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Original poster

EasyJet Advert Literally objectifying women

70 replies

NotOffendedBut · 09/12/2019 15:04

I saw this Easy Jet advert in the Metro this morning and it really pissed me off. I'm not flouncy offended by it but I think it is vile and carries a disgusting implied message. It shows a woman in a revealing swimming costume with a lampshade on her head like she is just a lamp.

marcommnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/23827-EJ-Holidays-Santorini-48S-a-1-1024x511.jpg

It literally makes a woman into an object - . It reminds me of those vile BDSM images where woman are gagged and bound up into tables for men to rest their feet on.

The fact that her head is covered but she is dressed in a revealling swimming costume also carries misgoynistic messages of putting a bag on her head.

I'm not a person easily bothered by stuff but I found this really quite unpleasant. I hate Easy Jet anyway so it's not like they've lost a customer in me.

OP posts:
Bufferingkisses · 09/12/2019 15:06

I don't tend to get strung out on these things but I agree that is an uncomfortable image. I wonder what the would claim they were trying to portray!

LochJessMonster · 09/12/2019 15:07

I'm not sure about it objectifying women but I don't get it at all? How does it relate to 'the search is over'?

Yesmate · 09/12/2019 15:08

It doesn’t make sense to me but it would not cross my mind to link it images of BDSM

MarshaBradyo · 09/12/2019 15:08

It’s a stupid ad but unfortunately I’ve seen the long version where two women play hide and seek. In context it’s annoying rather than what the still looks like.

HoneysuckIejasmine · 09/12/2019 15:08

For the TV advert they are playing hide and seek, so she's "hiding".

I agree though OP, it's horrid.

Yesmate · 09/12/2019 15:09

Also, it’s a swimming costume. It reveals as much as a swimming costume. There are far more “revealing” costumes in marks and Spencer. Unclench.

AnneLovesGilbert · 09/12/2019 15:09

It’s a horrible image and I also don’t get what it’s trying to say.

HungryBelly · 09/12/2019 15:09

I don’t understand why she is there wearing a lampshade on her head! Like what is the purpose of this? What message is it trying to send?

Bluetoothbitch · 09/12/2019 15:09

I don’t even ‘get’ the advert. It’s literally a woman in a swimsuit with lamp on head Confused so yes I do think it’s objectify her.

Morgan12 · 09/12/2019 15:09

It's just to link I'm with the TV advert when the are playing hide and seek?

StatisticallyChallenged · 09/12/2019 15:10

Agree with the others - in context of the weird hide and seek ad it makes sense and isn't creepy but as a stand alone picture it is not good

LochJessMonster · 09/12/2019 15:12

Ah, in the hide and seek context then I get it!

Also, its not a particularly revealing swimsuit and doesn't at all relate to BDSM!

msmith501 · 09/12/2019 15:22

The TV advert is two woman and their friends who play a long version of hide and seek. One hides pretending to be a lamp (for example)... the whole advert is actually quite fun (for an advert) ... if a man was playing the same game and did the same thing, would it be i he tidying him? Of course not. It's a young woman having a bit of fun and hiding in plain sight. I think you do not need to feel offended in this instance.

msmith501 · 09/12/2019 15:23

Would it be objectifying* him

Original poster
NotOffendedBut · 09/12/2019 15:24

For the TV advert they are playing hide and seek, so she's "hiding".*
I agree though OP, it's horrid.

I haven't seen the TV advert. A print advert should be self-standing.

It's making a woman into an object by covering her head. As a free standing print advert it is unpleasant.

Quite apart from woman as furniture, I read it with the tag line "perfect holiday" as a man having a perfect holiday in a romantic location because he gets to look at an attractive body but her head is covered up - silenced.

and doesn't at all relate to BDSM!

I wasn't saying the advert related to BDSM. I was saying it called to mind those type of images.

I should say that I have a job that sometimes brings me into contact with hard core images abusive of the sort that probably most people here won't have seen. I won't describe them but women bound into tables was what it made me think of. The point being women as furniture.

That's a tangential issue though. It's more that as a free standing advert a woman as a lampshade with her head covered with a tag line perfect holiday in a romantic holiday location is misogynistic to me.

If I did fly with Easy Jet, I wouldn't any more. Ι find the message it conveys unpleasant.

OP posts:
LochJessMonster · 09/12/2019 15:30

I agree with @msmith501.

MarshaBradyo · 09/12/2019 15:31

It is a fail and should stand alone. I can only read it in context but no excuse for signing off on it.

TuttiCutie · 09/12/2019 15:33

I've never seen the tv advert so this advert makes absolutely no sense to me.

It's a bit of a shit advert if the only way you 'get it' is by having already seen the tv ad.

Booboostwo · 09/12/2019 15:33

I haven't see the TV advert either and without the background knowledge the poster is appalling. It's the dictionary definition of objectifying women so you'd think someone in the advertising agency would have noticed.

pelirocco123 · 09/12/2019 15:34

Hide and seek OP , watch the TV ad

Sigh

iismum · 09/12/2019 15:35

I don't think the fact that the context is better in the TV advert makes it ok. This is a stand alone advert; lots of people will see it who haven't seen the TV advert. To me it suggests that your perfect holiday would have a free, silent woman thrown in. If it wasn't their intention to objectify women, they need to scrutinise their adverts better.

As for the comments about the man - it's not at all the same because we don't live in a culture where men are routinely objectified. It think it's extremely unlikely that they would have created this image with a man, but if they did, the connotations wouldn't be so creepy.

NoSauce · 09/12/2019 15:37

OMG.

She’s playing hide and seek. Hmm

pelirocco123 · 09/12/2019 15:38

This is of course not literally Objectifying Women , unless you have a strange sexual fetish involving light fittings OP

You have literally over thought this haven't you

TuttiCutie · 09/12/2019 15:40

For me the implication of this ad (having not seen the tv ad) is that your perfect holiday would consist of having a woman there as a piece of decoration.

GCAcademic · 09/12/2019 15:42

She’s playing hide and seek.

How do we know that, if we haven’t seen the advert, though?

The first thing it made me think of is those controversial sculptures of women as furniture which Allen Jones did in the 1960s. It’s hard to imagine that anyone working for an advertising agency wouldn’t be aware of those:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatstand,_Table_and_Chair