Adverts that make women look like morons..

[ButWhyIsTheGinGone]

timid wave to all
Hi,
Haven't posted on here before, I tend to read the posts of others and silently agree for fear of posting and looking dim! Anyway, I am on 6 weeks holiday from work at the moment and due to lack of funds have spent a fair bit of the time so far with a book in front of the telly. What strikes me is how many adverts there are that give off such crap messages about womanhood. There's currently a Glade one where the woman is admiring her new artistic-looking airfreshener when her man walks past, smells the air and gives the woman an approving wink as if to say "good job, keep it up!" At which the woman looks thrilled like a puppy that's just been patted on the head.

I really could go on, it just annoys me that women only ever seem to be portrayed as housewives rushing around at breakfast time after their important-business-man-husband or vapid idiots dithering over whether to be "naughty" and eat something calorific....

Sorry if this isn't the place for this rant - Ive never thought of myself as a "feminist" but then I've never really considered what the term means. Thaks for reading anyway!

[MrsClown]

BWITGG - Keep posting.

I totally agree with you. I saw a Fairy washing up liquid advert the other day and it struck me how women's roles as far as advertising is concerned dont seeme to have changed that much. I agree, it is so annoying.

I hope you do think of yourself as a feminist. My definition is that it is a person who accepts that women do not have equal rights in the world and would like it to change.

[spout]

That crock of shit where a bunch of women go through their friend's bedroom / bathroom trying to find her beauty 'secret'. Lo and behold it is a diet yoghurt that appears as the elixr of female perfection.

and don't get me started on that new lancome Doll Eyes mascara nonsense. I am a woman, I do not aspire to be a child's toy.

[tethersend]

"vapid idiots dithering over whether to be "naughty" and eat something calorific.... "

YES to this. It's my pet hate. If you want to be 'naughty', go out and score some crack or smash up the living room. Only women wouldn't would they? They'd be all NAUGHTY and stick it to The Man by daring to not obsess about their figures for the 30 seconds it takes to shovel in a handful of chocolate the found under the sofa.

[wellwisher]

The air conditioner one where the housewives all ooh and ah over one of them having a stone collection - WTF?

Though generally I think advertisers are getting better about this - at the expense of men, who are regularly portrayed as useless dolts.

[OTheHugeManatee]

It's either the ads that make women look like morons, or else it's the ones full of Women Who Do Everything Because Their Husbands Are Morons, So They're Heroic Instead Of Mugs For Doing Everything.

You know, where you get women commiserating together:

Woman A, in the process of bleeding to death from severed artery: 'Oh yes, I'm fine - sorry, must dash, I have to hang the toddler out to dry, launder the car, feed my shoes and get this cold remedy to my husband. AND I'm going to have to microwave the cat for him, he's in bed with a cold poor dear and doesn't know how to work the microwave.'

Woman B, in late stages of leprosy: 'Yes, aren't men funny?'

[MrsChemist]

I generally have a lot of hatred for Boots adverts for their portrayal of women.

[spout]

oh yes mrsc - the recent boots one where the woman was hiding her purchase guiltily from her husband. naughty woman, daring to shop!

[ButWhyIsTheGinGone]

Mrs Clown, I would agree with that definition of feminism. I just seem to be noticing more and more at the moment how unequal things are for women, and I reckon so much blame must lay with the media. When you are constantly bombarded with message after message about how you SHOULD act, what you SHOULD wear/do/think/eat, is it any wonder women still do not know whether they're coming or going?

Further examples that drive me mad:
*Sales people coming to my door asking if my husband's in. Erm - what husband? It's again the assumption that he would be the "decision maker of the house."

• MALE fashion designers showing telling women they need to be dangerously thin to look stunning - we are again being controlled. (Am aware I may be sounding a bit nutty, but I really think this is the case)
  
  In fact, I reckon food is quite a powerful tool of control over women when you think about - we're almost programmed to think that we're being bad or wrong when we indulge ourselves... hmm. Thinks
  
  Spout - the yoghurt advert might be the stupidest ad I've seen for a long time. Have not seen the Doll-eyes one, but agree with your point about ti's message!

[ButWhyIsTheGinGone]

OTheHugeManatee (cool name!) I forgot about that vein of ads. I think there was an almost exact version of that in Winter - it was a boots one where both the women have got horrible colds but list the million and one things they have to do because their husbands have "man-flu." Sigh!

[OTheHugeManatee]

And we haven't even got onto the adverts that just assume women are morons. The most outrageous of these I can think of is the mascara one where the voiceover says 'use this product for eight-foot eyelashes' or something, while showing you a picture of a woman with eight-foot eyelashes along with a caption saying 'image digitally enhanced' FFS.

So basically they're saying 'Hey women, this fake picture of what the mascara can do is going to persuade you to buy it, and you're so thick that this will work even if we tell you loud and clear that it's fake! Because why? Because you're slack-jawed hormonal cretins! Yay!'

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

Yeah definitely right about food. The idea that women should be taking precious resources (calories) for THEMSELVES is shocking. As is the idea that they might take up more space in the world, without being embarrassed about encroaching on the place.

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

Time to post again I think.

[TheFrozenMBJ]

I love David Mitchell

[LilBB]

I pretty much hate all adverts aimed at women. Supermarkets and cleaning products still have the notion that it's only women that shop and clean. Anything that makes life easy for mums makes me rage. Boots adverts are ridiculously annoying. The sure one with the man blahing on about his perfumes only going in deodorant is really aggravating. Oh and the portrayal of women in lynx adverts piss me off.

Adverts still seem to work on the assumption that women are either homemakers or sex objects.

[DialsMavis]

DP feels exactly the same about loads of adverts with men in though. He shouts at the screen every time guys are portayed as stupid bumbling buffoons who can't look after themselves or their children properly. Or that they are obsessed with beer and tits

[LadyClariceCannockMonty]

Agree with the 'naughty foods' bollocks angle in advertising and marketing. I really loathe how people, mainly women, are infantilised by being encouraged to talk in childish terms about food being 'good' or 'naughty', 'treating yourself' etc. It makes my toes curl. People I know and otherwise respect IRL do it and I have to bite my tongue hard. I understand though because it's so prevalent. I catch myself starting to think or say something like that occasionally. Terrifying.

[MacGuffin]

Don't you dare go on your hols with your female friends until you've lost your bikini weight....so you can all ponse about vacuously on a deserted beach together....otherwise - they may not like you anymore.....

[GhoulLasher]

All of them. Literally ALL of them.Some succeed in makig men look like morons too but they're not as common and tbh I would rather they were ALL frigging banned.

[MacGuffin]

I loathe the term 'cheeky glass of wine'

[msrisotto]

Even the ones making men out to be incompetent fools benefit men in that they are not expected to do housework! What a way to reinforce shitty stereotypes. Women do housework and men shouldn't be expected to.

[BuckminsterFullerene]

Indoctrinate them young:

I've just seen an Ariel ad with 3 primary school age girls staring at the ~12yr old 'handsome' boy working in the ice cream van so rapt & vacant the their ice creams melted all over their obnoxiously pretty dresses. And so grown up woman gets all excited about washing them.

If DS hadn't launched into a strop I'd have emailed a complaint already. Poor boy is going to spend his life listening to feminist range while she does the laundry

[TheFrozenMBJ]

How is that remotely appropriate? 3 year old girls do not give a flying fuck jot about any boy, other than that he may or may not be a good playmate.