Search results for sex in advertising

Ben O. forwarded this ad for Fairy Soap (found here). It plays into the idea that African Americans are dirty and either lazy or stupid (since they don’t bother to wash their children), but that enlightened, kindly, clean whites can help them. It would make a good accompaniment to the chapter “Soft-Soaping Empire: Commodity Racism and Imperial Advertising” in Imperial Leather: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest, by Anne McClintock.

UPDATE: In a comment, Brendon proposed a reading I didn’t think of:

The second ad is troubling, but my interpretation of it wasn’t that the ad was implying that African Americans are dirty – it’s implying that the young white girl believes the black girl is covered in dirt, which is the only reason why the black girl doesn’t have the white skin she does. It’s about the ‘folly’ of youth – this girl isn’t versed in the discourse of racial difference yet!

Of course, Eric points out that the “cutesy” element is undermined by the fact that the ad was made by adults who, unless we’re both totally wrong, didn’t hold such an “innocent” view of the differences between African Americans and Whites.

Also, as a commenter pointed out, given changes in hairstyles and dress for children over time, it may be those are boys, not girls.

NEW (July ’10)! Monica Y. sent along another example, this one an ad for Vinolia Soap:

Here’s another great one from Elizabeth over at Blog of Stench (image originally found at Ad*Access):

The text:

Send for a FREE BOOK telling about this grave womanly offense. Learn how no other type liquid antiseptic-germicide tested for the douche is so powerful yet harmless! Isn’t it a shame when a woman doesn’t realize how important it is to always put ZONITE in her fountain syringe? Failure to practice hygiene (internal cleanliness) often results in such needless tragedies–homes broken up, few social invitations, the feeling of being shunned without without knowing why. A modern woman realizes how important hygiene is to health, married happiness, after her periods, and to combat an offensive odor even greater than bad breath or body odor–an odor she herself may not detect but is so apparent to people around her. And isn’t it reassuring to know that NO OTHER TYPE LIQUID ANTISEPTIC-GERMICIDE TESTED FOR THE DOUCHE IS SO POWERFUL YET SAFE TO TISSUES AS ZONITE! Developed by a famous surgeon and scientist–the ZONITE principle was the first in the world to be so powerfully effective yet so harmless. ZONITE is positively non-poisonous, non-irritating, non-burning. Remember that ZONITE is SAFE! SAFE! SAFE! to the most delicate tissues. You can use ZONITE as directed as often as needed without the slightest risk of injury. ZONITE deoderizes by not ‘masking’–it actually destroys, dissolves and removes odor-causing waste substances. And ZONITE has such a soothing effect. It promptly relieves any itching or irritation if present. ZONITE gives BOTH internal and external protection, leaving one with such a refreshed, dainty feeling–so c-l-e-a-n! Complete douching directions come with every bottle. Buy ZONITE today! Get it at any drugstore.

So women who don’t douche face, as Elizabeth says, “sexless marriages, social ostracism and general disaster.” I like how horrified the woman in the ad looks now that she’s figured out the cause of all her problems. On a side note, I think this is the only instance I’ve ever seen of a man being referred to as “frigid.”

Here’s another Zonite ad that I found at the Museum of Menstruation (who knew such a thing existed?):

I’m too lazy to transcribe the full text, but it’s basically the same story–if only she’d known about Zonite, she wouldn’t have suffered such social humiliations (and notice the scowl on the woman’s face).

These will be great for illustrating the ways women were (and still are) told they need to douche regularly or they would smell bad, as well as to have a healthy vagina–although the douches themselves often destroyed normal, healthy vaginal bacteria, causing the problems they claimed to solve. I’m going to use these in my women’s studies course in conjunction with our discussion of Joan Jacobs Brumberg’s book The Body Project, which discusses the rise of the feminine hygiene industry and the increases pressure on women to keep more and more parts of their bodies under control, whether through sanitary pads, bras, or anti-acne products.

Thanks, Elizabeth!

In the comments, Abby says,

This also ties into lessons about contraceptive history.  Andrea Tone has written about how Lysol (yes, that Lysol) and Zonite were ostensibly marketed as douches for “freshness” but were understood to be useful for preventing pregnancy.  If I recall correctly the main era for this was the 1930s, when most contraceptives were illegal.  There is a double meaning when these ads say that women can “banish their fears” – not just odor, but also unwanted pregnancy. (Never mind that douching with these chemicals is NOT healthy!)

As an example, Holly Mac. sent in this ad for a Lysol douche:

Text:

A man maries a woman because he loves her. So instead of blaming him if married love begins to cool, she should question herself. Is she truly trying to keep her husband and herself eager, happy married lovers? On most effective way to safeguard her dainty feminine allure is by practicing complete feminine hygiene as provided by vaginal douches with a scientifically correct preparation like ‘Lysol.’ So easy a way to banish the misgivings that often keep married lovers apart.

 

Germs destroyed swiftly

 

‘Lysol’ has amazing, proved power to kill germ-life on contact . . . truly cleanses the vaginal canal even in the presence of mucous matter. Thus ‘Lysol’ acts in a way that makeshifts like soap, salt or soda never can.

 

Appealing daintines is assured, because the very source of objectional odors is eliminated.

Use whenever needed!

 

Yet gentle, non-caustic ‘Lysol’ will not harm delicate tissue. Simple directions give correct douching solution. Many doctors advise their patients to douche regularly with ‘Lysol’ brand disinfectant, just to insure feminine daintiness alone, and to use it as often as necessary. No greasy aftereffect.

 

For feminine hygiene, three times more women use ‘Lysol’ than any other liquid preparation. No other is more reliable. You, too, can rely on ‘Lysol’ to help protect your married happiness . . . keep you desirable!

Notice the way in which “feminine allure” is described as “fragile.” I guess just a few years ago that relentless male sex drive was believed to be easily interrupted!

Also note the threat of divorce (and likely economic ruin) and the use of “science” to sell this product.

Ben O. sent in a link to several ads for douches and feminine deodorants (all at Found in Mom’s Basement). This douche ad makes it clear that douching is about pleasing your male partner:

Notice this feminine deodorant is called Pristeen; it promises to help make “girls” attractive:

From the text:

The real problem, as you very well know, is how to keep the most girl part of you–the vaginal area–fresh and free of any worry-making odors…Whatever starts those those troublesome vaginal odors, Pristeen stops them–effectively. And nicely…Why take chances? Starting today, why not make Pristeen as much a part of your daily life as your bath or shower. It’s just as essential to your cleanliness. And to your peace of mind about being a girl. An attractive, nice-to-be-with girl.

Bidette Towelettes promise to give women “all-day daintiness”:

Thanks, Ben!

Kim D. sent us in another example, found at the Museum of Menstruation:

NEW! Taylor D. sent in a link to eleven more vintage Lysol douche ads, including this one:

Remember that Trojan ad where men were pigs? Daniel G. sent us another ad portraying men as animals. In this one, men in a bar grow antlers so as to head-butt over a cute girl. Guess which one she goes for? Thanks Daniel!

We consolidated our products-shaped-like-boobs posts and added 17 (yes, 17) new boob-shaped products. Thanks to Stumblng Tumblr and Shakesville.

On a similar theme, we added some additional images of things shaped like women, generally, including a cigarette extinguisher. See them here.

And, still on this theme, we added one more urinal shaped like a woman. We added a second example of a non-American Indian appropriating an American Indian identity and doing conservation work. Click here for Archibald, I mean, Grey Owl.

We added another example of people of color being associated with “spice” and, thus, spicing up the bland world of white people. And this one in a truly misguided pro-diversity ad!

We added to our ad using the idea that Latinas are “hot” and “spicy,” some ads for Rio Casino in which a black woman is used to communicate “passion.” Both demonstrate how women of color are stereotyped as more highly sexual than white women. See it here.

We added a description of a chapter in the book Freakonomics that presents a theory on how baby names become popular to this post about historical trends in baby names, including a link to a website that tracks the popularity of names the Freakonomics authors predict will be most popular by 2015.

We updated this post about an Israeli air conditioner ad that let viewers manipulate a thermostat to make a woman’s nipples get more or less visible. We added a comment from the CEO of the company that he released after protests in Israel forced the company to take the ad down in which he calls people out for being hypocrites for targeting some sexist material but not others. And also says that if they can’t use sexist ads, products would have to actually have a competitive advantage. We thought it was awesome that a CEO would admit they need media images to sell their products because or they’d have to actually make something better or cheaper than what’s already out there.

Eva Longoria was recently accused of being “fat.” We added a pic of her offending body to this post on the scandal over Czech model Karolina Kurkova’s scandalous appearance on the runway and Ali Michael’s fall from grace. Thanks to Elizabeth A. for the tip!

We added an ad for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and one for Skyy vodka to this post about the sexualization of food. Scroll way down.

We added a Snickers commercial in which Mr. T. attacks a man for acting like a sissy (i.e., gay and/or feminine) to our other commecial demonstrating the policing of masculinity. Thanks to Penny R. for alerting us to the commercial!

Joyous A. sent us a link to these Cosmo beauty tips, illustrated by this picture:

Jeff G. let us know about one of Troyt Coburn’s ads for Lee:

Glenn R. sent us a link to this Caramba Tequila ad (via):

And Jay L. pointed out this Swiss commercial for Creme d’Or ice cream, in which a woman appears to give a statue oral sex:

The commercial was entered in the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival.

This ad 1976 ad for Perrier may seem boring for the first 15 seconds or so, but it’s worth the wait:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRIRACUmTPE[/youtube]

This is an ad for a water gun called The Oozinator:

The images below are on The Ice Creamists website:

NEW (Jan ’10)! Helene V. sent in these two Danish ads for Cult.  In addition to potentially encouraging you to use alcohol to get sex, do you see the splooge halo around the bottles?

NEW (Mar. ’10)! Dmitriy T.M. sent in this flyer advertising a techno party:

ALSO NEW! (Mar. ’10): Kristyn G. sent us this commercial for an Australian internet company, which was pulled from the air after compaints (found at the Daily Telegraph):

See also Gwen Stefani, this Tudors ad, this creamer ad, and the Slates, Caesar’s Palace, and Campari ads from this post.

Images from Jezebel, Copyranter (here and here), Adfreak, and The F Word.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Hello Readers!  Welcome to our third installment of Behind Your Back.  Below is a list of posts that we have enriched during the month of June without telling you.  Enjoy!

We added a commerical (found at Feministe) to our post featuring an ad using a male-to-female transgendered person to sell a epilator to women. The commercial is really interesting, as is Holly’s interpretation of why it’s problematic.

The evolving controversy over the Obama Sock Monkey toy led us to make a few updates on our post. If you didn’t notice, the company making the toy aggressively revoked its apology and we’re pretty sure they’re still selling it. Check it out here.

For contrast, we added the posters from the Terminator Trilogy to our post on how female heroines were represented in posters for The Sarah Connor Chronicles, as well as some more images portraying the heroines in The Sarah Connor Chronicles differently and some that feminize John Connor.

We added a Greenpeace video targeting Unilever to this post about Dove and Axe ads.  The video shows how the American beauty industry that is hurting American girls’ self-esteem is destroying the environment of other girls’ lives.  It’s pretty great. 

We found a particularly egregious Nebraska Wakeboard ad and added it to another objectifying ad for shoes.

We added an image showing the actual caption to this post about FOX News referring to Michelle Obama as a “baby mama.”

Matt S. sent us three more PETA posters and a video featuring Alicia Silverstone showing how how PETA sexualizes women in its anti-fur campaigns.  See it here (scroll down).

We found another ad using sex to sell homes and home-related products.  We added it to some others here.

Yikes.  P.J. sent us another doozy from Axe (also sold as Lynx in some countries).

We added a commercial illustrating the bizarreness of yogurt advertising articulated in this post.

Laura L. found another ad that trivalizes women’s rejection of men’s attention.  This Noxzema ad implies that women really like to be catcalled on the street, even if they appear not to.

And we added a fashion ad to this post about ads that use ambiguous images that could imply consensual sex or sexual assault.  Thanks again to Laura L.!

Finally, we added another sexualized image of Condoleezza Rice–as Lara Croft–to this post about differences in how Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton are portrayed.

Don’t forget to check out who links to us!  And if we’re on your blogroll and aren’t on the list, make sure to send us a note!

Happy July!

As you may recall, we’re now occasionally adding to previous posts instead of creating new ones. Below is a list of our newly enriched posts for your perusal.  Look for the bold, red “NEW.”

But first!

Ongoings that have been going on at Sociological Images:

Out of gratitude for your support, I put together a new page in which we link back to those of you who are linking to us.  Please feel free to peruse those of us who find us link-worthy and, if you link to us and don’t find yourself on our list, please send an email to socimages@thesocietypages.org.

I was honored that Racialicious asked to republish my post on the anti-female genital cutting ads.  I mention it here because it’s worth a look to see how differently my commentary was received on this versus that blog.  It might make for an interesting discussion about audience and positionality.

You might like to know that Sociological Images was “news” in Iceland!  Our post of an Icelandic cartoon featuring Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton caused quite the stir in the comments thread (a fascinating sociological phenomenon in its own right) and an Icelandic newspaper thought it worthy of coverage and commentary.  (FYI: We personally think “news” is overstating our relevance to current events… but who are we to judge!) 

And now!

Our enriched posts:

For context, we added a Wonder Woman comic book cover in which she claims to be “helpless” and uses her sexuality as a weapon to our post of a satirical Wonder Woman comic strip.  Thanks to Brady for the link!

It turns out the pseudo-feminist rescuing of women from the drugeries of housework without actually allowing them to opt out isn’t anything new.

Toph sent us a second Canadian Club ad that we added to this post illustrating hegemonic masculinity.  The second ad is useful for demonstrating the sexual double standard.

To our post about the way in which women were made to personify STDs during World War II, we added another poster, a matchbook, and a fascinating pamphlet that was passed out to soldiers. The pamphlet features “Gonnie” and “Syph,” two “gals” who “travel around arm-in-arm with ‘easy’ women.” All were submitted by Marc.  Yay!

If you enjoy our posts about the social construction of girlhood, you’ll enjoy the two T-shirts we added to this post that have sayings that depict little girls as future spoiled divas (scroll down). Sent in by aa bb. Thanks!

Craig T. sent in a Nestle Quick ad that we added to our post on “subliminal” sex in advertising (scroll down a ways). Thanks Craig!

We added a second example to this post about the way in which “scoring” with women is equated with success at sports.

A recent PETA protest included women in bikinis posed as “chicks” in cages. We added the image to our post about the way in which PETA sacrifies the humanity of women and men in order to save animals. Is it too strong to say that PETA “sacrifies the humanity” of men and women? I’m not sure. Isn’t that what objectification is? And what does it mean when they dress women up as animals and put them in cages? It’s your call. Visit the post (scroll about halfway down). Found thanks to Feministing.

Meghan B. sent us another Svedka fembot ad. This one calls for us to “support socialized plastic surgery” and features a grossly disproportionate “robot” version of an idealized female body.

If you “enjoy” Axe ads, check out our newest one here, sent it by Krystal-Lynn M.

To this post about the use of spread legs as a repetitive design motif, we added this very different image of Michelle Obama as seen through Barack Obama’s legs… a very interesting comparison!

We added a second commercial in the Carl’s Jr. it’s-hot-to-be-covered-in-condiments theme to the x-rated Paris Hilton one. This one involves eating a hamburger while on a mechanical bull. Sexily, of course.

As if we didn’t have enough on the conflation of hot women with hot food, we added a commercial for Pot Noodle in which the woman literally becomes noodles to one of our posts on the sexualization of food. We also added a coffee ad from the Netherlands to this post about gender and food (you gotta scroll way down for that one). Thanks to Penny for that last one!

We added three more ads to this post about gender and “meanness” in car ads. They are useful for illustrating, as Gwen points out, “that advertisers have many different motifs and meanings to draw from when creating marketing strategies, and that the ones they pick are just that–CHOICES among many, many different ways you could advertise a product, none of which are necessarily more ‘obvious’ or ‘natural’ than others.”

This “Onslaught” ad by Dove has garnered a lot of attention and positive press:

The idea, of course, is that we need to protect our daughters from the images that may harm their self-esteem or make them uncomfortable about their bodies. A great message, no doubt.

However, corporate activism usually has limits and contradictions (as do most things in life, really). Miguel sent us this ad spoof that points out that many of the images the Dove ad says we should be protecting our daughters from are actually used in Axe ads–and Axe is owned by Unilever, the same company that owns Dove.

So Unilever manages to target both markets–those who respond to sexualized images and those who find them harmful–through different brands. This is a common tactic–because large multinational companies own so many different brands, they can market to many different groups of consumers; when we reject one product because of its production process or advertising and buy another instead, there’s a very good chance we’re buying from the same corporate entity, just a different brand name.

As one blogger nicely put it:

It’s a parent’s responsibility to make sure the damaging messages they themselves produce don’t reach your kids.

That is, Dove is telling parents to protect their kids, as if Dove CARES, but Dove’s parent company is producing those very same messages. (It’s kind of like a single corporation owning a beer company and running Alcoholics Anonymous. How very convenient for both.)

A commenter pointed out that Greenpeace made an ad based on Dove’s “Onslaught” commercial that brings up the effects of palm oil production in the destruction of forests in Indonesia:

Thanks, Dangger!

NEW: There is a terrific post at Moment of Choice about one woman’s experience auditioning for a Dove Real Woman commercial. From the post:

Under the guise of looking for women who felt truly comfortable in their own skin, no matter what they looked like, they asked us to bare all or most of it, to prove just how comfortable we really were…A young peppy assistant demonstrated how they wanted us to shake our hands in the air like we just didn’t care and do a full 360 for the camera and male judging panel.

It’s a fascinating inside look at a process most of us never take part in, and reinforces the fact that corporate activism often covers an awful lot of business-as-usual behind the scenes.

Honestly, I’m not sure what the sociological import is here. Unless, [insert nerdy Durkheim joke here].  If nothing else, it proves that not every advertising exec is sexually frustrated… though it certainly fails to prove that they’re unfrustrated.

Thanks David W!