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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

Audi ad starring first ever female protagonist

75 replies

Thisisaeuphemism · 13/05/2013 20:28

I just saw this new (?) ad for the audi SQ5 on TV and am astounded at how awful it is. Has anyone seen it?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Goc3giF2-oE

(Sorry if its been discussed here before.)

OP posts:

Lessthanaballpark · 14/05/2013 20:10

It just shows the thin line that women have to walk. On the one hand they're met with messages saying "Be sexy & care about your looks!" but then they're lambasting for doing so and portrayed as being empty, superficial and lacking in substance.

Yeah yeah it's just an ad, but it wouldn't work so easily with a man, as the ad makers are responding to a particular narrative that exists in society concerning women.

BasilBabyEater · 14/05/2013 20:37

"I guess what astonishes me most is that no one either in the prestigious ad company who made it or in audi watched that ad and said, "er, this is a v. strange/creepy strategy..." "

Oh, it doesn't astonish me at all. Advertising is full of reactionary tossers who think they're the beezneez.

"Audi, car for men who like to see women brought down a peg or two."

That's exactly what it is, isn't it. It's a delta-male fantasy of unattainable women being hurt and embarrassed. Bloody vile.

arsenaltilidie · 15/05/2013 02:39

greythorne We dont know what sex was the driver. The advert would have been less dramatic/forgettable had it been at normal speed.

It's a delta-male fantasy of unattainable women being hurt and embarrassed.
Wow

The advert doesn't screams sex, you have to be a right creep to see that advert and think "mmm sex, I'd love to shag her." Anyway clearly a lot of people have a very poor view of men.

Yes she was pretty and well dressed, but the focus was on her immaculate clothes were of poor quality.

Boohoo dont say they are no ads that make men look stupid

It was made by the same people.

FasterStronger · 15/05/2013 07:53

arsenal - so do you think they will have another advert with a man in a bad suit?

don't you think they used a women because most audi buyers are men?

dont say they are no ads that make men look stupid hmm so do women have equality with men?

EauRouge · 15/05/2013 08:02

Yes she was pretty and well dressed, but the focus was on her immaculate clothes were of poor quality.

So why didn't her sleeve rip instead of her skirt? I bet you're going to say it's because of the way she fell. No sexual undertones in that ad, none at all.

kim147 · 15/05/2013 08:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Booyhoo · 15/05/2013 10:23

that weetabix ad doesn't make him look stupid. it makes him look as if he cant keep up with looking after the little boy who i am guessing isn't his child (as the mum says you should look after him more often) and he is therefore not used to keeping up with 5 year olds. it doesn't have him falling and ripping his trousers so his smooth tanned thighs are visible or strutting around in stiletto heels.

Mugofteaforme · 15/05/2013 11:27

Ok maybe I'm missing something..

The only male in camera shot is at 00:22 a chap who is preoccupied with an umbrella very clearly paying her no heed. A woman gives her a glance at 00:03.

Absolutly no indication is given as to the gender of the Audi driver. Your comments are simply presumption.

The "split skirt" is part of the wholesale disintegration of the poor quality ensemble worn/carried by the woman-Perhaps overly dramatic, but a bump down into reality often is.

I agree completly with some (although few) posters on the adverts subtext "quality standing the test of time"

kim147 · 15/05/2013 11:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

Thisisaeuphemism · 15/05/2013 11:38

I don't have a poor view of men but I do have a poor view of an advertiser who shows a beautiful woman humiliated to sell cars. You really think there was no other way to demonstrate style and substance other than showing a sexy woman's stiletoe falling off, her pencil skirt split to the thigh as she falls to her knees?

No other way at all?

As for: "you have to be a right creep to see that advert and think "mmm sex, I'd love to shag her." There are plenty of comments from creeps on the youtube site saying that!

OP posts:

Mugofteaforme · 15/05/2013 11:49

Yes the end result is humiliating I'll grant you, no one should be humiliated Women or Men, period.

TheSmallClanger · 15/05/2013 14:31

To think that things really did change for a while in the 80s and 90s.

The current one has a very creepy element to it: the lighting and the slightly out-of-date style that suggests an old serial killer film, the slow motion, the close-ups on body parts and torn clothing and the provocative all-fours pose, the unseen driver "leaving the scene" as the woman sits on the floor humiliated.

You could easily have used other consumer goods, such as luggage, a laptop, a phone or anything to demonstrate poor quality at a high price, and it's quite easy to create a gently humorous scene with things falling apart. No need for creepy weirdness.

arsenaltilidie · 15/05/2013 15:16

Fasterstronger ^dont say they are no ads that make men look stupid hmm so do women have equality with men?
Eaurouge it would have been unrealistic for a fairly bagged shirt to rip. Sexual undertone is there if you are a perv and you are looking for it.

Boohoo maybe you are the pervert smooth tanned thighs are visible or strutting around in stiletto heels.

I think the advert is shite because someone drove off leaving a woman in a vulnerable position.
An example my opinion would have been the same had someone DROVE OFF leaving a child who's scooter had gave way. I certainly wouldn't be screaming it promotes child abuse.

Anyway in the real world most men would have stopped and offered her their jacket to cover up.

Booyhoo · 15/05/2013 15:53

Can you explain how stating a fact makes me a pervert? Did she not have smooth tanned thighs?

Booyhoo · 15/05/2013 15:54

Actually after reading the rest of your post i dont expect a logical answer.

arsenaltilidie · 15/05/2013 17:46

My point is if the woman was replaced by a child riding a bike/scooter (child falls over and driver drives away), I would not be complaining the advert promotes child abuse.
The reason its a shit advert because it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Its shite!
Well I'm glad you noticed and pointed out her smooth tanned thighs.

NiceTabard · 15/05/2013 19:12

"Anyway in the real world most men would have stopped and offered her their jacket to cover up."

How chivalrous!

NiceTabard · 15/05/2013 19:14

booyhoo points out that the woman checks all of the boxes of sexualised femininity.

Which is perfectly fair enough and doesn't make her a pervert

YouMakeMeWannaLaLa · 16/05/2013 00:37

Vile advert.

arsenal The adverts that make men look stupid usually centre around the man struggling with cooking, cleaning and childcare. They show him using the product (or a woman coming in and smugly using the product for him). This perpetuate the stereotype that men are unable to perform domestic tasks and it's best left to women or a swanky product. So, yes, offensive to men, but only because it reinfores the status quo, not because it is reverse sexism.

Personally, it wouldn't make me happy to see men sexually objectified or treated as sexistly (is that a word) as women. For, example, on another forum I'm on, men keep bringing up the Diet Coke ads to show that men are objectified too. That isn't the sort of equality anyone benefits from, and it doesn't suddenly make all female opression/objectification ok.

StuffezLaYoni · 30/05/2013 20:51

Just for anyone interested, I noticed tonight that the advert has been edited to remove the skirt-splitting bit! Evidently it wasn't just MNers who found it distasteful...

StickEmUpPunk · 30/05/2013 20:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

samandi · 30/05/2013 22:34

Oh, well that was disappointing. I thought a beautiful, stylish, composed and capable woman was going to slide smoothly into the car and drive away, just like male protagonists in car adverts generally do.

But no, woman aren't allowed to be beautiful, stylish and possessed of substance ... we must always drag them down, humiliate them, make them fall over on their silly high heels (that men love to see women wear) ...

samandi · 30/05/2013 22:35

*"Audi, car for men who like to see women brought down a peg or two."

That's exactly what it is, isn't it. It's a delta-male fantasy of unattainable women being hurt and embarrassed. Bloody vile.*

Exactly. It's repulsive.

kim147 · 02/06/2013 21:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

msrisotto · 03/06/2013 18:22

Hey hey,

I have just got back from America where I saw this Awesome Audi advert!

Isn't it weird that they can get it so wrong and so right! Must be different ad agencies.

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