Adforum’s “Women” Focus ~ or at least bikinis, breasts, and beer
The week of September 10th’s Focus section at AdForum is on “Women.” And the first ad of the three is called “Thinkers” for Skol beer. I believe it’s a Brazilian ad. This is the still that the ad reference company chose to show of the ad:
The rest of it can be seen at this link (at least for a limited time). Did you see how it’s all about being on the beach, while maintaining your smarts—even though they happen to be in bikinis? The line that goes with it is: “You and your friends think about the universe expansion theory,” as the guys stare at the women’s large breasts. You might expect this kind of line from a dumb beer commercial, but for AdForum to say that the ad is about “Women” in a focus section is…well…off.
Following on the expansion theory commercial, the next commercial is on recovering from all that a woman has to undergo in life to finally be able to get back to putting on your make up and styling your hair.
Are you having fun yet?
The third commercial down is a European one for Koff beer where three women are sitting around drinking beer in the countryside pretending like they’re in a bar because the beer is that good. A man rides by on a moped and they place an order with him like he’s the bartender.
The next one down is a Nike one from Brazil I think that shows women having plastic surgery who realize at the last second that it’s not worth it. The images that pop up are of a deli slicing meat. Instead the women bust out in exercise and dance. It can be seen here, including the subtitles “Here’s the bitch the dirtiest bitch on earth.”
I’m going to guess that this is not Nike’s own translation.
Finally, the most redeeming of the give is one from Home Depot that is supposed to show that women shall overcome. It’s about a real-life single mom who bought a house and fixed up on her own. She hopes that her two girls will think of her as one of their heroes. This is a good commercial, but it’s still playing off the stereotype that society thinks women are not quite as tough as men.
Why is it that a focus section on women is 60% about her body and 40% about being more manlike? I find it incredibly strange that we think we can overcome stereotypes by using images that reinforce them, even if we show them overcoming the stereotype.
If the company that references the ads for the ad agencies is skewed, there’s little hope that the creative people accessing these ads will bust their way out of the group think on women and paradise.
Wasn’t there just one ad that had a normal woman doing her thing?
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Posted on September 12, 2007
Filed Under Advertising, Bikinis, Commercials, Food and Drink | 1 Comment
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