Mei tsuki7
David2074
Mei tsuki7
It actually is sexist. Just like the fact that most commercials that show someone cleaning showcase that person as female. And for those who say they're just "targeting their demographic" the only reason that is their demographic is due to sexism that they perpetuate.
Sorry but I don't see it as sexist at all to show the type of person who buys most of your product in your ads. Sexist is 'discriminatory on the basis of sex'. It's not discriminating against anyone. Is it sexist to show women in tampon commercials or men in Viagra commercials? This isn't some plot by advertisers to 'keep women down'. It's about the money. If demographics change and they find out one legged gay midgets are buying the vast majority of their product they will find a way to feature one legged gay midgets in the commercials. Almost all advertising works this way because they spend a lot of money for a very short commercial and they want to reach as many potential customers as they can. People are just upset because this commercial contains both a v****a and a cleaning product. Search the net and you can find rants about other commercials that do that. (I did just that this morning.)
There are also commercials out there that portray men in an (IMO) offensive way. Often we are portrayed as either stupid or only able to think with our p***s. We track the mud through the house because we are too dumb to notice and our b***h will happily clean it up anyway. We sneak and steal our wife's diet food out of the fridge because it is so good but we are too stupid to read the label and know we are eating diet food. We rave about the meal from a box because apparently neither we nor our wives know how to cook anything from scratch and get better tasting food for less money. We will purchase (insert just about any product) because if we do a woman with large breasts will apparently find us more attractive. Frankly I find all of that crap more sexist and offensive than a strong able self confident woman holding a mop. At least she is not portrayed as a stupid uncaring dolt. On the whole if I am watching 'live' TV when a commercial comes on I can't hit the mute button fast enough.
Did you miss my point where I said the reason the demographics for certain products are what they are is because of the advertising itself? Or at least it's a major reason. Depicting only women cleaning perpetuates the stereotype and sexism of women being the ones who clean which then makes it so women are the ones who buy cleaning products. It's a sexist cycle that needs to be broken.
I do agree with you that those commercials that depict men as stupid are also sexist. But to say that that is worse than a woman always being depicted and expected to clean the house is folly. They are both equally as horrible and both greatly negatively effect the sexes. Women who work and also take care of cooking, cleaning and children have less leisure time and this negatively effects their happiness and their career advancement. One of the reasons men rise up higher in a business is because they usually have more time to devote to work because they don't do the cooking, cleaning or take care of the children as much. This "normal" way of life includes both the stupid/lazy male stereotype and the cleaner/cook/childcare stereotype female stereotype. These stereotypes are mainly created by the media due to what we see in said media.
I did not miss your point about advertising causing the roles but I do not agree with it. The women I know are not such sheeple they will accept whatever role a TV commercial assigns to them. IMO woman who are that pliable have other problems than TV commercials. The women I know cover a wide range of professions / roles. Teacher and dyslexia specialist, UPS driver, dietician, auto mechanic, college career counselor, programmer, tech support manager, doula and so on. Some of them are also housewives by choice. All the ones that are married share the housework with their spouse.
I never made any comparison one way or the other to the way women are 'always depicted'. I said I don't find this one commercial as offensive as some of the ones I've seen depicting men in various negative ways. That's my personal opinion, your mileage is free to vary. It's possible the way men are typically depicted in commercials does not bother you as much because that is men. As a male I notice how rare it is for us to not be depicted as stupid / clueless / dishonest or ruled by our lust. Personally I'd rather be depicted as happy doing housework or parenting than being depicted as stupid, lazy, dishonest and ruled by my genitals. I live alone. I DO do housework. But I am not stupid, lazy, dishonest or ruled by my genitals.
But back to your demographics / commercial thing - Women were doing the homemaker role long before TV was even invented. TV (and before that radio) did not create the roles it pandered to what was already there. From your statements you obviously disagree with this point of view and I respect your right to do so.
