It is obvious that today’s advertising often portrays unrealistic and sometimes offensive messages to persuade consumers to switch to their brands. Jean Kilbourne’s “Killing Us Softly 3” highlights the use of symbolism, gender roles, and hierarchy and the effects that they have on men and women of almost all ages. First, gender roles are heavily emphasized in American ads by portraying the girl as passive, less powerful, innocent YET sexy while boys are portrayed as tough and, in some cases, outright abusive. One ad in particular that struck me as overtly sexist is the skateboard ad that Kilbourne points out. This ad features a male stick figure pointing a gun at a female stick figure and the caption “BITCH” is in huge letters on the seemingly simplistic ad. Is this necessary to sell a skateboard? Do you have to shoot your girlfriend/wife/mom/sister in the head to be good at ollies? Other ads have men asserting their power over women by standing over them, grabbing women by the hair, showing women in “innocent” and vulnerable positions. Only when there is race in the ad does the power hierarchy switch; the young black boy is kneeling down to the young white girl. The symbolic and even overt body languages and text in the ads have a profound effect on society and how we view each other.
The ad that I would like to focus on is an AXE commercial that happens to have an MTV logo on it (2-for-1!). Before seeing Kilbourne’s film, I already thought the commercial was ridiculous and downright sexist. AFTER the film, I noticed that they only make use of the unrealistic body type as well as zooming in only on the white women (I think I only seen 2 black women and it was probably CGI to be the same person) and the women are destroying each other by hitting, knocking down, and jumping over one another to get the rights to have this man. If he buys AXE, then he will be the ultimate male by dominating an array of women. This fits into MTV’s concept of “the mook,” or what a teenage boy is or at least should be all about. By appealing to the mook and stereotypes of the ideal male, perhaps AXE did make a number of sales. I know for a fact that sales of Old Spice went up 107% between May 19-June 19, 2010 due to the “Old Spice guy” ads (Time 10).
I chose to dissect this particular ad because it is one of the many that shows women in an array of wilderness settings (again portrayed as animals) in bikinis so we can get a great tit shot (because all they’re good at doing is being sexy) and racing to reach one man who sprayed his bodyspray (because no woman could ever dare to be without a man). This commercial almost sums up everything Kilbourne explains in her film. The only thing missing is the violence of men toward women, but the women are violent toward each other, so isn’t that just as detrimental? Can we fathom what we are doing to little boys and girls with these messages? Girls will never be perfect because they are too short, have little breasts, and should be vulnerable and passive as well as sexy and innocent. Boys should be tough, shunning the “feminine side” and embracing power and other things that are defined for men only.
The tough part now is creating an alternative commercial for AXE. This ad ties into the concept of the “mook” so much that it’s hard to even attempt to find an alternative mindframe for teenage boys. First, reinventing the concept of the product to not be a vagina-magnet is a good start. Next, coming up with a tagline that is both appealing and less stereotypical (again, how can you appeal to an audience that has become so accustomed to these stereotypes that they probably are unaware of other viewpoints). Maybe the creative director could emphasize that the shower gel will get the consumer clean mentally and physically, much like Orbit gum (clean up a dirty mouth) and “Messing with Sasquatch” commercial (even though these guys are kind of like the mook, the commercial is less objectifying). These commercials have some stereotypical qualities but are not nearly as offensive as this axe commercial. “Use AXE to cut through dirty thoughts and dirty armpits” is way better than “the more you spray, the more you get.” Yes, this does persuade the naïve mook to use MORE, but is it worth hurting the image of 50% of the population in doing so? My ad would be different because it slowly tries to break down these stereotypical barriers without turning the target off completely. Some things cannot be changed too quickly.
After taking a step back and looking at the advertisements I see daily in a critical way, all I can come up with is, “are people really that gullible?” and “why does feeding on these preconceived notions about gender and power influence a shopping choice so greatly?” Obviously some of this is working because the companies keep doing it. Numbers and money are the motivation for the continuation of this harmful strategy. Is it possible to help the public change by creating alternatives to these detrimental views or will it just turn off the target market and be a failure? It’s like the chicken and the egg reference; which came first, the stereotypes or the media that convinced us it was right? Either way, they go hand in hand and one must change to influence the other.
Barovick, Harriet. "The World; Ten Essential Stories."TIME. 176.6 (2010): 10. Print.
I watched this Axe ad you posted... wow. It is scary how much power the advertisers and their clients have, subjecting us to these abnormalities and filth everyday. This class made me more aware how overwhelming these messages are around us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the stereotypes changing slowly, and as long as the media makes tons of money out of these stereotypes they will reenforce them. I also think that change will come first from us and not the media. If more and more people were outraged about these ads targeting women especially, the media would have to follow, because as you said their money is on the line.
thanx for the extended version of messing with sasquatch.I did not know that thare was an extended version.
ReplyDeleteTV ad's or bilboards will always be filled with the things we dont like.It is because they want to sell stuff no matter what.They dont care about the community and its values.They are not trying to do right thing they are simply doing what capitalism commands them to do.
i saw this ad too. and in addition to everything you mention in your post, the other problematic is the idea and values of normative masculinity it portrays. the message is that if a man uses axe fragrance, women (not just any women, but "beautiful" women) will chase him down.
ReplyDeleteoften in media we see masculinity portrayed as being a tough guy, being violent, being dominant, being the hero. in addition the acquisition of material things, such as cars are linked to masculinity. most importantly, and across cultures, whether it is mainstream, or subcultures, such as hip hop, the message is the same to men.
women are seen as one of the acquisitions of a successful man. a woman (or in this case many women) as an achievement of a successful, "macho" man changes the woman's role from subject to object, and worst gives men the message that this is ok.
I have seen this ad before but never thought much of it. The only question that probably came to my head was "I wonder how many girls they hired for this commercial?". It was only after searching for an ad for the post and viewing the commericial again did I realize how offensive it was. I believe media literacy played a large role in my new understanding and shock of the ad. We are so accustomed to these animalist and degrading protrayals of women that it becomes almost hard to realize when it is in front of our face. These women were protrayed as animals, almost naked inflicting violence amongst each other because they are trying to reach a man spraying axe on himself. It did not envoke a public outcry, most Americans just sat and went on with their days. If media literacy can be spread throughout, there may come changes in the sexism that is prevalent in commerials.
ReplyDeleteThe axe commercial is probably one of rated R commercial that I have ever seen. This ad is absolutely not appropriate to be shown on television. Can you imagine a child watching billions of women with 90% of their cleavage exposed? Then, this is a commercial; it will reappear on television frequently. Young males who are watching this axe ad are prone to think that sex is all that matters and females are their "slaves." As for young females, this ad articulates the idea that women should be beautiful (the kind of beautiful that men idolize) and the only they should chase after is: men. This particular axe commercial is a typical advertising nightmare. It is difficult to stop this kind of advertising from hurting us. As consumers, we would like to see beautiful things on ads. It is true that "soft" ads (that sell products like perfume, underwear, etc) do not sell compared to ads that are offensive like this axe commercial. Companies want ads that can grab attention and people like ads that do. Unfortunately, offensive ads are the kind of ads that make us go, "Wow, I need to buy that." Also, most of the time we like those kind of ads, because they are juicy subjects to be talked about. Hopefully, though, with a lot of movements going on, this can be stopped. It might take time for people to change their ideals, but we will see the results.
ReplyDeletesometimes i feel like to the liberal and educated eye some of these commercials could be seen as just balls-out sarcasm. with the exception of the last bit of the Axe commercial where you see the mook's shock and excitement for the heard of women running towards him the entire commercial was just absurd. what the hell are these perfectly sculpted women doing running through the jungle in string-bikini's and no shoes? the image is ridiculous and kind of hilarious. Don't get me wrong- it is 100% offensive. young people who aren't mature enough to see through advertisement ploys or have the strength of mind and security to not be molded by these messages shouldn't ever have the opportunity to receive them. but i will say that before threw up in my mouth a little- i laughed out loud at the absurdity of the commercial.
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