Unusual Ads

We are used to seeing the typical ads in which women are the subordinate object, are sexually objectified and silenced, and displayed in countless other expressions of inferiority.

I find the portrayal of women in the following ads to be unusual with respect to what is the norm for women's role in advertising.

The following ads portray gender role reversals for man and woman. Where normally the woman is the inferior "object," in these ads, the woman takes on a role of power --power over the man.

The following ads portray other gender role reversals. In the first ad the man is shown to be the homemaker and the woman is shown as the couch potato with a TV remote in hand and empty beer bottles on the floor and a provocative magazine next to her.

In the second ad for vodka, it shows the man as being pregnant, taking on the burden for the woman so that she can be allowed to drink alcoholic beverages, making it an "absolut world".

The following ads I find to be misleading and not really clear on the message they are trying to communicate. They are yogurt ads from Brazil. They show attractive curvaceous woman taking the place of thinner actresses in their respective movie roles. The tagline for these ads reads: "Forget about it. Men's preference will never change. Fit light yogurt." So, it's a big contradiction. I can't figure out if they are encouraging women to be content and proud of their fuller figures and maintain their weight by eating light yogurt. Is it saying that even though these women are still attractive despite being curvaceous, men will still opt for the thinner version? Or are they making a mockery of the women, saying that they look ridiculous trying to fit the role being a curvaceous woman and should eat the light yogurt to become thin like the actress in order to be what men prefer? The ironic thing is that these women are still photoshopped in these ads...

The last ad campaigns by DOVE and NIKE were created with the idea of countering the message that is traditionally sent in advertisements dictating what beauty is. In these ads (the DOVE ones we saw in class) women are portrayed as having real beauty, showing that they shouldn't have shame about aging and getting wrinkles or athletic women having a fuller, muscular physique. The last ad is showing exactly what they are trying to counter--the "photoshopping" of older women who have wrinkles, which is not seen as beautiful. They need to be flawless.