In the comments to another post, OTM brought my attention to this segment from Target Women, by the wonderful Sarah Haskins (go here if the video doesn’t show up):
The sexualization of the cleaning products reminds me a lot of the way food is sexualized (search under the Food tag for lots of examples).
I suggest going to the Current TV website and just browsing through every segment of Target Women they have up. They’re all fantastic.
Thanks, OTM!
UPDATE: In another example of cleaning products being portrayed as “special friends,” Swiffer created a YouTube “break-up” channel where people were encouraged to “Show us how you ‘broke up’ with your mop and bucket, broom or feather duster and ‘traded up’ to Swiffer…” by creating videos of themselves singing break-up songs to their old cleaning products. The winner got $15,000.
Swiffer also has a series of ads where women “break up” with their old cleaning products:
NEW! (Nov. ’09) This Lysol commercial (found at BrandFreak) plays on the same theme:
Comments 8
OTM — September 23, 2008
You're welcome!
Abby — September 23, 2008
God I love Sarah Haskins. She is, like, my biggest crush since Johnny Depp. Can you imagine how fun it would be to invite her over to watch TV?
Sociological Images » WOMEN HAVE NEEDS; SHE NEEDS A GOOD WASHER — September 24, 2008
[...] hint at sex (”a woman has needs”) in relation to a washing machine is kinda weird. See this post for a humorous look at how cleaning supplies are often sold using sexual or romantic [...]
Sociological Images » CLEARASIL PERSONALITY OF THE MONTH AD — September 30, 2008
[...] as friends that help women get everything done, since apparently no one in their families will. See this post for a humorous take on some of these ads. addthis_url = [...]
Sociological Images » DOVE GIVES WOMEN THAT “TINGLY-ALL-OVER FEELING” — October 20, 2008
[...] to substitute food for romantic relationships with men; this ad plays on the same ideas. See this post for a humorous video about how women are also encouraged to think of cleaning products as their [...]
Sociological Images » Of Housework And Husbands — July 11, 2009
[...] women love to clean: cleaning is power, joy in cleaning, cleaning products are women’s special friend, and mmm, a new [...]
Sociological Images Update (Nov. 2009) » Sociological Images — December 1, 2009
[...] Do you feel you have a truly special relationship with your cleaning products? If so, check out the Lysol commercial we added to our post about Sarah Haskins’s “Target: Women” segment on household cleaners marketed as women’s special, special friend. [...]
Leigha — July 11, 2010
PineSol, not Lysol