Comments on: Bridgestone Tires Say, “Shut the Hell Up, Woman!”

By: Medici

Medici — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:31:55 +0000

Good for you!

By: Miriam

Miriam — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:33:06 +0000

Can you pinpoint why you identified Mrs. Potatohead as Jewish? I usually notice Jewish woman stereotypes, since I am a Jewish woman, but this commercial just seemed like garden-variety misogyny to me (no apologies for the pun- I like it). I did feel a little more visceral anger than usual, but I assumed that was because they imposed a such a disturbing and violent narrative on an innocent childhood toy.

By: Happy Super Bowl Day! » Sociological Images

Happy Super Bowl Day! » Sociological Images — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:17:08 +0000

[...] Shut the hell up. Leave a Comment Tags: sports Barbie and G.I. Joe: Inscribing Gender Norms on [...]

By: The Sword and the Olive Branch » Blog Archive » Casual Observations: 02-03-2009

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:20:13 +0000

[...] and feminists found a way to take offense. Animal rights activists also got into the act, as did sociologists. Feministing didn’t even argue it that it was sexist. They just threw up a post with the [...]

By: Sociological Images » BRIDGESTONE bTIRES/b SAY, “SHUT THE HELL UP b…/b | Discount Tires

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:11:33 +0000

[...] Go here to see the original: Sociological Images » BRIDGESTONE bTIRES/b SAY, “SHUT THE HELL UP b…/b [...]

By: CJ

CJ — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:45:17 +0000

I hit enter too soon – sorry. :(

Anyway, I was going to say that the whole thing is a stereotype – both the driving and attitude of the husband ignoring his wife’s needs and the woman nagging.

By: CJ

CJ — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:43:28 +0000

It also plays into the stereotype of lousy male drivers.

By: Kiopta

Kiopta — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:04:04 +0000

Did the style of this commercial seem really ’80s to anyone else? I felt like I was watching one of those “the most _______ commercials of the last three decades!” shows. Only it must have been “the most cliche, misogynist, tired attempts at humor commercials.”

BTW, I love instasilly‘s comment: “We all know women who behave like this.” Well, of course, if some women behave like this, it must be okay to imply that they only behave that way because they’re women (further implying that women in general just “are” that way).

Seriously, isn’t that the definition of stereotype?

By: Tyrone

Tyrone — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:16:46 +0000

Wow – who knew Mr. Potatohead was such an a-hole?

By: SarahMC

SarahMC — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:29:50 +0000

The plethora of commeters on Socialogical Images who are hostile to socialogical inquiry and cultural examination is a real bummer.
When ONE SEX is continually portrayed as “nagging” (a sexist term itself, as it’s only applied to women) killjoys who make men homicidal/suicidal, it’s SEXISM. For chrissakes. Were there any women portrayed positively in ANY of the commercials this year?

By: It’s the Thought that Counts » Blog Archive » A sense of humor

It’s the Thought that Counts » Blog Archive » A sense of humor — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:27:04 +0000

[...] been watching with some interest the comments on this post from Sociological Images. With just an embedded video of a Superbowl ad and two sentences of [...]

By: thewhatifgirl

thewhatifgirl — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:15:53 +0000

Am I the only one who saw the intersectional racism here? Mrs. Potatohead seemed to be not just the stereotypical nagging wife but the stereotypical nagging JEWISH wife.

By: JenniferRuth

JenniferRuth — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:50:44 +0000

Just because you think something is funny doesn’t mean that we can’t critique it.

In fact you can enjoy something AND look at it critically at the same time! Amazing, isn’t it?

By: grady

grady — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 07:50:39 +0000

Anonymous coward- I used to be of the “you just can’t take the joke” variety until recently. Is it really just a joke if you can find a different sexists ad every single day? The enforcement of stupid gender stereotypes is part of reality and I don’t think it’s off base to draw attention to the problem and discuss it on this blog since it’s not like these points of view are being seriously talked about in any mainstream formats.

By: xxlashley

xxlashley — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:37:29 +0000

Regardless of how you feel about the hilarity of this commercial, the point remains that it is important to note the stereotypes being used. I personally find this offensive, as I don’t see Mrs. Potatohead being treated with any sort of respect here (yes I realize how silly that sounds; let’s pretend Potatohead is a common surname for a moment XD). Sure, if someone was acting that way in real life, it could get annoying quickly, no matter the gender of the speaker. Problem here is the fact that they’re playing on two ancient stereotypes for laughs: 1. wives nag and can’t shut up, and 2. women don’t understand what it’s like to want peace and quiet during a drive, let alone understand the tires of a car. Letting jokes like this slip under the radar “because it’s funny” and “spouses can be annoying” just lends more leeway to this kind of stereotyping in the future. It’s these kinds of things that lead to people thinking it’s okay to stereotype as long as it’s for the sake of humor; it’s not okay, and to echo what L.G. said, I don’t want to hear any of that “feminists can’t take a joke” scheiße, because I don’t think that is applied to any other groups who call ads out on stereotyping. If it is, then it usually isn’t as easy as claiming it towards a woman, because we simply “must be on the rag” all the time.