Sexist Volvo advert

[TorringtonDean]

There’s a radio ad for Volvos at the moment which I find completely nauseating. It features a small girl having a conversation with “daddy” about how great the new Volvo is and some sort of finance offer. He says “did mummy put you up to this”. Then he goes on to ask what she wants for her birthday and she says “a new Volvo” in a tone of voice exactly like Verruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

The whole thing is completely sexist with the implication that only men can actually afford to shell out for a new Volvo while their manipulative wives and daughters will be pushing them to put their hands in their wallets. Hugely insulting, I think.

For the record, I drive a Volvo myself, I’m a woman, I pay all the bills and I’ve always admired their reliability and safety. But what with this sexist ad and scrapping estate cars, I don’t think this ad is encouraging me to get another one.

Is Volvo being unreasonable?

Whiney not Whitney… she wasn’t in it

Actually your right, I made my decision based on the following
age
mileage
insurance category
road tax
economy
reliability
warranty
i never bothered to find out if I can change the tyre because I have AA insurance.
next time I buy a car I’ll be considering charging stations etc and I certainly won’t be able to service an electric car as you need specialist training and equipment.

Same here, with the addition of how it drives (not how fast or how it corners but just generally does it feel nice to drive), plus features like parking camera, heated seats etc.

I’m a mechanical engineer.

The only reason I might be interested in the colour of the car is not wanting a red car as the paintwork deteriorates over time and might affect the resale value

Same here, with the addition of how it drives (not how fast or how it corners but just generally does it feel nice to drive), plus features like parking camera, heated seats etc.

My requirements have evolved to place “unusual” at the top of my list.

I’m an engineer too.

Black paint is an utter nightmare to maintain too.

i never bothered to find out if I can change the tyre because I have AA insurance.

5-10 mins changing a tyre is better than 45 mins standing alone in the dark as a sitting duck. I just keep wipes in the car to clean my hands after.

Yeah we get it. You’re better at buying cars because you can change a tyre.

You what? 😂

Calling the AA to change a tyre is like getting a sparky in to change a fuse or flip a breaker.

It's not about being better at buying cars. It's about the tech spec being directed at men because women are so clueless about cars in general (with exceptions obv).

@TorqueWrench
You may laugh but ...
I used to work for the AA (many years ago). From memory, 30% breakdowns were to fix a tyre (and actually doing that yourself on the side of a busy road can be very dangerous), another 30% was running out of fuel (!) and the remaining call outs were genuine breakdowns. The AA exists for those type of call outs

I don't doubt that you're right but I'm still not sure that it necessarily validates people being unable to change a tyre - companies will provide a service wherever there is a demand.

Similarly, cigarette manufacturers and drug dealers provide a service but it doesn't validate the market.

I also kinda feel that in regard to women being patronised about car related matters, the best way to not be treated as clueless is to not actually be clueless.

Nobody should be patronised.

The whole point of adverts is to sell. Ignorance or expertise of a product is pretty irrelevant - ability to purchase is the priority for the seller. Ignoring and/or alienating a large potential customer base is basically bad business practice. Continually bringing up an assumed ignorance of a group in relation to an advertisement on an internet forum is missing the point of the thread and of advertising in general

Many women on this thread have either said they are not clueless in regard to cars or that they are equally informed as the man/men in their lives (as in my case). Continual mansplaining to a group of women about their abilities and knowledge is tedious and is coming across as sexist IMO

@TorqueWrench The advert is NOT about changing tyres or technical specifications. It’s about the little girl pressuring the daddy to buy a car because “mummy put her up to it” and it’s a good finance offer. I don’t recall any mention of bhp or tyres at all and daddy doesn’t sound any more knowledgeable about cars.

It’s about suggesting men hold all the financial power in a relationship and the females in a family have to whine and plead until the
man releases the purse strings. All rather creepy and nauseating.

It is definitely from a bygone era before women had any financial independence. And just to womansplain the point of the thread once more, there is NO TYRE KNOWLEDGE NEEDED to understand that the advert is insulting.

That's exactly what @TorqueWrenchjust said.

No, she is saying that it's totally fine that car adverts are sexist and directed to men, because women are not passionate about cars.
I am saying that I might not be 'passionate', (I know how to change tires though) but I still research and buy my own car. So if you piss me off with your sexist ad, you as a car dealer will lose my business, simple as that.

And as a pp said, cars seem to be the only thing where you're required to be passionate and able to fix it to be 'allowed' to be seen as a potential customer. I can't fix my InstantPot, nobody seems to think that this is a must to be eligible to be targeted by ads.

Yes @TorqueWrench seems to be desperate to explain to us that sexism is just fine in car advertising. Either internalised misogyny or it’s a man.

Never mind adverts, I often have men answering on behave if their wives and girlfriends when I am quite clearly speaking to the woman. I ignore them and carry on directing my questions to the woman concerned.
Disclaimer: I am not selling cars.

I've heard the ad. It's shit isn't it? Totally put me off Volvo

Oh and I bought my car. Shock, horror, with my own pennies that I go out to work for.
Plenty of garages around. I don’t stand for anyone talking down to me.

I can’t find a recording of the advert and I don’t listen to the radio.
The advert may be old fashioned due to the demographic that still listens to the radio.
I am not convinced the advert is sexist. A small girl isn’t going to be able to buy a Volvo with her £5 /week pocket money.

Volvo’s defining market niche is being the safest car in the world for families with young children. So it makes sense that a small child would feature in an advert as well as a rightly responsible mum in convincing the dad that a new car should be a Volvo.

It’s recognised that women make over 80% of the purchasing decisions in couples on every day purchases as well as big ticket purchases like cars and houses. It doesn’t really matter to me who funds the purchase as much as who is actually the decision maker.

Well it matters to me who funds the decision because I fund it! I fund everything. I am a lone parent household. So they can stop irritating me with their lazy tropes.

So you’re not in a couple then? Most couples there is a discussion on which car to buy for a family car even though over 80% of the time the female has final say.

So why judge the dynamic of the female making the purchasing choice by convincing the male to agree by using maths and logic that her choice of Volvo is the right choice for them all?

I would think the advert sexist if it was like “but it comes in a pretty blue colour and the passenger seat has a mirror so I can do my makeup so buy a Volvo dear.”

I was in a couple previously. Car buying decisions were a discussion but also I was the one most interested and usually forking out the money too. So the little woman trope is intensely irritating. I don’t live in the 1950s, never have in fact. It’s the 2020s. Women earn their own money and buy their own cars. The also go to work and are treated as fully functioning adults who make their own decisions, not as second fiddle in some sort of financially unequal relationship.

Both when married and now as a divorcee, I’ve always earned my own money and have more than paid my own way. So I find this deeply patronising.

And did I detect a bit of the “smug marrieds” in your comment that “oh, you’re not in a couple”? Don’t take it for granted that your situation will always remain the same. Fortunately I am liberated.

@TorringtonDean
I am not convinced it’s a “little woman” trope from what has been said regarding the advert. No you didn’t detect smug married in my tone, I just don’t assume that lone parents are all divorcees.