I am amused to note the advertisement by a condom-manufacturing company. The television advertisement shows a young girl wearing the skimpy clothes you obviously need if you like having sex (apparently people who dress in the usual stuff do not really think about sex) who is talking about how the flavoured condoms will make your sex life so much more satisfying and exciting and, wait for it.... make it as brilliant as the wedding night.
Now here is the interesting bit- the creators have very deliberately highlighted the name they have created for the character and pointedly add a "Mrs." to it. So it is Mrs. X talking about condoms and how they are oh such a pleasure!
Got me thinking about the stringent morality-levels among condom manufacturers! Impressive! But there is nothing wrong with that. It did however also remind me an episode from several years before when I had visited a gynaecologist to have some hormonal imbalances checked (sheesh, am I not supposed to talk about these things and visits to the "lady doctor"??) and after I had a chat with the dcotor, the nurse walked in to ask about the tests that had to be run. The names of the tests were ticked off and then the nurse asked if there was a need for tests that required, well lets just say some probing. Immediately, the Doctor smiled and said "no no, we dont do THOSE checks for unmarried girls".
Now I quit studying biology when I reached class 9 and maybe I am way off the line here and maybe what I went to see the doctor for did not have absolutely any connection with the check up that the nurse had asked about. But what bothered me was the comment about the doctor not doing such checks for unmarried girls, which reeked of moral-policing and the assumption that unmarried girls do not have sex and if they do, well then good luck to them for dealing with ensuing problems that may arise.
We have often seen and heard of cases where police personnel harass couples. The responsibility of a policeman or policewoman is to ensure that no laws are being broken and that the masses are safe, no matter what ideologies anybody has. The same goes for doctors.
And for everybody else.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Cornflakes to boost common sense, please
I want to reiterate at the start of this post that the purpose of this blog is not to crib, although believe me, it is a very therapeutic exercise! Advertisements are often a reflection of the way things are, in our society just as they are sometimes triggering agents of a trend or habit or message. But given the power of advertisement- through television and other media- it is important to also understand that even when an ad reflects a certain trend in its message, it will reinforce the same. For example, a friend of mine recently shared a note from somebody who questioned a television commercial by a major mobile service provider trying to sell its superior network. The advertisement shows the maid stealing a phone in the house where she works and then hiding it in her blouse. Again, the general perception about women working as maids is terribly biased against them and by reinforcing this incorrect (to use a very, very mild term) perception against a group of people simply because they happen to have less money than the next person is a shame, really.
In the same context of reinforcing incorrect perceptions, there is this advertisement of a cornflakes brand where the man cannot find his socks and asks his wife about them. She gets irritated at his questions and is shown to be fuming inside. Now the advertisement blames this on an unhealthy diet that leads to an exerted mind and boom comes in the saviour healthy cornflakes! The next shot shows the same woman smiling and happy as she chucks a pair of blue socks to her husband, also happy. Win win, right? Except that it is not.
See, with this advertisement there are two things that are subconsciously being relayed (I think the term is subliminal stimuli, you might wanna read that up on the net). One, women inherently tend to crib about housework and two, housework is the responsibility of women. Bear with me for a while before you start rolling 'em eyes and saying "here we go again".
Now when you sit down and actually think about it, there is a possibility that the man is asking about a particular pair of blue socks. There is nothing wrong in that. Except that your TV-viewing masses will not sit and analyse. They will simply see how a woman is cribbing about what is "clearly her job" and now this cornflakes brand says this is connected to health-related issues. I think if a 35-year old man cannot find his socks, I would be genuinely pissed off, even if I ate the damn cornflakes all my life. And mastered Zen meditation.
What I am trying to say is that there are better ways to promote healthy eating habits among women than this one where you leave room to believe that this woman in particular and women in general are frustrated and ill-tempered. Or blaming a reasonable bout of irritation on unhealthy eating. Second, it will definitely reinforce the belief in our already-sufficiently-patriarchal-thank-you-very-much society that women MUST take care of the household front of family life.
Now I know for a fact that advertisers stress a helluva lot on creativity, starting with casual attire and weird head/facial hair styles (have you seen their pigtail-beards?) It would, I say be absolutely smashing if with this, they can also break out of the proverbial box of social norms and ensure they are not, unknowingly adding to problems.
In the same context of reinforcing incorrect perceptions, there is this advertisement of a cornflakes brand where the man cannot find his socks and asks his wife about them. She gets irritated at his questions and is shown to be fuming inside. Now the advertisement blames this on an unhealthy diet that leads to an exerted mind and boom comes in the saviour healthy cornflakes! The next shot shows the same woman smiling and happy as she chucks a pair of blue socks to her husband, also happy. Win win, right? Except that it is not.
See, with this advertisement there are two things that are subconsciously being relayed (I think the term is subliminal stimuli, you might wanna read that up on the net). One, women inherently tend to crib about housework and two, housework is the responsibility of women. Bear with me for a while before you start rolling 'em eyes and saying "here we go again".
Now when you sit down and actually think about it, there is a possibility that the man is asking about a particular pair of blue socks. There is nothing wrong in that. Except that your TV-viewing masses will not sit and analyse. They will simply see how a woman is cribbing about what is "clearly her job" and now this cornflakes brand says this is connected to health-related issues. I think if a 35-year old man cannot find his socks, I would be genuinely pissed off, even if I ate the damn cornflakes all my life. And mastered Zen meditation.
What I am trying to say is that there are better ways to promote healthy eating habits among women than this one where you leave room to believe that this woman in particular and women in general are frustrated and ill-tempered. Or blaming a reasonable bout of irritation on unhealthy eating. Second, it will definitely reinforce the belief in our already-sufficiently-patriarchal-thank-you-very-much society that women MUST take care of the household front of family life.
Now I know for a fact that advertisers stress a helluva lot on creativity, starting with casual attire and weird head/facial hair styles (have you seen their pigtail-beards?) It would, I say be absolutely smashing if with this, they can also break out of the proverbial box of social norms and ensure they are not, unknowingly adding to problems.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
A lose-lose situation, really
I saw the advertisement of a blood-purifying tonic today. Yes I watch TV all day long. Now can I continue so that I can finish before Big Bang Theory starts? Thank you very much.
SO as I was saying, the advertisement shows a young girl confessing to an older lady that the pimples on her face and the acne marks make her feel inferior and that she cannot find her confidence because of them. Now if I had my way, I would have liked to see the older woman bitch-slap the teenager and tell her to maybe work a little harder and developing herself intellectually so that she can find that confidence she so desperately is seeking.
But it is unlikely that I have my way, which is why this blog was created in the first place. The problem that I have with such advertisements does not stem from a one-track hate mind about beauty and looks. I say it is great if you want a nice, clear skin and if you want to look physically attractive. But I get really cranky when I do not get to see any thing on TV or Radio or magazines or even the friggin matrimonial sections of newspapers that would encourage girls (or guys) to want to develop their intellectual capacities as well. I mean nobody says be happy, love yourself, go out camping and travelling, eat well AND drink this blood purifying tonic to look and feel great!
So I happened to be sitting with my little cousin while watching that particular advertisement and I proceeded to pffft and snort at the television and my sister says to me "of course you will say that, your face is clear". That comment made me think back of the time when I was once arguing with a senior of mine in college. This senior was, even then a motivational-speaker-kinda guy and so he naturally grew older to become a motivational speaker. Now this guy once caught hold of me outside a juice-stall near our college and began to lecture me about how I should take up the challenge to lost weight. When I said I did not really care he said if I did not, I should lose weight first and then put it all on back because otherwise, I was only saying that I did not care about losing weight because I was fat. So then, it was like the "grapes are sour" situation.
Now then, what happens is when a woman chooses to talk about the issues of beauty, fairness or skin or physical appearance in general, the reaction to it is that you are either pretty and slim so you don't really care what you are taking about; or alternatively you are not pretty and not slim so you are jealous and cynical and bitter. Either ways, the message does not really register and all you end up being is a... (dare I say that word?)... a Feminist!
What you gonna do, eh?
SO as I was saying, the advertisement shows a young girl confessing to an older lady that the pimples on her face and the acne marks make her feel inferior and that she cannot find her confidence because of them. Now if I had my way, I would have liked to see the older woman bitch-slap the teenager and tell her to maybe work a little harder and developing herself intellectually so that she can find that confidence she so desperately is seeking.
But it is unlikely that I have my way, which is why this blog was created in the first place. The problem that I have with such advertisements does not stem from a one-track hate mind about beauty and looks. I say it is great if you want a nice, clear skin and if you want to look physically attractive. But I get really cranky when I do not get to see any thing on TV or Radio or magazines or even the friggin matrimonial sections of newspapers that would encourage girls (or guys) to want to develop their intellectual capacities as well. I mean nobody says be happy, love yourself, go out camping and travelling, eat well AND drink this blood purifying tonic to look and feel great!
So I happened to be sitting with my little cousin while watching that particular advertisement and I proceeded to pffft and snort at the television and my sister says to me "of course you will say that, your face is clear". That comment made me think back of the time when I was once arguing with a senior of mine in college. This senior was, even then a motivational-speaker-kinda guy and so he naturally grew older to become a motivational speaker. Now this guy once caught hold of me outside a juice-stall near our college and began to lecture me about how I should take up the challenge to lost weight. When I said I did not really care he said if I did not, I should lose weight first and then put it all on back because otherwise, I was only saying that I did not care about losing weight because I was fat. So then, it was like the "grapes are sour" situation.
Now then, what happens is when a woman chooses to talk about the issues of beauty, fairness or skin or physical appearance in general, the reaction to it is that you are either pretty and slim so you don't really care what you are taking about; or alternatively you are not pretty and not slim so you are jealous and cynical and bitter. Either ways, the message does not really register and all you end up being is a... (dare I say that word?)... a Feminist!
What you gonna do, eh?
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
3G to the rescue of the naive woman!
Type: TV Commercial
Tags: Sexist, Misrepresenting women
The Offensive Scale Rating: Red! (extremely offensive!)
Description
This advertisement is about gaming on devices with 3G connectivity by one of the major mobile/internet providers in India that is part of a mammoth business house here. A young girl is excited about going “out for a drive” with the popular stud, who has sleazy written all over his face. The girl’s friend who not-so-secretly likes her gives her a gaming phone/device with 3G connectivity and strong graphics that makes gaming, a one-of-a-kind experience. So throughout the day, our stud tries to take the girl to different places that are either isolated or have other couples who are busy getting cozy but he is not getting any because our girl is glued to her gaming device. The background music also suggests that our stud Finally he returns with her to the same spot where he picked her from, where her not-so-secret-admirer is still waiting for her.Theme of the ad: I think is that gaming is so fast and uninterrupted with this provider’s 3G services that everything else is forgotten.
Messages relayed:
The problem that I have with this and other advertisements of the same provider’s 3G services is that it represents women as a group that has no choice in the matter of intimacy with men. So if the man wants to have sex, the woman has effectively no say in the matter. In this case, the other man then has to use his brains and distract her with a “shiny new toy” so that she does not respond to the stud’s advances. This is so ridiculously sexist that I am surprised nobody has spoken out against it. Or maybe somebody has and I am not aware of it. Then there is the other bit about the girl being portrayed as an absolute idiot who does not have brains enough to understand that a man is trying to touch her shoulders or legs. No sir! She thinks it is a fly or a possible insect hovering around her and she impatiently smacks it off with her hand. In fact, I am now wondering why they did not let the stud have his way with the girl since she was so clearly engrossed in the game that she would not have really noticed! In a nutshell: The problems that I have with this advertisement are that it is offensive to women and is sexist. The way the girl in the advertisement and therefore young women in general have been portrayed, shows narrow-mindedness and chauvinism that is really very disappointing.
Tags: Sexist, Misrepresenting women
The Offensive Scale Rating: Red! (extremely offensive!)
Description
This advertisement is about gaming on devices with 3G connectivity by one of the major mobile/internet providers in India that is part of a mammoth business house here. A young girl is excited about going “out for a drive” with the popular stud, who has sleazy written all over his face. The girl’s friend who not-so-secretly likes her gives her a gaming phone/device with 3G connectivity and strong graphics that makes gaming, a one-of-a-kind experience. So throughout the day, our stud tries to take the girl to different places that are either isolated or have other couples who are busy getting cozy but he is not getting any because our girl is glued to her gaming device. The background music also suggests that our stud Finally he returns with her to the same spot where he picked her from, where her not-so-secret-admirer is still waiting for her.Theme of the ad: I think is that gaming is so fast and uninterrupted with this provider’s 3G services that everything else is forgotten.
Messages relayed:
The problem that I have with this and other advertisements of the same provider’s 3G services is that it represents women as a group that has no choice in the matter of intimacy with men. So if the man wants to have sex, the woman has effectively no say in the matter. In this case, the other man then has to use his brains and distract her with a “shiny new toy” so that she does not respond to the stud’s advances. This is so ridiculously sexist that I am surprised nobody has spoken out against it. Or maybe somebody has and I am not aware of it. Then there is the other bit about the girl being portrayed as an absolute idiot who does not have brains enough to understand that a man is trying to touch her shoulders or legs. No sir! She thinks it is a fly or a possible insect hovering around her and she impatiently smacks it off with her hand. In fact, I am now wondering why they did not let the stud have his way with the girl since she was so clearly engrossed in the game that she would not have really noticed! In a nutshell: The problems that I have with this advertisement are that it is offensive to women and is sexist. The way the girl in the advertisement and therefore young women in general have been portrayed, shows narrow-mindedness and chauvinism that is really very disappointing.
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