To give credit where credit is due, there were more entertaining ads that weren't so testosterone laden this year - more gender neutral I guess you could say. Of course, I adored the Budweiser Clydesdales, especially the one in which the Clydesdale rescues his love from the circus. However, having said that - and I don't mean to be petty - but all the horse protagonists in the commercials were guys! I also laughed my head off at the eTrade commercial - still two boy babies I might add - and the little African American guy who sings. Other winners as far as a female audience is concerned, were the Pedigree spot for dog adoption. They took an extremely clever and unusual approach by using 'unusual pets' and the havoc they cause as a juxtaposition for the relative normalcy of getting a dog. Then I can't resist talking about the Cheetos spot. It is actually the only spot out of 50 in which a woman is the main protagonist and comes across as smart and witty. I love the marketers for Cheetos for actually producing a commercial in which one of the woman was more than a stereotype - it probably got my vote for the best ad.
Having said that, there were some that were truly cringe making and highly derogatory when it came to how women were portrayed - take Godaddy.com as an example. Four big breasted women appearing in a court of law to tell the judge whether they have 'enhanced' or not. I mean, give me a break. I know that the joke at the end was that one of the women had enhanced her computer image through the use of Godaddy, but I was so annoyed by that time that I had already mentally shut down. Yes - I know that this is Godaddy's strategy and I should just get over myself, but I wonder how guys would have liked the self same commercial with four men talking about whether their 'you know whats' had been enhanced.
In the Taco Bell and Teleflora ads, the women were just foils for the jokes - not particularly offensive but not particularly aspirational either.
So yet again, I have to say that I am waiting for a round of Superbowl Ads that make me really sit up and say 'these guys know how to market to women'! So far, I am out of luck.
1 comment:
Sure, the GoDaddy commercials are excessive-- and I don't really believe that large-breasted women convince females OR males that a particular domain name provider is the right one for them. But regarding the comparison to if it were the other way around, and it were guys standing around comparing "equipment"-- well, I bet they'd like that commercial, too. And we'd still be talking about everything being targeted to men.
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