Men are Stupid and Women are Scheming
That, in a nutshell, is the creative direction of a lot of current advertising. Make a conscious effort over the next few weeks to watch the TV, listen to the radio or review online or print ads through this analytical lens and see how often marketers have used base stereotypes of gender differences in their advertising. As household and discretionary expenditure has become increasingly controlled by women, marketers have pandered to this primary source of purchasing power. Men are being presented on the one hand as lovable and cuddly, but also prone to acting like a cute dog that doesn’t know better. On the other hand, men are being presented as misogynists.
Another way of presenting this is to demonstrate the increasing rise of female fiscal power as the emasculation of mankind. Although, unfairly, men may make more money, it is women who control how it is spent. Take this Hummer TV Spot “Tofu”, which appealed to a man’s desire to reclaim his masculinity (before the cratering economy, of course, and the potential collapse of GM).
Yet the presentation of men as inane does not mean that women are contrastingly more appealing. Unfortunately, portraying men negatively serves only to demean the position of women in the relationship. A blog post on Jezebel put that point well. By painting men as incompetent, women often appear as scheming, manipulative or prepared to sell their compliance in a relationship for a few baubles. The JC Penney ad (Doghouse TV spot) hawking their diamonds encapsulates a lot of these dismal tactics.
I did find some humor in these ads, but not enough to promote the brand. It seems to me that portraying the sexes in stereotypical terms, merely to sell a product, serves only to diminish both genders and renders as tawdry the product and its brand.
Written by Stuart
David Day | Associates
About the Author: Stuart is constantly curious and believes conversation matters, for business, people and community. Feel free to join in...
May 15th, 2009 at 10:40 am
[...] I also think that advertisers play to the typical stereotypes about men and women. See Stuart’s previous blog post “Men are stupid and women are scheming” here and then watch Webisode 7, where the husband is played as well meaning but stupid and the wife as [...]
November 24th, 2009 at 12:07 am
OMG…
I keep pointing out this trend in advertising to my son! We just watched the USPS commercial where the man and woman are defining who will do what for the Christmas holiday.
Of course, the man is being as lazy as possible and wants to do the least work. This is because all men are lazy and sloth-like.
The woman “tricks” him into choosing doing the shopping instead of doing the mailing. Then the postal worker arrives as the man is leaving explaining how he can just take the packages for her. She says that she knew that already. Of course the woman is smarter than the man! Oh, that sneaky manipulative woman and her lazy stupid man.
We notice it all the time. I am trying to make sure he sees this portrayal of men. I personally find it a horrible and insulting to both men and women. Thanks for such an interesting blog.