Boys, Girls – this is not a competition. Sexist ads are bad for everyone.
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If you fancy, this post has a soundtrack. Feel free to tune into 21 tracks 87 minutes of girls rocking harder to set the mood.
As noted already by adrants, Alex Leo great name has listed the Five Sexist Trends the Advertising World Just Can’t Shake over at the Huffington Post.
Do check that article out, and watch how the comments immediately go straight into the usual arguing “but men are portrayed as doofuses/inept/helpless in advertising too” gender-war. It derails fast. You can practically play gender-stereotypes-in-advertising-arguing-bingo with the comments as the first thing I see is the Diet Coke women ogling men ad mentioned. BINGO! What do I win? Please let it be a red Ferrari.
Lets get one thing straight off the bat: two wrongs don’t make a right – applying a negative behavior equally still does not justify the behavior. Stereotypes are bad all around – all of them. The women as object for the male gaze as well as the dad is a doofus are equally crap. Nobody wins. We clear on this?
Now, something really grates me when I see those comments rolling in – I’ve see them all before and filled in all my bingo-cards – every time someone writes an article about how sexist advertising can be against women, comments about how men are portrayed in ads take over the threads like Kudzu. Quelling a females complaints about the male oppression seen in ads, with “we get it too – I am also oppressed, boo HOO!” is just another way to silence women’s critique of society and reinforce gender norms. You guys have problems BIGGER than mine, as usual. Ain’t that grand?
You can practically set watches by this, someone writes about misogynist or sexist advertising and how it affects females, and some (presumably) men immediately jump in and complain about the dad-is-a-doofus stereotype they have to endure when watching advertising. See what you did there guys? You made it about men again. I can picture you at the breakfast table with yanking your little sisters hair yelling “But MooOOom, she started it!”.
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