The Making of a Sexist Ad
September 4, 2010
by Optixmom
|The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
Being an engineer, I may miss out on the subtleties of what is necessary to run a successful advertising campaign. I may not understand what it takes to get a message out there to change the public’s perception or to get the public to want to buy a product. When I see blatantly sexist ads, especially those that advocate violence against women, I just have to wonder; what did the ad’s storyboard sound like in that conference room? Could it be something like this?
I cannot even imagine someone uttering these words and being serious about using these messages to sell an idea. But it must have played out this way since advertisements using the above ideas made their way into many magazines and onto many billboards. Someone had to have the idea and articulate it like above. Just one of the many WTF moments in advertising.
There is certainly some disconnect, some failure among the people who develop ads. I have to think most of them are focused on a different goal than selling the product. Some are focused on advancing their career within the ad agency so they make ads the big wigs want to see or produce. Some see the advertising budget as a pot of money for them to spend on their own perversions. Some want to further their own reputation as edgy and outrageous. But they aren’t focused on selling a product.
There is also some blatant misconceptions that are recited like mantras by Corporate Media and advertising types. First is that the male definition of sex is the only definition of sex. Then there is the idea that women’s fantasies consist of how best to assume their position in male fantasies, men clearly find this comforting and the prospect that it isn’t true frightening. There is the foolish idea that women see the same things during sex that men see, “Twilights” female director exploited this when she made sure the camera looked at the male from a female perspective during any sex scene and women flocked to the cheaply made movie but couldn’t articulate why. There is the idiotic idea that women want to see the world through male eyes. And lets not forget that much repeated phrase “Sex sells”, when actually there is a lot of research that says sex does not sell.
In short advertising comes out with such idiotic campaigns because it is not done scientifically. Their MO seems to be..get the guys together to brainstorm, come up with an idea, run the idea past a bunch of gay men for that fabulously fake feminine perspective and then for good measure run the idea past a bunch of women who benefit economically from kissing their asses. If they wanted to be effective they would just ask women consumers what they thought, but hey, that would leave a bunch of guys with no talent but Bullshitting unemployed.
The only thing you left out … Call Pamela Anderson , she will do it !!
Opps, I left out something important. If they want to be effective at selling to women they need to ask real women what they think and feel and here is the important part…they need to LISTEN to those women and ACT on what the women tell them.
Sex does not sell, and it’s disturbing to the general population of women. It’s so saturated in our backyards that you have to travel outside of the country to get away from it. Who is trying to sell us sex, shove it down our throats on a daily basis, and why?
Optixmom, Bes, Swannie, Kiuku & all: seems we’re on a bit of an advertising run…
Here’s a trio of plums for ya’:
http://www.amazingwomenrock.co.....d-man.html
Susan: I like the ads the visuals are good and they are funny and the spec has already been established that the nudity doesn’t need to relate to anything by men’s media. It is a tremendous step forward for media who usually have stripping women trying to sell product to women (it’s !ASSpirational!). At least these acknowledged our right to the half of our sexuality that men and their porn and media have said does not exist and that is the half where women sit happily on their average sweat-panted bums and check out hot men without worrying about how they themselves look or smell. Do you all remember how bad the ads on Oxygen channel were? It was like two minutes of program and 5 minutes of stripping women prancing around in stilettos try to sell product to women!? What a bomb that was it was unwatchable.
And Swannies’s point about Pam Anderson was very important also. The fact is there is a small but still sizable group of women who are totally invested in the status quo of advertising and media. If The Powers That BE want to sell product they need to have focus groups that represent the women they wish to sell to and they need to analyze and then LISTEN to and ACT on what the women say.
Hey Bes: perhaps we have to agree to disagree on the Stayfree vids. If stripping women isn’t right, then how can stripping men be?
I will blog shortly on some feminine product ads that I think hit the target much more effectively than these…
Sorry, never saw the Oxygen channel. Don’t watch much TV, haven’t owned one in 5 years…
On Pamela Anderson, you know my views already (http://thenewagenda.net/2010/0.....ve-canada/)
Susan: We will have to agree to disagree but realize I am not saying that stripping women are universally wrong I am saying they are wrong for me and almost all women. I like men as sex objects and I am turned off by stripping women or women trying to act sexy at me. This is not a surprising attitude for women and I don’t feel under any pressure to be higher minded than men. Remember I’ve read the Sookie Stackhouse novels twice.I may be bookish but I am not an intellectual.
yea it doesn’t sell to me either Bes. I mostly see it as a form of harassment rather than advertising, since I’m pretty sure it’s all female products they are advertising.
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