Axe body spray is so powerful, a woman will give up all her dreams and become putty in your hands if you wear it.
Axe and Dove are owned by the same company, so keep that in mind when you encounter the “pro-woman” Dove ad campaigns.
These photos are from a February 7th New York Times story in the Style section (p. E1 and E6) about changes in what male fashion models look like. This first picture shows some male models from the 1990s.
These three photos show the new ideal: very thin, lanky, and pasty.
Lisa and I are completely confused by these ads. We at least get the first one–her boobs are so big in a Wonderbra that they honk the horn while she drives. And the other I guess means she can’t see to put out her cigarette?But the other two? Is the coffin one supposed to imply that her breasts are too big for the coffin to close? I shouldn’t have to think this hard to understand an ad![youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O45b6bpoEI[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksUddNDJYHI[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af-5gu7HKdA[/youtube]
Another Super Bowl ad using racial/ethnic images: cars.com has a “witch doctor,” clearly based on stereotypical images of African “tribes,” as African peoples are always called.
Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.Here are two ads for Salesgenie. Both aired during the Super Bowl and both, for no apparent reason, used animated characters with thick accents–in the first Indian, in the second, Chinese.
NEW! (Mar. ’10): Melissa S. sent in this commercial for MetroPCS that features two men with strong accents who I believe we’re supposed to find funny looking and ridiculous:
Melissa says,
There are very few positive depictions of Indians in American entertainment and it really saddens us that this video and these images are the only images that many will see of Indians…I wonder why the commercial couldn’t simply have two men who happen to be brown touting the product? Does having an “Indian” accent automatically make this funnier?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9KLOYWlarE[/youtube]
Here is a video for Hasbro’s Rose Petal Cottage. Could be good for discussing gender socialization:
Great find, Sherryl K.!
Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.Here is a website where you can quickly get U.S. Census Bureau data for a particular zip code. I use it to get information for my classes to help students make a connection to things we’re talking about sometimes. It has things like racial breakdown, educational levels, and average income.