Ok, so – I know that the last post I wrote was about an alcohol commercial promising to make you manly, and I can’t say that I was exactly expecting to be hit with another wave of sexist advertisements for an alcohol brand – but then again, given what we’ve seen thus far, we can’t be that shocked. Also, given the recent study that shows children who are exposed to alcohol advertisements are more likely to binge drink than those who don’t, I think it’s probably important to address.
One of Svedka’s first print ads is already in the About-Face Gallery of Offenders. You know, the one that shows a female robot with alarmingly Barbie-like proportions and a coy little smile, and the ubiquitous non-sensical tagline “Are You Bot or Not?” (By the way, I still haven’t figured that out – if you are enough of a bot does it mean that Svedka is the alcohol for you?) So, let me introduce you to the latest commercial and print advertisement that recently affronted me. Let’s start with the commercials, shall we?
http://youtu.be/Stj4fKMkesU
I get that companies think sex sells – no matter what the product, if you make it sexual, people will hopefully associate the product with that and want to buy it. But this is creepy in a slightly different way than the other alcohol commercials. They aren’t using a real woman and sexualizing her, they are sexualizing a female robot – further reducing the agency of women. Svedka doesn’t just want the women to have their identities be merely sexual, they don’t even want them to be human.
Doubts? Take a look at the ad.
The audience here, like that of the commercials, is male, as it gives them a delightful piece of “advice” regarding their future marriage. The second marriage, mind you, because Svedka is assuming either that there will be no sustained and committed romantic relationship for these men (which is pretty insulting to men, too), or that their previous romantic partner was SO intolerable that they should look for one who doesn’t seem to have any brains or ability to sustain a conversation but sure can pose like a champ and dance like no other to excite you!
It also tells us that Svedka seems to think the only wives worth having are trophy wives (since these drinkers are about to be on their second). Oh, and did you catch that line from the song in the commercial – “come on and wind me up?” That wasn’t chosen serendipitously, either – this fembot only requires a reboot and wind-up to do whatever you want, whenever you want.
The ideal woman in the Svedka marketing room is one that is seen but not heard, and only seen when the man wants to see her. As a woman who prides herself on communication skills, I certainly won’t be giving Svedka any of my money.
Good argument for the burka and for criminalizing makeup, breast implants, short skirts, low cut shirts, high heels, bikinis, Miss America, womens fitness and the penis. How dare the world view women as sexy…
But you should always tell your daughters that they are princesses too…
But if they had used a good-looking, real woman in an otherwise identical commercial, you’d trot out the old canard about how the woman was being ‘exploited’ simply because of her own, totally voluntary career choice. Here, no living woman is being ‘objectified’, because a robot really is an object.
Plus, it’s stylish.
They are not objectifying an object, they are telling their audience that women would be better without any of the parts you don’t like. Better if they were controllable, predictable, not real.
Also, people are not complaining that the one woman in the add is being exploited for what she is payed to do, they are complaining about the sexualization and objectification of women everywhere. This causes many (consciously or unconsciously) to see women as object who are meant for little more than your own gratification. Not only does this hurt the view of women by others, this hurts the way women and girls view themselves. I am not saying that no women is the world is happy, but these advertisements largely contribute to the growing rates of eating disorders, teen suicides, and rape.
So no, there is no one woman being ‘objectified’ in this commercial, just the view of women and girls everywhere.
Plus, what’s so stylish about a bald robot with a waist you could fit one hand around dancing for men with cameras?
Interesting that your name includes the word “point”, considering that you completely missed it.
I have to admit this commercial and ad are disturbing and I wouldn’t want my teenage son or daughter watching this. There are too many subliminal messages here that are anything but positive. I like to watch TV with my kids so usually I’m aware of what they see. We love to watch prime time TV together. I was excited when my coworker at Dish suggested I upgrade to the Hopper system. It automatically records prime time programming, with the Prime Time Anytime feature, and then when we play back the programming we can completely block out commercials altogether. It helps a ton with commercials like this one!