Brazil govt seeks to ban TV ads featuring scantily-clad Gisele Bundchen

Morag

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/29/gisele-bundchen-brazilian-supermodel-commercial

She is one of Brazil's most successful exports; a 1.80 metre (5ft 11in) supermodel whose meteoric rise to catwalk fame has transformed her into one of the wealthiest, most recognisable women on earth.

But Gisele Bündchen's latest project, a lingerie campaign for the Brazilian label Hope, has appalled government officials in her homeland and led to calls for the "sexist" and "stereotyped" adverts to be axed.

The campaign includes several TV spots, one of which features a scantily-clad Bündchen, trying to appease her husband after committing a series of marital blunders: crashing his car, maxing his credit card and, worst of all, inviting his mother-in-law to stay.

Bündchen's solution? To seduce her furious husband, using the company's new underwear line. The advert's voiceover tells viewers: "You're a Brazilian woman – use your charm".

Government officials from the women's secretariat in Brasilia failed to see the funny side, demanding it be pulled from television schedules.

"The campaign promotes the misguided stereotype of a woman as a sexual object of her husband and ignores the major advances we have achieved in deconstructing sexist practices and thinking," the secretariat said this week in a statement.

Officials said they had received at least six complaints from outraged viewers since the campaign went to air on 20 September.

"The model, Gisele Bündchen, encourages Brazilian women to use their 'charm' … to lessen possible reactions from their partners," the statement added, claiming that the advert contained "discriminatory content against women" – an infringement of two articles of the Brazilian constitution.

In a statement, Sandra Chayo, the lingerie company's director, hit back, claiming that the campaign "never intended to come across as sexist".

"Gisele can testify that all of the situations shown in the campaign are jokes about daily life … in no way should they be taken as being depreciative of the feminine figure. It would be absurd for us, who make a living off the preferences of women, to do anything to devalue our main consumer."

The lingerie campaign – dubbed "naturally beautiful" – was created by Giovanni+Draftfcb, an advertising firm with offices in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Bündchen, who has been tipped to become the world's first billionaire supermodel, has yet to comment on the furore.

The controversy over the advert's portrayal of women, comes nine months after equal opportunity campaigners commemorated the election of Brazil's first female president, Dilma Rousseff.

In a recent interview with Newsweek magazine, Rousseff, who earlier this month became the first female head of state to open proceedings at the annual United Nations general assembly, said attitudes towards women were changing in Brazil. She recounts the story of a young girl who, during last year's presidential campaign, asked her: "Can a woman be president?"

"I don't know if it is a new world, but the world is changing," Rousseff told the magazine. "For a girl to even ask about being president is a sign of progress."

In her first speech as "presidenta", Rousseff told her audience: "Yes, women can." Three key positions in her cabinet, including chief of staff, are currently occupied by women.

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

Looks like there has been a lot of change in Brazil the last few years.
The adds are stupid, they also imply men are stupid.

Logical Fallacy

Sharrow wrote: »

Looks like there has been a lot of change in Brazil the last few years.
The adds are stupid, they also imply men are stupid.

Weird, i was gonna post this over in the Gentleman's Club and make that point!!! Yes the ad shows women as "sex objects" but it also shows men as easily manipulated tools who will put up with anything for a bit of sex. Getting quite tired of that image i must say.

I imagine the argument will be that the ad is empowering as it tells women to use to their natural beauty to their advantage etc etc etc but in reality it's just another crap ad in a long line of crap ads.

Obviously the impact of having a Madam Presidenta is shaking things up in Brazil a bit.

Morag

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

Weird, i was gonna post this over in the Gentleman's Club and make that point!!! Yes the ad shows women as "sex objects" but it also shows men as easily manipulated tools who will put up with anything for a bit of sex. Getting quite tired of that image i must say.

No reason why you can't

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

I imagine the argument will be that the ad is empowering as it tells women to use to their natural beauty to their advantage etc etc etc but in reality it's just another crap ad in a long line of crap ads.

I don't think its empowering to say that women can just prostitute themselves in a relationship to get what they want or to abdicate responsibility for their actions, that leads to very screwed up thinking and the notion that being good looking is enough of an achievement for any woman.

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

Obviously the impact of having a Madam Presidenta is shaking things up in Brazil a bit.

Yup.

WesternNight

It's not so much the "use your charm" bit that bothers me, but moreso the stereotype of the "marital blunders" she's supposed to have made - crashing the car ('cause women are shít drivers), maxing out the credit card ('cause women just can't help themselves when it comes to shopping) and inviting her mother to stay.

It's just so unoriginal.

mike65

She can crash my car any time.

(mike65 BC)

FetchTheGin

If she makes a few $ doing it, what is the harm?

If the advertising works then they should continue doing it, it is the people that buy into such idiotic stereotypes that should know better.

WesternNight

FetchTheGin wrote: »

it is the people that buy into such idiotic stereotypes that should know better.

Out of curiosity, do you think that a stereotype would be bought into more or less if such a stereotype was perpetrated in the media? And would that stereotype be bought into more or less if it was not perpetrated in the media?

Dudess

Yeah, chicken or egg? I studied this a bit though, and it appears the answer is somewhere in the middle.

I'm torn about this - it does use stereotyping (of men and women) but it is kinda funny IMO.

FetchTheGin

WesternNight wrote: »

Out of curiosity, do you think that a stereotype would be bought into more or less if such a stereotype was perpetrated in the media? And would that stereotype be bought into more or less if it was not perpetrated in the media?

I absolutely think that if these adverts weren't portraying women like this then I cannot see them being as successful as they are.

When you are trying to get a mass audience to buy your product, it is easier to appeal to a stereotype than try and market it as something different.

I agree it's lazy advertising, but it's effective.

Ickle Magoo

Mike65 infracted.

This is the Ladies Lounge, by all means contribute meaningfully to threads but driving by just to throw in smutty innuendo is neither appropriate nor appreciated.

Please take the time to read the rules in the forum charter here and abide by them.

Sonics2k

It's a kinda a double edged sword really.

On the one hand it says Women can use their bodies and physical attraction to get out of trouble with their partner (let's not beat around the bush, it happens quite often and it's not necessarily a bad thing depending on what happened e.g. whoops I forgot to put the Trash out last night).

On the other hand it says Men are stupid and can be easily manipulated by their partners. Again, it's kinda true. (See Trash comment above)

Dudess

I really don't see the problem with women or men using their bodies to make money (once it's their choice obviously). I guess it depends on context though. This ad is pretty lame - if it wasn't so explicitly adhering to stereotypes though, I wouldn't see a problem with it, and quite frankly would not like a government to have too much of a say in the way things are advertised.
That said, I wouldn't like a Berlusconiation of media either, and the way young female pop singers pretty much have to get overtly sexy in order to sell records is a bit distasteful to me...

I guess the skimpy lingerie element isn't what's considered the only issue with this ad. It would be quite interesting if it was though, given how "sexy" Brazilian mainstream culture can be...

("Records", "pop singers" - how old do I sound...?! :pac:)

pickarooney

Why would a billionaire need to borrow someone else's car or credit card in the first place? Ad makes minus sense.