Thanks to Jill at Feministe for bringing this post to my attention on the wonders of women eating salad alone and smiling about it.
I like salad but I don’t think you’ll see me ecstatic everytime I eat it, the stock photos are stunning though aren’t they?
I saw the post just before I was introduced to the Innocent Smoothie Superhero advert. (It is not 100% women specific but does not stop it being daft and accusatory of women thinking bad thoughts).
So as you face into the week after ‘The Christmas’ deluge of Activia/Weightwatchers/Gym/Celebrity Slim advertisements see how often women are smiling and when we are told we should be sad or distressed! All reports and observations are welcome below!
Yes! I noticed the superhero smoothie woman being saved from ‘snacking’ advert on the telly yesterday, no sign of a fat bastard couch potato being saved from his ten cans of Bud while sitting farting watching the Chelsea game. I’m also mildly disturbed by the Swish! Cat Deeley Pantene advert where she moronically shakes her hair and keeps saying ‘swish swish swish ha ha ha’ over and over because she’s so orgasmic about the shampoo. Eating salad alone and laughing like a court jester (where’s the mock sceptre) also sounds very typical of your average woman and her wanton desires. Amazing too how the generic ‘she’ can change into a double-dildo whore at the flick of a wand, if I’m to believe the internet ads. It would make you want to check your calendar and then double check it, just to make sure we’re in the right century.
“no sign of a fat bastard couch potato being saved from his ten cans of Bud while sitting farting watching the Chelsea game.”
What were you doing standing outside my house?
Seriously though, the idea that a product/service/whateva can individually transform our lives is doubly-reflexive in the ad. Hell, the entire Sky schedule every single year from August to May is based on it. For me this is the ‘compensation’ idea in many ads: I eat this product and it makes up for the tons of other crap I have eaten. And of course, only women should feel guilty about eating ‘bad’ foods, men just eat whatever they want.
Yes, perhaps I was a bit harsh! But it grates. I wrote to MACE – the ‘friendly neighbourhood store’ – before Christmas to find out why they were selling ‘Sexy Santa’ uniforms for women (presumably suburban housewives), in the midst of all the other seasonal crud, while offering no such equivalent for men. I didn’t get a reply. Advertising can be so subconscious on one level, at least that’s the theory of persuasion, but so moronically over-the-top offensive on another, that it’s good to point it out at times. Perphaps the lady’s salad is laced with a psychoactive drug to make her piss her cacks so moronically at the taste of a bit of lettuce? I’ve just eaten an omlette without any expression at all.
I have to admit I quite like that Innocent smoothie ad, although I think that might be completely down to Brian Blessed’s voiceover at the end.
Note how all the women are trying not to give in to cravings for rubbish, yet the bloke is like, MOAR SANDWICHES!
Men, eh? Sure they’re bottomless pits!
(I actually love eating salad alone/in company/in a box/with a fox so the stock images are fairly spot on)
I hate those Activia ‘oh I’m bloated, quick drop a bloody pot of yoghurt into my handbag’ adverts almost as much as hate parsley. I have never ever seen a man in an advert for bloat.
Yoghurts with real bacterial poo in them too! Hmmmm, tasty. Scat advertising for bloated women. Actually it makes me want to chuck come to think of it, so it may have some weightloss function after all.
This reminds me of one of my favourite sketches, off’n that Mitchell & Webb show. And of course the very excellent Target Women.
Was just about to reference Target Women – the yogurt one is especially amazing
I love that Innocent ad. I’m a bit rubbish at eating fruit and like that smoothies give me an easy way out. I don’t feel remotely patronised by it, I am frequently tempted by gooey pastries and the like and am pleased when I manage to replace the craving with something else! We need amusing things to cheer us up in January and I reckon this is just the ticket!
When was the last time a smoothie made anyone full (except for that initial bloated feeling)?
And too many smoothies will make you fat too – they are full of sugar. Natural fruit sugar but that’s still sugar.
Oh, how I hate these yoghurt/smoothie adverts. Anyone catch the Beeb’s rather excellent ‘The Food That Made Billions’ before Christmas? http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wmvck
Just like the cerealmakers, the health proposition put forward by yoghurtmakers particularly prey womens’ insecurities.
Sammichgob is allowed to munch contentedly, but the gurls aren’t allowed the luxury!
Advertisers of products aimed at men try to manipulate the fears of male consumers too. See the ads for shaving products: totally pumped up and macho nonsense offering three, no four, no FIVE parallel blades on a single razor! Geeky little accountants can feel like pilots of F16s off to defend freedom when they shave!
Note also the absurd ad for some moisturiser with Gerard Butler, who warns consumers, “Don’t let yourself look tired!”
Good lord, what happens if I let myself look tired?!
These ads focus on the typical (or stereotypical) male anxiety with appearing strong, masculine, assertive. They know that many men are obsessed with status and terrified of seeming weak and unattractive, so they offer power through their products.
Other ads have a different focus, hair gel advertising and deoderant often emphasise sexual attractiveness instead of power, for example. Alcohol ads may portray a kind of subculture or lifestyle, like the laddish WKD ads featuring young British men playing pranks on one another – identifying the drink with a culture lots of young men find attractive, implying that it will help them become socially successful.
Absurd as they are, none of these ads anger me, though. Since I’m not remotely interested in upgrading my razor or warding off the appearance of “tiredness”, I assume these ads aren’t really aimed at me, but rather at other men with more money and less sense.
Related to that, have people seen this interesting study?
Participants of both sexes were given a “gender identity survey”, and then given random results of either male or female identity. Females showed no difference in further questions, regardless of result. But males who had been identified randomly as having female gender identity, responded with aggressively macho answers from then on.
These insecure men were more likely to say they’d buy SUVs and support the Iraq War. They were more homophobic and felt more “ashamed, guilty, upset and hostile”.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/aug05/soc.gender.dea.html
No wonder advertisers try to depict products aimed at men as being powerful, aggressive, macho. These must seem attractive to male consumers who want to avoid their insecurities of weakness and femininity.
It may also help explain why men aren’t targetted for ads about smoothies or “bloating” in the way women are.
The insecurity is less with weight/beauty, and more with power. (Going on a limb a bit, maybe it also explains why there are more women with anorexia, but many more young men are involved in recreational violence. Self-esteem for many insecure women may be based on appearing attractive, but for insecure men it may be based on appearing powerful, dominant. An easy way for an insecure young man to gain status and respect is by fighting and defeating his male rivals.)
Whether these trends are caused by culture or biology I don’t know.
When I see Gerard Butler stimulate having an organism from washing his hair, then I will think all adverts are created equal.
I’ve already explained some reasons why advertisements aimed at men focuses on different insecurities than those aimed at women. That the insecurities are different makes them no less potent.
As a man bringing up a young boy I’m very aware that positive male roles are almost unheard of in adverts. When I see any women in an advert portrayed as too stupid to dress herself in the morning or unable to order for herself in a restaurant until her sensible husband saves the day….then I will think that all adverts are created equal.
Heh, I meant orgasm. Stupid flicking from science forum to here.
The only way I’d be that happy eating a salad is if it came with a happy ending. No pun intended.