really don't think advertisement alone is to blame for the negative self-image that some people get, girls for the matter of this discussion I suppose. For the most part advertisements only mirrors other aspects of pop culture since the point is to associate your product with something positive to the consumer. Instead of blaming the ads maybe you should ask why there are no hollywood actresses or pop singers that look more "normal"?
supersheep:
--- Quote from: Boro_Bandito on 27 Feb 2009, 08:08 ---Basically exactly what Tania just said, but adding to it that in all of those commercials the men are just another one of the lovable but messy kids, who have no responsibility and can NEVER clean. Seriously, those commercials are only directed at women, and they never have the father go "Oh well! I love cleaning!", no, its almost more insulting, they have him being some giant retarded man-baby who couldn't wipe himself without the wife, but yet is still the bread winner for the family. And in the commercials where the man does clean up the mess, its because he's outsmarted by the wiles of the wife. "Okay honeybun, I'll use JUST ONE of the downy ultra-soft and strong double-quilted towels with ultra clean technology, and then you have to clean up the rest!"
This may or may not have to do with the fact that I'm the cleaner in the family anyway (its not enjoyment so much as OH SHIT THERE'S A SPECK OF DUST AND GAH THE CARPET HAS CAT HAIR VACUUUUUUUM!!!!)
--- End quote ---
I'm going to wait a while before diving into this thread, because I should be working on college stuff, but I noticed this and thought I'd point out that Flash products in the UK and Ireland are advertised by a man doing the cleaning. Of course, it's still stereotypical man-ness (Let's clean up at half time, oh no don't let the wife know it only took us five minutes, now we can watch the footie again blah blah blah) but there are some cleaning ads that are at least less overtly sexist.
eddie:
What happened to Mr Muscle? It used about this skinny guy who had a tough time cleaning now its this woman who's in trouble till Mr Muscle comes and saves her.
Alex C:
Advertising certainly has a huge part to play in perpetuating gender roles, and it's unlikely to change any time soon because the goal is to make as much money as possible; being socially responsible is a tertiary goal at best. Many stereotypes are being supported by ads not because people are motivated by sexism, but because there's products out there that would quickly be rendered obsolete by a dramatic shift in cultural expectations. For example, I'd imagine Gillette would be rather devestated if women were to suddenly stop shaving their legs (a practice that developed alongside the safety razor, might I add). Clearly, they have an interest making women think they're expected to shave their legs and that they will be found unattractive if they don't. Playing to insecurities is simply a part of the capitalist business model.
Still, I do understand why people are weirded out by some of the products and advertisements that bring a laser focus onto sexuality and gender roles even if it's a relatively unrelated product (beer ads with bikini models anyone). For example, I know people like to feel attractive; being pretty comes with a certain amount of built-in social status. But man, what's the deal with halloween costumes? If you're female, it appears that your options are sexy cat, sexy nurse, sexy cop, sexy devil, sexy prisoner, sexy witch and sexy maid. One time I saw a nun costume, but the joke there was that the woman wearing it was pregnant. I think a detect a pattern here.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version