2-3 paragraphs
You can post it on the blog, but you must also bring in a typed copy for me on Tuesday if you want to get credit for the assignment.
Choose one of the following commercials or advertisements. Summarize the clip or ad, and then analyze what it implies about men, women, and/or the relationship between the sexes. What does it suggest about how men or women behave in American society? What does it say bout how men and should behave? Note any gender stereotypes. How does the ad or commercial use these gender stereotypes to sell the product
Commerical #1 Hungry Man
Commercial #2 Hasbro's Rose Petal Cottage
Commercial #3 Coca Cola Zero
Commercial #4 Dairy Queen
Commercial #5 Combos
Commercial #6Snickers
Advertisement #1
Advertisement #2
Advertisement #3
Advertisement #4
Advertisement#5
5 comments:
Commercial – Hungry Man
The commercial is advertising Hungry Man, which is one large pound of meat and potatoes, for a quick meal. The commercial begins with three large figured construction men on their lunch break. This already shows that their job is only fit for males, most people never heard of a women construction worker. However the ironic part is that these men are eating yogurt and it looks like they really are enjoying it, the commercial signifies this as feminisms. Today women’s looks matter so much in today’s society so they eat very light foods such as yogurts and other liquid foods. The largest man of the three workers says “I think I need to go to the bathroom, wanna come?” “Yeah sure” answers the second worker. “I don’t really have to go but I’ll keep you company” says the third worker loudly over the noise of the heavy machinery. As the three men walk to the bathroom a fellow co-worker who is eating a meal that consist of a pound of meat, potatoes and corn insultingly says to them “where you ladies going.” That is when the narrator of the commercial says “you are what you eat” then continues to talk about the food product and how it’s good to be full like a man.
The commercial is being acted out by three construction men, this shows that their job is only fit for males, most people never heard of a women construction worker. However the ironic part is that these men are eating yogurt and it looks like they really are enjoying it, the commercial signifies this as feminisms. Today women’s looks matter so much in today’s society so they eat very light foods such as yogurts and other liquid foods. As they walked to the bathroom their co-worker asked them where you ladies going. This displays that if men eat food that womanly normally eat they aren’t considered manly. Men must eat heavy meat meals in order to be considered a real man. The commercial is saying that men don’t care as much about their weight and figure like women do, because you should eat like a man and you should be full like a man. Another insult the commercial makes on women is mocking a behavioral pattern that when one female friend needs to go to the bathroom they all follow each other. This is trying to mock that fact that women aren’t so independent. The commercial also implies that males cannot act like females at all and if they do they aren’t called males anymore rather females (just as the co-worker said it). But the opposite, if a female would act like a male is not implied in this advertisement. The behavior of this commercial display how the Americans care too much of what other people think of them. When the co-worker said his remark you see the three construction workers throw away their womanly food and split up and they don’t all go to the bathroom together. It shows how your sex should determine almost every action that you do, for example what you eat and how and when you go to the bathroom. It shows how men should behave like normal men do and not eat yogurt, men should eat big meals so satisfy themselves from a hard day of work. Men cannot act remotely close to ho women act because if you do you are not considered a man anymore. This commercial uses a lot of stereotyping to sell the product. A construction worker which is mainly a man’s job can eat the Hungry Man product. Women and men who act like women this food product is not for them. Also only men can eat till they are full, since usually that is not a normal characteristic of a female. The name of the product itself is promoting the sale only the males, a woman cant but a Hungry Mans product. This shows how the commercial uses the male gender and stereotyping to sell their product.
Hasbro's Rose Petal Cottage
For many years, the roles of men and women have been defined by what we have learned via our parents and the media. These roles have been very clearly defined allowing no gray area or overlap of any sort. Any variance from society is usually regarded as strange and inappropriate behavior. An example of the role of a woman can be clearly seen in a commercial for Hasbro's Rose Petal Cottage. In this commercial, we see a young girl around the age of five or six that is inviting visitors into her “house”. This “house” is a large toy equipped with living room furniture, a kitchen area with a stove and oven and sink, a baby and a crib and a washing machine. The child bakes muffins for herself and her visitors, “decorates” her living room, takes care of the baby and washes clothes and dishes. Then she invites others to see what she has done. This can also be viewed as an example of the media establishing or defining the role of women from a young age as many children probably saw this commercial.
This commercial implies that the place for a woman is in the home. A woman can only cook, clean and care for her young. An outlet for her energy should be fueled into something feminine like decorating. This ad also says that woman should not aspire to be anything more than a personal maid, cook and nanny. Also, a male figure is not present at all during the entire commercial. This indicates to me that the place for a man is outside of the home and that he should have nothing to do with housework. Even when the child invites a friend into her home, to see what she has done, it is another female. This commercial doesn’t really indicate the way that men and women behave in American society, but it does dictate the way in which they ought to behave. Women should associate with other women and talk about “women” things. It suggests that women should only do “women-ly” things and should behave in a way that benefits the home in a direct way (i.e. cooking, cleaning, and caring for their young). These are most definitely stereotypes. The stereotype is that a woman should stay at home and run the household by cooking, cleaning and raising the young to be suitable citizens. The commercial uses this stereotype to sell products in that it falls in line with what most parents have been telling their children since they were born.
All in all, the media uses their power to tell their target audiences how to act. It helps to define society in ways that can or cannot prove to be helpful. It broadcasts deviance as wrong and helps to create and promote stereotypes. The effects of the media can be both powerful and long-lasting. The media can stifle people and also kill their dreams.
Societal Gender Roles
Men are from mars women are from venus. Anyone can recognize that from a childhood rhyme we all recited or at least heard at some point during our younger years. But its true, men and women have some very distinct differences that distinguish one from another. When you’re a kid you learn to distinguish those differences at a very young age. Not even in regard to anatomical differences but in regard to societies view of expectances of normal behaviors from both genders. We see it all over the media. T.V shows, movies and especially in advertisements. We are conditioned from the day we are born to believe in societies conceptions of proper gender roles as the accepted norm. Hasbro’s Rose petal Cottage is an excellent example of this.
The commercial depicts a happy, young, well adjusted, innocent child playing by herself in a Rose Petal Cottage. The Cottage is a mini version of a normal middle class home. It has a furnished kitchen, bedroom and even a laundry room with a washer and dryer! It depicts this child playing mommy and doing all the things a normal mommy should do. Cook, clean, feed a hungry teddy bear, put that bear to sleep and even do his laundry. She can even decorate and move around furniture, just like a woman should. The real mommy is so proud that her daughter has begun to learn how to do all the things she’ll need to do as lady. The advertisement calls the cottage “her place where her dreams have room to grow”.
This Rose Petal Cottage is too full of stereotypes to allow room for anything. It feeds into all of societie’s expectations of what a women is supposed to do. Cooking, cleaning, laundry , what could be more feminine? We even buy this toy for our daughters because of that. We want them to grow up to be considered normal and well adjusted. And it’s not even our faults. We have to, or the child will be considered weird, or different and people don’t respect weird or different. If you want you’re child to have a “normal childhood” you are forced to buy into societies conception of normal. “The Rose Petal Cottage, her place where her dreams have room to grow, (in the direction we want them to).”
Commercial- hungry man
According to this commercial, you are not a real man unless you are able to eat a package of “Hungry Man.” It starts off with three men sitting down drinking fruit smoothies which is found to be a girly drink and then one of the guys said that he needed to use the bathroom. He asked if anyone else wanted to come and one said that even though he didn’t have to go, he would give him company which is portraying that they are women due to the simple stereotype that women go to the bathroom in groups.
On their way to the bathroom, they see one of there fellow employee eating a plate of “Hungry Man” and he asks them, “Where are you ladies going,” which is basically showing that a real man eats “Hungry Man” while others drink smoothies and go to the bathroom in groups like women do. This commercial use was made for men due to the fact that they are construction workers and about 99% of construction workers are men.
Commercial #3- Coca-Cola Zero
This commercial starts off by showing a typical good-looking guy in is mid-twenties and his implied girlfriend in a bar somewhere in a Western state. The title immediately reads, “The Breakup”, meaning a guy ending a relationship between him and his girlfriend. The guy is also immediately titled as, “Our Hero”, implying that he embodies how men should act in such a situation. He begins to say that he doesn’t know how to put it- but his girlfriend can already sense the intent of the conversation. Upon drinking Coca-Cola Zero, his heart rate speeds up, and a glimpse of a cell is showed. All of a sudden, the tables are converted into stripper poles, and a group of scantily clad women approach the guy and start caressing his chest and teasing him. They continue to dance on the poles and entertain the guy. His girlfriend then declares her understanding of his reason why he wants to end their relationship. She says that there are so many beautiful girls, and it’s a shame for him to be limited to only one. She continues to say that he should call her when he wants to have sex- not only with her, but all of the women as well. This embodies his wildest fantasies and he appears overjoyed and relieved. He then drives off on a motorcycle with a few beautiful women behind him. The commercial ends by declaring that that is how a breakup “should” be. Coca-Cola Zero is then described as how Coca-Cola should taste.
This commercial portrays a large number of stereotypes of men, women, and their roles in relationships. The commercial portrays women as being playthings of men, conforming to certain modern standards of beauty- having a slim, yet endowed figure.
It also suggests that women should dress in a very sexy and revealing fashion, with the purpose of pleasing men. The commercial also suggests that women should give in to men’s desires and wishes, even though they may be superficial and selfish. The commercial portrays all men as superficial, shallow individuals who do not consider the needs and desires of the opposite sex- but only of how women can serve to entertain them and fulfill their desires. It also suggests that men only care about sex, and do not want meaningful monogamous relationships with women. The commercial implies that all men support these ideas and want women to agree with them, even though they usually do not. The commercial uses the idea, “the way it should be” to draw a comparison between the great taste of a fountain beverage to communication and relationships between men and women.
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