Who needed that wife anyway?
At first, I thought this Bridgestone ad was insinuating that the people inside were having some sort of altercation when the woman emerged from the car, breathless and frightened. Then I realized that she was forced out of the car, handed over like a piece of property or a ransom.
I’ll back up. A black, tinted-window car sits on a rainy road. A bunch of white men with indeterminate villainous accents broadcast, “Your tires, or your life!” A tall blonde woman (of course) wearing a black, leather corset-y catsuit gets out of the car (it looks like she’s pushed out). The men say “Your life, not your wife!”
–Jennifer
Yeah…when it comes down to your tires or your wife, you know which to choose! Yuck!
It’s very much an appeal to ownership masculinity. I thought these adds were written for white middle class American men who now find themselves having to share a fraction of power with non white men and women. They are VERY defensive. It’s like if you are being a ‘good’ responsible man, underneath you must still be a seething animal. All the ads signify to men in American culture that they are still the protagonist in the game of life, and women-don’t you ever forget it!