Video: What if gender roles in advertising were reversed?

[Skidmore]

This is a Canadian video but I'd give anything to see something similar using data relevant to this nation. Hypersexualization and images of violence propelling sales.

[csziggy]

1. Well done video - more people should see it

There are more than one channel in my cable line up that have good shows and movies but whose advertisements are so obnoxiously oriented that I often turn away before I finish watching. One is SpikeTV - their ads aimed at men are so loud and aggressive I dislike them. Or their ads portray men as immature without good sense.

Another channel is WE (Women's Entertainment?) whose ads are primarily aimed at women. As a woman I find the tenor of the ads extremely offensive. They tend to portray women as dissatisfied unless they have the right makeup, clothes or man. One recent ad has a woman looking at her reflection and seeming depressed - until she puts on lipstick. Then she smiles, appears happy and elated.

My best tool for dealing with these ads is my remote control. I change channels - and if I change too often, I tend to not return to the channel with the annoying ads. But I am an atypical woman - I wear no makeup and no designer clothes. My most important fashion choice is whether to put on a tee shirt with a pocket or one with a picture on it. So I am not the target audience and never have been.

[Lunacee_2013]

9. Are you referring to the Mary-Kay ad,

when a woman talks about her client who's never worn red lipstick before, because she hated her smile? That one is a little ridiculous, but the ones that really bug me are the crazy over-sexualized ones, or the ones that portray men as helpless idiots who need women to clean up after them. If men can run the world, then I'm sure they can clean the house without completely f'ing it up.

[csziggy]

11. The one I saw had no dialogue, just video

Though there could have been some talking since I could have had the sound muted. I'm pretty sure it was not a Mary-Kay ad.

[BlueJazz]

2. I like the message of the video but think it went way overboard and was rather silly.

As far as the old ads (husband spanking wife and Even a woman can open it), just about everybody thinks that those ads were idiotic ....and many thought so even in the times that they were made.

[Warpy]

6. We never did see any of those "ring around the collar" ladies

glare right back at the man and tell him to try washing his filthy neck!

I will not feel vindicated until I do.

[BlueJazz]

8. I've seen those ads ...and more of the same but at the same time, thought >

"I'm certainly glad I was born...I just wish it were on some other planet"

You have to wonder about a people that throw away half of the ideas and intelligence living on their world.

[demwing]

3. excellent K&R /nt

[badtoworse]

4. As long as we're doing gender role reversals, here is my personal favorite

[Warpy]

5. "Coverflip" is one of my favorite things

It gender switches famous books and does the covers they use to market "chick lit," the disparaging name used to describe anything that is written by a woman without the clout to approve her own damned covers.

My favorite:



The slideshow is at http://www.uproxx.com/webculture/2013/05/coverflip-project-wants-you-to-gender-swap-the-author-of-your-favorite-book/#page/1

[DeSwiss]

10. Well done!!! Well done!!!

- Well, I could have done without the dude in the thong -- but yeah, right on!

K&R!!!

[davidthegnome]

12. The video makes some good points.

It can't be denied that this is true, that there are many commercials, many advertisements in which women are depicted as sexual objects - this is far more rare for men. It can't be denied that, generally speaking, men are more prone to violence, or even sexual violence. Yet, there is one more thing can't be denied... especially by young people who are sadly too aware of modern culture...

The men who are viewed as the most attractive, most manly, most desirable within our society, are those who are of large physical stature, violent, and/or dangerous. Consider gangsters, rappers, athletes, or the often intimidating, elitist appearance and manner of someone like, say, Mitt Romney.

It is a shallow culture, yet the blame for this cannot be laid entirely on men. It is all too common that the most lovely, intelligent women of our society will seek out those who are seen as the most desirable men. Generally, they are not terribly intelligent, kind, generous, or empathetic. Generally, they are tall, they are large and muscular, they have the "six pack abs" that have become such a fad (even though they are not always a sign of good health, or even strength...)

Men who have qualities of, say, empathy, kindness, patience, generosity, or, perhaps, humility... are often seen as weak by our society. Or as girly. They frequently fend off insinuations that they aren't "man" enough. In fact, they are bullied as frequently by women as they are by men, though a woman's method of bullying is rather more subtle, to be sure.

In my opinion, feminism is not as powerful or as popular as it once was because it tends to largely exclude, or to demonize men. This isn't specifically a male problem or a female problem... it is a human problem, involving media, personal perception... and critical thinking ability. The media has such powerful influence over all of us (unless we reject society, and some do) that you cannot have one without the other.

That is, to improve these situations, it needs to be about more than who deserves the most blame for the state of things. I freely admit that it is men, but there are ways in which many women are complicit within this tangled web of pop culture, media and overall ignorance.

Perhaps we could start by admitting that, in order to truly promote change and progress, it needs to be recognized that neither gender is the only villain in this case. That it is not either men, or women, who are the true culprit here... rather, it is humanity.

Just my opinion. Take it as you will.