bodies: fat

In this ad for Bud Lite, we see a reversal of the usual gender pattern–in this case, a woman has x-ray vision and uses it to imagine what men look like under their clothes. When a chubby man appears and she sees his body under his clothes, she’s disgusted and looks away:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOEMI8HRhlA[/youtube]

An interesting example of men’s bodies under scrutiny.

Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.

These three ads for yogurt ran in Brazil. They are supposed to inspire revulsion. Their tagline is:

“Forget about it. Men’s preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt.”

Many have commented that these women look hot, not repulsive. So the images might be useful for inspiring a discussion about polysemy and the fact that advertisers can’t control how their images are perceived.

Alternatively, they might work differently in Brazil than the U.S. Any thoughts?

Truthfully, I don’t think I have ever seen so many symbols of masculinity mobilized in so short a time. I had to watch it three times:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anl_7Q05C8c[/youtube]

Thanks a bunch to Christine who recommended this in our comments.

This commercial (found at multicultclassics) makes fun of large women, small men, and couples that defy “proper” pairing:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63O7aIHcfmA[/youtube]

This is an ad for a diet pill called SlimQuick:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66oZY3NcxLA[/youtube]

This is Julia Roberts winning the Oscar for best actress. It was 2001. Notice that, despite the fact that she won for her portrayal of a very highly sexualized woman, she isn’t a stick figure. In fact, relative to the twigs of today, she is actually kind of thick and has pretty big arms. Could a woman could go to the Oscars looking like this today and not get called fat in the tabloids?

Just try to imagine this advice aimed at a woman:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGmX6m78zDM[/youtube] How I dream for the day that I, as a woman, get permission to buy a bigger shirt and forget about it.

Super creepy TAB commercial:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDBJ2ktSZpI[/youtube] Another doozy from Molly M!Here’s another on the same theme (youtube says it’s from the ’60s):[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbVyDYqsEK0[/youtube] Here’s another from 1982:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhGJvGhIzaw[/youtube] And this one, from 1984, cannot be beat for it’s essential ’80s vibe:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kymo2Vj6nw[/youtube]