Bad Ads and the Media's Portrayal of Women

WindSock

Been meaning to start a thread here on this for a while, just got reminded of it from the soup thread. What ads annoy you the most for their portrayal of women? For me, I hate this cereal one. It is condescending about it being 'sexist' as it says, showing women, then flashes to a few men too...to even out the score, titter. Shame it didn't show the same proportion of flesh and crotch shots then :rolleyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kyIRIDQbug

Not to mention, still just about every household cleaning item has a woman in it and baby products.

And the first person with the epiphany who says 'well you're talking about it, it's what the advertisers want....etc' will get the wrath of a thousand rolleyes.

reallyrose

WindSock wrote: »

And the first person with the epiphany who says 'well you're talking about it, it's what the advertisers want....etc' will get the wrath of a thousand rolleyes.

I always wonder about this one. There are many products that I don't buy because the ad annoys me.
I've gone out of my way to select alternative products at times!

WesternNight

There's the one that has the mother of the family cooking three different meals for her family with everything ready for them the second they come through the door. Can't even remember what the ad is for.

And there's another one where the (male) voice-over says something to the effect of "It's Jane's job to do x, y and z" where the x, y and z are things like taking the kids to school, cooking dinner etc etc. Can't remember what that one was for either.

The one I really can't stand though, and this isn't sexist as such it's just stupid and presumptive, but the Clear Blue ad. All pregnancy test ads, actually. There's the automatic presumption that using this test will be so exciting and happy and all the rest of it. Which is annoying because if I had to use one of those in the near future I'd be sh*tting bricks, and wouldn't appreciate some woman going "oooh and now you can use this to see you far along you are! *squeeeee*" or similar. /rant

jill_valentine

I don't think it's fair to pick on the Alpen ad. There's a mild note of satire to it, it's relying on the audience's familiarity with established tropes, rather than the tropes themselves.

Kooli

WindSock wrote: »

Not to mention, still just about every household cleaning item has a woman in it and baby products.

Do you know what? I think I could just about handle that if that were the only problem, because let's face it, cleaning products ARE marketed at women, and the majority of people who do the cleaning in the home ARE women. So it would make no sense (from a marketing sense) to portray the target consumer audience as male.

But what bothers me is that a lot of those ads that portray women as the cleaners have an 'expert' who is either voiced/portrayed/caricatured as a man. So the poor woman who spends all her time cleaning either gets some words of wisdom from Barry Scott, or calls for help from Mr. Muscle, or gets the 'experts' in from that dishwasher company (all men in white coats). It is so ubiquitous we don't even notice anymore.

Not since the days of Nanette Newman has a famous and well-known ad portrayed a woman as the expert in the field of household cleaning.

So we're good enough to be the skivvy who cleans the kitchen, but not good enough to know how to do it properly.

amacachi

Kooli wrote: »

Do you know what? I think I could just about handle that if that were the only problem, because let's face it, cleaning products ARE marketed at women, and the majority of people who do the cleaning in the home ARE women. So it would make no sense (from a marketing sense) to portray the target consumer audience as male.

But what bothers me is that a lot of those ads that portray women as the cleaners have an 'expert' who is either voiced/portrayed/caricatured as a man. So the poor woman who spends all her time cleaning either gets some words of wisdom from Barry Scott, or calls for help from Mr. Muscle, or gets the 'experts' in from that dishwasher company (all men in white coats). It is so ubiquitous we don't even notice anymore.

Not since the days of Nanette Newman has a famous and well-known ad portrayed a woman as the expert in the field of household cleaning.

So we're good enough to be the skivvy who cleans the kitchen, but not good enough to know how to do it properly.

The other ads like that also remind everyone that other than these experts there is no man in the world capable of doing housework and to ask them is pointless. :pac:

I remember in Spain you'd see ads of men doing the household stuff, not so much here. It is a little annoying how many ads still stick to the old routine of mammy at home making the dinner while the kids and husband come home later on. I mean not just for women, but I imagine any stay at home guys out there must be feeling pretty marginalised. And all the kids' nutrition ads are for the mothers as well. Hey mothers, feed your kids sugary crap in the morning!!
Definitely annoying

Faith

I was going to agree about that Alpen ad, but then the guy with the beard winked at me, my insides zinged and I forget everything except how attractive he is :pac:. I think I might go buy some Alpen.

WesternNight wrote: »

The one I really can't stand though, and this isn't sexist as such it's just stupid and presumptive, but the Clear Blue ad. All pregnancy test ads, actually. There's the automatic presumption that using this test will be so exciting and happy and all the rest of it. Which is annoying because if I had to use one of those in the near future I'd be sh*tting bricks, and wouldn't appreciate some woman going "oooh and now you can use this to see you far along you are! *squeeeee*" or similar. /rant

I hate that too. Pregnancy tests exist to tell me whether the worst thing I can imagine has happened, not for me to go "Yay! I'm 7 weeks pregnant!". If I'm buying them, it's because I'm crapping myself that I've accidentally gotten knocked up.

I can't think of any ads off the top of my head that fit with the premise of this thread right now though.

WesternNight

WesternNight wrote: »

The one I really can't stand though, and this isn't sexist as such it's just stupid and presumptive, but the Clear Blue ad. All pregnancy test ads, actually. There's the automatic presumption that using this test will be so exciting and happy and all the rest of it. Which is annoying because if I had to use one of those in the near future I'd be sh*tting bricks, and wouldn't appreciate some woman going "oooh and now you can use this to see you far along you are! *squeeeee*" or similar. /rant

The original version of that ad was absolutely hilarious. They had a line at the end where she said "the only thing it can't tell you..." - pause - "...is if it's a boy or girl!"
Myself and every single person who happened to see the ad exclaimed "who the father is!" during the pause They finally got rid of that line

Ophiopogon

An ad from a while ago, I think it was for northern Ireland milk, really made me angry. It was a cartoon showing a 'busy mum' in a supermarket and the voice over saying 'Get the milk in mum'. Its was basically saying that only one parent is in charge of a childs nutritional needs :mad:

I can't stand the domestic ads being directed at women, i think its lazy marketing. I understand that people will say that the its a higher % of women doing the shopping but I really don't think that is entirely true. I think products that are not use by just one sex (tampons, etc) should never be marketed as single sex.

Truley

Come on guys - it's marketing! It's there to make you buy things and make money for companies, not spearhead radical social change :P

I don't watch ads full stop, this is why I don't even have a TV.

LenaClaire

There was a radio ad about these two women who lose their cars or get them stolen (I think one left the keys in the car and the other did something equally stupid) - but it is all okay because McDonald's has Bagels now!

They sounded like the stupidest, ditziest women who could barely remember to breath. It was like these were regular occasions for these idiot women. Thank god the people at McDonald's have something to appease their poor, scattered, female brains.

It used to make my eye twitch every time it came on the radio.

krudler

Its stereotyping, but theres some element of truth in every stereotype.
Irish people aer stereotyped as a nation of drinkers, go into any town centre on a Satruday night to see that in full effect, does it mean every single person who's Irish is a massive pisshead? nope. but theres truth in it.
Same with marketing things that are primarily bought by women to women. Of course there are single fathers who make sure their kids are eating healthy, but they're in a minority, and marketing isnt there to appeal to minorites, its business not a social commentary. go into Dunnes and Tesco any day of the week and the majority of the time it'd be a woman doing shopping with her kids in tow, you'll see dads or both parents doing it too, but just not as many. Is it lazy advertising? sure, is it effective, yes.

I hate those Boots ads, the "here come the girls" campaign, its so bloody patronising for both women and men, apparently all women who shop at Boots are a gang of cackling mischievous girlie girls at office parties who only buy pink hair straighteners and poke fun at how useless men are at buying presents. stupid adverts.

Chuck Stone

What about the 'bad mother, bad mother, bad mother, bad mother *introduce product* good mother, good mother, good mother' ads. They particularly piss me off.

They suggest that a mother is literally endangering her child if she doesn't have the product.




are men allowed in here?

krudler

Chuck Stone wrote: »

What about the 'bad mother, bad mother, bad mother, bad mother *introduce product* good mother, good mother, good mother' ads. They particularly piss me off.

They suggest that a mother is literally endangering her child if she doesn't have the product.

But dont you know without using a particular brand of disenfectant wipes you're putting you and everyone in the house in mortal danger?

I hate how we're being told we're a planet of wusses these days, did our parents use antibacterial wipes every time they touched something? nope. did we as kids? nope. yet apparently the current generation is going to drop dead at the first sight of a germ. We get bombarded with germs and bacteria everywhere, every day for our entire lives.

"your child ate a sweet that was on the kitchen counter, now its dead"

pfft, we had the "if it falls on the ground, pick it up and blow on it, if it was there less than 3 seconds you'll be grand" rule.

I love not having tv channels anymore, no more bombarded with stupid ads and being treated like a moron.

Ophiopogon

krudler wrote: »

Its stereotyping, but theres some element of truth in every stereotype.
Irish people aer stereotyped as a nation of drinkers, go into any town centre on a Satruday night to see that in full effect, does it mean every single person who's Irish is a massive pisshead? nope. but theres truth in it.
Same with marketing things that are primarily bought by women to women. Of course there are single fathers who make sure their kids are eating healthy, but they're in a minority, and marketing isnt there to appeal to minorites, its business not a social commentary. go into Dunnes and Tesco any day of the week and the majority of the time it'd be a woman doing shopping with her kids in tow, you'll see dads or both parents doing it too, but just not as many. Is it lazy advertising? sure, is it effective, yes.

I hate those Boots ads, the "here come the girls" campaign, its so bloody patronising for both women and men, apparently all women who shop at Boots are a gang of cackling mischievous girlie girls at office parties who only buy pink hair straighteners and poke fun at how useless men are at buying presents. stupid adverts.

Yeah I do agree and I know its idealistic to say that they could ignore the fact the its an effective marketing strategy and try something different but thats what annoys me is it's laziness.

I feel that about of a lot of ads that don't seem to have been given much thought other than 'it worked before so just copy the format'. Marketing can be fun and interesting but mostly it just seem to boring and repetitive.

mike65

Could be worse, could be ads showing women as child beaters, wreckless drivers or unable to function with a slight cold.

krudler

^ might be worth discussing in TGC too for a male perspective instead of turning both threads into a gender war, I agree though, men do get bad portrayals in advertising a lot, apparently none of us know how to work a washing machine, must be someone else washing my clothes for me so :pac:

Links234

Mitchell and Webb lampooned the advertising quite well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85HT4Om6JT4

mike65

krudler

Fair enough (maybe we need a LL/TGC merged sub forum!)

panda100

The ad that is pissing me of at the mo is the 'Proud sponsers of mums' adverts. Its so patronising saying mums are at the heart of everything the company does, when you know there probably isn't one mother on their corporate board.

ladypip

The always ad with the tagline "have a happy period" Seriously who came up with that idea!! it makes my eye twitch when i see it!!

diddlybit

Faith wrote: »

I hate that too. Pregnancy tests exist to tell me whether the worst thing I can imagine has happened, not for me to go "Yay! I'm 7 weeks pregnant!". If I'm buying them, it's because I'm crapping myself that I've accidentally gotten knocked up.

That's what I want to see, a pregnancy test ad that involves celebrations when it's negative. It would sell millions I reckon. Or a tampon ad that doesn't involve soft lightly and overwhelmingly chripy women dancing along a promenade holding hands.

There is this though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpypeLL1dAs&feature=player_embedded

What I really hate about cleaning advertising that feature men is that it's either one of two things.

a) men in drag. (I have no idea why this is considered a marketing tool.)
b) a man that despite his reluctence to clean up does so and finds a secret trick so that his life is so much easier than his wife's. What springs to mind is the Flash ads, when that little smarmy guy discovers Flash and his dope of a wife has beens crubbing away at the bathroom for aeons. Does he share the secret? Nah, why would he?

krudler

ladypip wrote: »

The always ad with the tagline "have a happy period" Seriously who came up with that idea!! it makes my eye twitch when i see it!!

and why's the liquid always blue?

Its like advert executive have a template that they just wont break? so according to marketing people:

Women are all either:
housewives
mothers to useless husbands and boyfriends
expert gift buyers
supermums
go rollerblading on their periods
sole purchasers of weekly shop

Men are all either:
rubbish dads who cant feed their kids properly
dangerous drivers
useless at buying gifts/forgetting anniversaries
can't work household appliances
can't do household chores properly (unless in drag)

Satan, thy name is marketers.

goose2005

What I really dislike in disinfectant ads is that it seems to imply that a table covered in bleach is safer than one that just has a bit of dirt on it!

diddlybit

krudler wrote: »

Satan, thy name is marketers.

None of it's very original is it?

I find marketing food products towards women follows three predictable lines.

1) It's an occassional treat becuase it's fattening. In these instances chocolate is a product akin to a masrubatory aid, you do it on your own and enjoy it on your own. Your also hide it like you would hide a sex toy. The ads are softly lit and sexualised, think Flake or Galaxy.

2) Treats that are permissable to eat, dietary foods or chocolate that isn't "bad" for you. Special K and Maltesers are the ones that spring to mind. Cue lots of sharing of this new found magic product and female bonding over the common shared interest, diets. Becuase what else could women bond over aside diets.

If there isn't female bonding the effects of dietry product also usuallly calculated through appreciation from a husband, boyfriend, man on street. No fear of dieting for yourself or to be more healthy, no it's for a man.

3) Marketing food towards mothers. As someone rightly pointed out it's a guilt strategy of bad mother metmorphosing into good mother. On occassion, to the criticism of her family which is pretty replusive. What is very strange about these ads is that the woman is always the last person to eat, and will not eat until she witnesses her family tucking in.

Social entertaining is usually cooked by men. I have no idea why.

krudler

diddlybit wrote: »

None of it's very original is it?

I find marketing food products towards women follows three predictable lines.

1) It's an occassional treat becuase it's fattening. In these instances chocolate is a product akin to a masrubatory aid, you do it on your own and enjoy it on your own. Your also hide it like you would hide a sex toy. The ads are softly lit and sexualised, think Flake or Galaxy.

I'd love a realistic version of that ad, with the woman trying to climb into the bath without breaking the Flake bar into pieces, have you ever tried to open a Flake? messiest chocolate bar there is, and this girl manages to get one, in whole form, unwrapped, into a bath with her? shenanigans!

Faith

I've thought of one (two) that really annoy me. Diet Coke and Coke Zero.

Diet Coke ad, aimed at women :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cNgwoAl2SM

The implication being that female bosses are bitches, and females in general can't handle a big work load and have to get the support of dozens of colleagues to cope.

Now an ad for Coke Zero, aimed at men:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7LMZJ_Fb1g

Men are superheroes who can achieve impossible tasks before breakfast. :rolleyes:

panda100

That butter ad with the Irish girls having a night out singing 'Kids in America' is the worst. They are all really annoying!

Blowfish

diddlybit wrote: »

2) Treats that are permissable to eat, dietary foods or chocolate that isn't "bad" for you. Special K and Maltesers are the ones that spring to mind. Cue lots of sharing of this new found magic product and female bonding over the common shared interest, diets. Becuase what else could women bond over aside diets.

Of course, the irony of these is that the likes of Special K really aren't actually good for you either.

Chuck Stone

And the Pizza Hut ad.

Each family member is doing their own thing in their own room. A fractured individualised family that rarely act like a real family should.

How is this solved..? How can mum bring the family together? Easy, she turns of the electricity at the mains and shouts 'Hut'.

Yay! In an instant the whole family are together as a happy fully functional unit down at Pizza Hut and not a scrap of of extra body fat to be seen on any one of those chirpy bastards.

:rolleyes:

I like this game.