I don't know how long this advertisement for Campbell's Soup has been on tv, but it's really, really irritating. I haven't been able to find the link to it, and I will put it up as soon as I find it, because I am sadly sure that there will be many fans of this gender-binding commercial.
Basically, the premise is this.
A man - with a beard - is eating some soup which has a lot of meat and beer in it (seriously). His girlfriend, in a tank top and tracksuit pants, comes over and decides to have a spoonful. He warns her against it, and she doesn't listen. She likes the soup, walks over to the fridge, and we see her back begin to grow a fine layer of dark hair on it. The voiceover is a deep male voice, and says the name of the brand and then "That'll Make a Man Of You".
There are so many things wrong with this ad I scarcely know how to begin.
1) It implies that a woman cannot have masculine features and still be attractive, and reiterates that women cannot have any hair on their bodies.
2) It implies that all men are hairy, and that's what it means to be a man.
3) It shows that men know better than women about what is good for them.
4) It reiterates that irritating idea that 'real men eat meat and drink beer'.
5) It implies that women can't eat what men do or else they will be far too masculine for their own good.
6) It implies that there is some standard prototype that a man should aspire to.
7) It plays on the weaknesses of men about their masculinities.
There is another advertisement for this brand, and it is just as bad. Whatever shall we do?
Just mention how terrible it is to as many people as you can, please?
Combat, don't contribute.
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1 comment:
I agree with all of your points (even if they do kind of meld together- like points 2, 4 and 6 are all pretty much identical) except for the first one - it doesn't sound like the ad really explicitly suggests that the woman is unattractive because she's hairy. We sort of take it that way because we know beforehand that as a woman, having masculine traits is considered unattractive. Perhaps one day, just as feminine men can be considered SNAGS or metrosexuals, a hairy woman will be a sexy thing to be. One can only hope :p
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