In case you're interested in commenting on something other than poetry, there is never a lack of sexist content in the world of commercial advertising. The two that have most recently caused a stir come from two of America's favorite brands, the Chrysler Group LLC, and Dr. Pepper/Seven Up Ind.
Dr. Pepper's ad is meant to promote their new Dr. Pepper 10 (with 10 calories) to men, with the thought that low calorie drinks are normally tailored to women. The slogan "It's not for women" has received an ample amount of critique, though Dr. Pepper's CEO Larry Young is apparently thrilled with the product’s reception thus far, even saying that moms are picking up Dr. Pepper 10 for the kids.
As for the commercial from our friends over at Dodge, well... just watch. Apparently the time has come for men to break out of the matriarchal system or something like that.
Fortunately, Dodge's commercial has received quite a bit more critique than Dr. Pepper's, possibly because it more directly attacks gender equality and even goes as far as to say that men are the oppressed gender. There are many response videos made by feminist groups about this one, but I found the following clip to be most amusing.
I don't watch a lot of tv so I hadn't seen these commercials yet but I appreciate Kevin introducing them on the blog. Personally, it's still somewhat shocking how these commercials, as well as a lot of other media, illustrate how ingrained patriarchy is in our society and, with that, how acceptable it has become. Even more to this point is the fact that, prior to this semester, I probably would not have recognized these commercials as conforming to patriarchy (maybe the Dodge one, but definitely not the Dr. Pepper one). It seems obvious to me now but before I would've just rolled my eyes and accepted it, which is largely the problem. Majority of society still perceives sexism as no longer a problem and feminists as "man-haters".
ReplyDeleteAll this was illustrated to me again over break while having dinner with a friend from high school. He made a joke roughly along the lines of the perfect woman being submissive and attentive to the needs of her man; he meant nothing by it and is not a sexist person so I laughed. But then I asked him if the same joke could be used in the reverse (i.e. "perfect man submitting to his woman's every need"). His immediate response was absolutely not, again in a joking manner though. This led to a joking argument about the issue where he claimed outright that feminists are "man-haters" (unfortunately, at his school he took intro to feminism with a professor who actually was more along these line and therefore was a very poor representation of a true feminist). Like I said, he is not sexist but his mindset in and of itself reinforces socially accepted patriarchy and shows how thoroughly engrained it is in our everyday lives. For the record though, he eventually came around about the joke when he realized I was looking for a more serious answer from him.
All in all, nothing I've written profound or different from anything we've talked about in class. More or less, it's just me reiterating that (since taking both this and another class this semester) I feel a new sense of disappointment at the consistent societal conformity to systems of oppression that are supposedly problems of the past - systems that are both illustrated in these commercials and that are encountered in my daily life.
That Dr. Pepper commercial made me so mad when I saw it during the Macy's Day Parade! Especially because in the end that crap is really bad for you anyways....The commercial reminded me of a small moment in the Anne Carson in which she describes a group of supposedly marginalized men with effeminate voices. I ever wonder whether those men who don't naturally fit the patriarchal definition of manliness will stand up for themselves in defense of their marginalized characteristics and inadvertently do some good for the feminist effort...(or perhaps purposefully, that would be excellent)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you brought this up. I've never actually seen this specific commercial before, but I feel like there are a lot of ads like this- maybe not as blatant, but the more you take notice, the more you find stereotypes of gender roles, race, class, etc. I think the advertising industry is one of the biggest perpetrators of sexism, racism, etc. because they are blatantly targeting a certain audience for (ie: middle-aged women and cleaning products) because this is where they make money. Its interesting to see how some things change over time though, for instance, has anyone seen the commercial for ky intense that actually features two women in a sexual relationship? It usually airs on MTV. It shows an obvious target market, but at least has adapted to contemporary culture. However, it makes you wonder, are they changing in response to society or is it the other way around?
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/x0lZuB1DyhM
ReplyDeleteI've just read and discussed Fight Club for another class, and the Dodge commercial, as well as the reactions to the commercial, seem to parallel some of the discussion that went on in my class. The reclamation of masculinity that takes place in Fight Club seems to have resonated with so many young males, with absolutely no recognition of the element of parody at work (I'm assuming most have seen the movie at least). The discussion I had in class today didn't ignore the element of parody, but we still spent a significant amount of time detailing why men feel feminized in our culture today. One individual, an older gentlemen auditing the class, went on a diatribe explaining how over the course of the years men have taken on female roles throughout society--his tone implying a sort of tragic pacification of some primordial male spirit.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, all of this reminded me of the conversation that surrounded the Dodge commercial when it first aired at the time of the super bowl. A few female friends of mine were pretty ticked and most of the male friends were trying to ameliorate the situation by emphasizing the fact that it's "just a joke." Specifically, the connection I see between the reaction to the Dodge commercial and the reaction to Fight Club has to do with how both exemplify the way parody can often be very confusing once it enters public discourse. Both the original Dodge commercial as well as the YouTube video made in response, employ a certain kind of parody, in my opinion. This reminds me of a point Retallack makes in response to Butler’s notion of making gender trouble through subversive means. In her essay that we read for class Retallack sees parody as a type of (sub)version that ultimately comes to reinforce the masculine version that’s being challenged. The original Dodge commercial can easily be written off by people who know it's not okay to characterize women that way, as simply a joke, while other viewers probably identify with it in a more serious manner (as certain men do with Fight Club). And, while I really enjoyed the youtube video response to the commercial, I don't feel that it really accomplished anything other than a certain vengeance. What I'm getting at, is parody seems a bit dangerous, especially so in the hands of advertisers who just want to make a splash, get people talking, angry, complaining, etc. And advertising is full of this type of humor, which is often culturally condoned because it’s funny (and if you’re not laughing then it’s obviously, or so I've been told, because you just don’t have sense of humor…).
After watching these commercials and reading the responses to these posts, I did some internet research on feminism and advertising. What I found during this brief exploration was actually quite shocking. It seems that the majority of the non-academic population (I'm talking about people who read Yahoo! articles to get their information, not scholarly journals) believe that sexism is minimal in today's advertisements. Women are no longer _only_ portrayed in the 50s housewife role--they're independent, they're doing things that men do, they're in Home Depot commercials. It was the feminist movement in the 60s and 70s that helped bring women out of their traditional role in advertising.
ReplyDeleteHowever, from the Dodge and Dr. Pepper ads it is apparent that sexism is still rampant in advertising. Over fifty years after the movement took hold in America, we still seem to be stuck beneath some kind of ceiling. Is a woman dressed in lingerie any better than a woman dressed in a 50s dress with an iron in her hand? Is the "de-feminization" of man acceptable at the cost of the oppression of woman in advertising? I believe that for where the feminist movement is at at this day in age, advertising is seriously lagging and, like Ana said, I believe it to be one of the main perpetrators of ongoing sexism in our society.