Superbowl? Yes, Please! Sexist Ads? No, Thank You!
Husband and I don't generally watch football -- we're more into baseball, go Yankees! -- but, like most Americans, we watch the Superbowl. This year we'll have a little Juban Princeling watching with us, though he's unlikely to follow much more than the flashy movement of color on the screen.
If, as he gets older, my son decides he likes football and wants to follow it, that's fine by me. I think it's healthy to have a team to follow, to cheer on your favorite players, to live the ups and downs of wins and losses, to take pride in one's city, and to have a spirited rivalry with another team. (*coughredsoxcough*) And football is fine. Nothing wrong with football. I do not believe that liking football automatically turns an otherwise ordinary guy into a knuckle-dragging, monosyllabic, sexual harassment enthusiast. In fact, one of the biggest football fans I know, my brother "Mr. Funny," also happens to be one of the most sensitive people I know, an "enlightened male" who is married to "Daria," an outspoken, unapologetic feminist. I also happen to know plenty of women for whom football is the spectator sport of choice.
What bothers me is the prevalence of sexism in football ads. In the 21st century, how can anyone be ok with this? How do these ad companies -- and the companies they represent -- even do it? Sexism in ads, to me, is not only offensive, it's beyond outdated to the point of being pathetic. Do we really still need half-naked women in bikinis to increase beer sales? Or dancing supermodels in mini-dresses to sell some vitamin drink?
Maybe it's because I live in a cushiony little bubble of liberalism and sensitivity, but most of the men I know are uncomfortable watching those ads, and not just because we womenfolk are watching with them. After six years of watching TV beside me, my husband is able to spot sexism in an ad from a mile away. For him, the problem is twofold: one, he's married to a feminist, so he's offended on my behalf; and second, as a straight heterosexual male he's confused as to why companies need to use scantily clad women to sell him, say, breath mints, and offended that they think all they have to do is appeal to his baser sexual instincts in order to get and keep his attention.
Last year 97.5 million people watched the Superbowl. That is a LOT of people. To help in the fight against sexism in ads, and in particular Superbowl ads, the National Organization for Women launched a watchdog group where viewers could report the biggest offenders. This year, Bust Magazine encourages viewers to report sexist ads to their local NBC affiliates, or to contact the offending companies directly and let their disapproval be known. I plan to speak up. There is absolutely no need to demean women in order to sell a product, any product.
So it's fine by me if the Juban Princeling grows up to be a football fan. Hopefully, by the time he's old enough to appreciate the game, these antiquated ads will be a thing of the past. Until we get there, though, he'll have Uncle Funny explaining things like interceptions and first downs and point spreads (we're a gambling family) on one side, and me and Aunt Daria on the other side explaining why the half-naked blond does not belong in an ad for an Internet company.
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No what is really amazing is how arrogant some men are when they don't even see how condescending it is to tell women what is and is not demeaning and damaging to them. It would be like me, a caucasian female, instructing a person of color, whose life I have never experienced, to just chill and get a sense of humor when they object to being portrayed in ways that they feel perpetuates racism.
Likewise since the way a group is portrayed and perceived has much to do with the way they are treated telling them "just don't watch" is a an irresponsible cop-out that solves nothing.
How puritancal. It's amazing how unliberated, self described liberated women have become.
By all means, let's wring every last bit of sexuality out of us. All it does is exploit and demean, right. Why does sex scare the crap out of Americains so much?
I love the husband quotes too, as if she feels the need to interject some 'man-cred' into her arguement.
No, what is amazing is how someone who is passing himself or herself off as literate can so utterly fail to draw even the simplest distinction between sexism and sexuality. Perhaps you think there is no such distinction, in which case the problem is not just with your ability to read, but also that you have an inability to understand that there are very real power imbalances in our society and advertisers often use them in an exploitative manner.
There is nothing wrong with sex, but when a woman is depicted as an object of lust and simultaneously as an object of male ridicule, that is sexism and Meredith is right to call for its end.
I believe there is a distinction. I just think Meredith wrote a bad article. She obviously wrote it off the cuff without too much thought.
I think the power balance you are seeking to define is between women who constantly strive to impose there own view of what is 'right and proper' with those others who feel they're intelligent enough to live their lives without a baby sitter or a *shudder* watchdog group looking over their shoulders.
You no doubt noticed that Meredith was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the ads, with one exception. You see, (read carefully now), a liberated person just may have considered watching the ads BEFORE she decided to comment on their sexism.
BTW-Has it been a while since you've read Gloria Steinem? It's not wrong to view women as sex objects. It's wrong when you can ONLY view women as sex objects. Lots of (so called) feminists get hung up on that point and only end up substituting their own form of oppression for the one they seek to denounce.
I don't understand your position. What is the matter with using cheesecake -- or beefcake -- to sell a product? We are not being asked to hire one of these commercial actors or actresses for a job. We are not judges determining a legal case one of them is in. We are not deciding whether or not to rent a home to them. Their voluntary decision to use their sexuality to make money does not afford us --as viewers -- an opportunity to discriminate against them.
If the argument is that it objectifies them, sure it does. But the game between the ads objectifies the players as athletes -- about which there are plenty of stereotypes.
Objectification -- if not done exclusively to one group -- is not only the soul of advertizing (image=product) but is not discriminatory.
If you think people's sexuality shouldn't be used to judge them, then marry an ugly guy, watch Jack Black instead of Brad Pitt and stop paying attention whenever Sawyer takes his shirt off on "Lost"
The sexism doesn't bother me as much as the fact that its so unoriginal. So trite and cliche. You would think that somewhere out there there would be someone who could come up with some new ideas.
The target audience of the sexist ads during the Super Bowl is men who aren't getting sex. Period.
Is this personal experience?
I agree with what you said, but you left out at least half of the sexism in advertising.
What about the dozens of ads that portray men as mindless idiots, certainly incapable of even the most mundane of tasks without the omnipotent woman to keep him in line?
See Meredith Lopez's Profile
I have to say, I was quite pleasantly surprised last night. Except for Go Daddy, the ads were funny, clever and well-made. Budwieser, especially, totally charmed me with their series of Clydesdale ads, a continuation from last year. Well done, advertisers!
so the only one that was even remotely sexist was the GoDaddy commercial and even that one was pretty much an over-the-top commentary on sex-filled commercials.
I can't believe this... I just watched the Go Daddy ad and thought, wow how sexist is that. I feel ruined.
J
simple. convince hot young women that they shouldn't do those kinds of commercials.
Who cares what you think about this? If you don't like these ads, don't watch. If enough people agreed with you, ratings would go down, ads would change. And that occurs through people not watching due to displeasure. But if people find this entertaining, which it is entertainment provided to sell things, so be it. They are not wrong for finding it entertaining nor are you right for finding it sexist.
Also, focus on the products or producers selling through "sex" on Monday and tell us how you aren't going to be buying products from them. That is the real story, right? If you really are offended, tell us what you are going to do besides posting here. Are you going to change your behavior or ask that others change their behavior for your comfort? Its easy to sit on one's couch and gripe (or even blog) but really do no more than that.
The adage that "sex sells" is on point here. The characterization and exploitation of women for the sole purpose of selling commodities is what bothers feminists.
But, is there anything wrong with seeing a beautiful women in revealing outfits? My answer is no.
The problem is that Western men, at least the last two-generations, are hyper-sexed (internet porn, Maxim, Playboy, Penthouse, Victoria Secret, video games, ad naseum) to the point where these scantically clad women in commercials are in effect just simple "pin-pricks" in our collective "dirty minds." Men think about sex every 10-15 seconds . . . how do you stop that?
The source of revenue for these multi-nationals, as mentioned above, is the international markets that have yet to be hyper sexed like us Americans. Imagine a Punjabi villages and Somali tribes watching the Go Daddy Girl slidder and wiggle her ample bossom to our titilation (no pun).
Feminists now have a high-tech communication tool (commercials) in the control and subjigation of the foreign male. Why the foreign male? This is where, of course, women are REALLY oppressed (illiteracy, clitorectomies, oppression, acid-in-face, lack of opportunities, no control over their reproductive cycles misery).
Our American openess towards sex and bikini-clad women may help our sisters in foreign lands become liberated.
Think of that while you reach for the Tostitos and Miller Lite during half-time. Or, when the Steelers score the winning touch-down.
Please....
If you want to promote women's rights, please get rid of the sexual puritanism, and focus on the real issues.
In a society that has tremendously repressed sex and sexuality, it will show up at some point. These commercials are merely an outlet for what a "Christian" based society tries to shove under the rug - the naturalness of sex and sexuality. Due to this there is an obsession with using sex to sell things, since at a deep level people want to express themselves sexually. In a healthy society, sex is simply a part of life. A great way to control people is to get them to think that their natural, human, instincts are wrong and that they are not free to express them. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but easy to see as sex is used to sell everything. Tell people they can't have it and they want it, especially when it is a basic part of life - hence it is used to advertise bazillions of things.
To paraphrase Marlene Dietrich, 'In the USA sex is an obsession, in the rest of the world its a fact.'
Gotta tell you, your husband is lying to you. Secretly video tape him in a room, not with your couple friends, but with his old high school buddy's, turn on the super bowl ads you find most offensive and if he really thinks you won't catch him he'll laugh with everyone else. Now I am generalizing and maybe your husband is the exception that proves the rule, but I've lived and worked in "bastions of liberalism and sensitivity" and discovered that it is usually a thin veneer over the typical maleness of the world. I will say this, having someone preach too me about how sexist every ad aimed at men is has made me way more aware of it. But that doesn't mean in moments of quiet that I don't like hot women trying to sell me things. I would ask a question of you, how much beer do you buy? I mean are you the target demographic of the ad? Do you buy the brand that is being sold? Do you think you might be over reacting? Ads are sometimes about archetypes, like say, romance books, or any lit by women for women, where the male character is two dimensional and the female character is strong and well rounded. Beer ads are like that, men writing for men. While I will concede the sexism of the ads to an extent I would argue that you are holding on too tight.
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