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jlhThere's been a lot of talk about the Super Bowl commercials, especially the creepy Dodge Charger ad—the guys who were at the party I went to were all annoyed by that one. I read a blog discussing the ad and a man commented saying that he didn't think it was misogynous so much as appealing to a wish to be immature, that all the things listed were things that grown-ups do, but the Charger let you be a little boy.
And that got me thinking about how much Mother is the enforcer of growing up, the barrier to fun and adventure (hence her absence from almost every children's story and most YA novels, whether physical or emotional). For adults, that gets extended to women in general—first it was your mother getting you to be mature, and now it's your wife. Boys will be boys means that men want to be boys as much as possible. So maturity and femininity get mixed up
But rare is the ad that appeals to women wanting to be immature. Girls want to be women—they're sexualized early, and most of the advertising targeted to us are about being more sexually appealing or being a better mom, which of course are related.*
Which immediately made me think of the current Electrolux appliance campaign starring Kelly Ripa.
Back when I was in marketing I worked on products that targeted moms, and time saving is a big deal for them; they have a lot on their plate whether they work outside the home or not. But I've never seen an ad that said so blatantly that they wanted to save time on their household chores in order to do more household chores. Usually the time saved was spent having fun with family, connecting with spouse, or grabbing some alone time with a book or favorite TV show—that is, "quality time." But at no moment in this ad is Kelly shown doing anything for herself, or just relaxing; she's always doing things for other people.
I console myself with the knowledge that most cultural products aren't reflective, but normative. They aren't evidence of gender roles as lived, so much as enforcement of societal expectations. Even in the studies and focus groups and such that lead to ads like this people often parrot gender roles as they understand they should be, rather than how they live them.
But mostly I'm just glad that the guys at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
calloocallay and soupkills's Super Bowl party thought a Dodge Charger wasn't enough of a reward for acting like an irresponsible jerk.
*Part of this is that most of the products that have heavy advertising budgets are the kind of household products that are still mostly bought by women in their role as head of the household—packaged goods, aka everything in the grocery store that isn't fresh; plus beauty/grooming/hygiene products (even those for men are mostly bought by wives/mothers).
And that got me thinking about how much Mother is the enforcer of growing up, the barrier to fun and adventure (hence her absence from almost every children's story and most YA novels, whether physical or emotional). For adults, that gets extended to women in general—first it was your mother getting you to be mature, and now it's your wife. Boys will be boys means that men want to be boys as much as possible. So maturity and femininity get mixed up
But rare is the ad that appeals to women wanting to be immature. Girls want to be women—they're sexualized early, and most of the advertising targeted to us are about being more sexually appealing or being a better mom, which of course are related.*
Which immediately made me think of the current Electrolux appliance campaign starring Kelly Ripa.
Back when I was in marketing I worked on products that targeted moms, and time saving is a big deal for them; they have a lot on their plate whether they work outside the home or not. But I've never seen an ad that said so blatantly that they wanted to save time on their household chores in order to do more household chores. Usually the time saved was spent having fun with family, connecting with spouse, or grabbing some alone time with a book or favorite TV show—that is, "quality time." But at no moment in this ad is Kelly shown doing anything for herself, or just relaxing; she's always doing things for other people.
I console myself with the knowledge that most cultural products aren't reflective, but normative. They aren't evidence of gender roles as lived, so much as enforcement of societal expectations. Even in the studies and focus groups and such that lead to ads like this people often parrot gender roles as they understand they should be, rather than how they live them.
But mostly I'm just glad that the guys at
calloocallay and soupkills's Super Bowl party thought a Dodge Charger wasn't enough of a reward for acting like an irresponsible jerk.*Part of this is that most of the products that have heavy advertising budgets are the kind of household products that are still mostly bought by women in their role as head of the household—packaged goods, aka everything in the grocery store that isn't fresh; plus beauty/grooming/hygiene products (even those for men are mostly bought by wives/mothers).
no subject
Date: 2010-02-13 02:05 am (UTC)For me, the skeeviest commercials on tv today are the E*Trade ads that sexualize the toddlers of both sexes. Last year, the last line from the starring male toddler as he watched a live feed was "She's a bad girl. A very bad girl." This year, the Super Bowl ad featured a female toddler chastising him for standing her up to spent time with that "milkaholic." These ads, in my opinion, are just gross.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-13 02:44 pm (UTC)I suppose it's a lack of communication, though I think that most of these things get said. It's just that no one likes to say them. It wouldn't be so bad if Oprah didn't keep doing shows about men having affairs where they basically said that while to their wives they were a husband who did or didn't take out the trash, to the lover they only had to be a lover, and they were looked up to and had their ego fed and all this other stuff.