One Ad Campaign: Two Gender Stereotypes
I just came across a blog post that brings up a fairly common ad campaign phenomenon: two gender stereotypes for the price of one. Though the "chocolate man" television ad being discussed was clearly an attempt at humor, it actually comes off as either "off" or just plain creepy. The post’s writer does a good job dissecting it. Here’s an excerpt (edit. note: I made no spelling or other edits):
"Firstly I am appauled by the depiction of women as lusty, unbalanced
beasts who devour chocolate men with non regard to their safety. Are
we, as men, so afraid of women that we believe they will one day devour
us all?! You have to be really worried about the man who came up with
this advert, was he not given enough attention from his mummy or was he
quite simply the witness to his dad, who was incidently made entirely
of chocolate, being eaten by a pack of marauding women? Who knows, one
thing is certain though, this is a disturbed view of gender politics,
the writer is informing us that if you let women too close they will
rip you apart, literally."
February 15th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Well, the writer is apparently more upset with the fact that men are portrayed as such. Personally, I’m more affected with the depiction of women as lusty being who can’t get enough of men. Period. I haven’t seen this ad yet but it reminds me of all the axe commercials. I know feminists are gritting their teeth over them. Hehehe
June 5th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Being that it is an advert, I believe that the content shown should be taken as tongue-in-cheek. It pays to make adverts that are slightly controversial in order to sell products. If for nothing else, playing on gender stereotypes just for the sake of selling a product is what bothers me. And the fact that some women out there accept the stereotype of chocolate-eating as a given.