Sexist and Sexualized Violence in Advertising

Three of the petitions on Change.org discuss advertisements that are sexist or depict sexualized violence. One of the petitions is for Dr. Pepper Ten with a slogan that it says, “It’s not for women.” Author of the petition, Amanda Hallenius, goes on to discuss the problems with the commercial “The T.V. commercial also boxes women (and men!) into very stereotyped likes and dislikes. It assumes that no women ever takes interest in an action movie, or ever drinks something out of a bullet-like can. In the action-movie styled commercial, one character screams at the viewers “HEY LADIES! ENJOYING THE FILM? OF COURSE NOT!” This absurd stereotyping asserts that all women have the same opinion of movies and that this singular opinion is inferior to that of a man’s opinion.” Dr. Pepper Ten also has a Facebook page that apparently can only be viewed and joined by men. Because of the Dr. Pepper Ten’s advertising stance the author not asks to sign the petition but boycott all Dr. Pepper Snapple Group products.

 

A second petition created by Ms. Magazine call for Newcastle Brown Ale to pull a new commercial that is sexist towards women. According to the petition “Newcastle’s ad company, Draoga5, calls the commercial a ‘no-nonsense’ pitch to customers that the Newcastle Ale brand is good humored, reliable and consistent.” Though the commercial is anything but good humored as only a woman’s hands, not her face, are shown in the commercial because she is not attractive. The petition claims the reasons why being considered not attractive is so harmful to women “Criticizing a professional woman’s appearance is used to trivialize women in both politics and in business. It’s one way that the glass ceiling is enforced and the advancement of women is thwarted.” 

A third advertisement for Showtime’s The Borgias shows a woman with a man’s hand wrapped around her throat. The petition created by Kaitlin Martin states, “At a time when women are being stripped of rights – from same access (and education) to abortion, to slashed funding for domestic violence programs, to the current contention over the Violence Against Women’s Act… This image would be unacceptable at ANY time, but it is especially unwelcome at this specific juncture on the political landscape.” The particularly horrifying thing is that the woman seems to be turned on by this man and what he is doing. Thereby sending the wrong message to women that it is acceptable to be attacked by a man, but it also sends the message to men that it is acceptable for men to attack women because they want it. 

I think the third advertisement is the most destructive considering how victims of sexual abuse are viewed within our culture. In “Victims, Villains, and Vixens” by Lynne Y. Edwards she explains the notion of framing as “the process of organizing information in a way that provides a particular interpretation or meaning for the audience” (15). The framing of this particular commercial illustrates the notion that it is alright to abuse women and that they want it. A notion that is wrong and completely unacceptable, one that Showtime should no better than to advertise.  

            Each of these commercials buys into sexist and stereotypical views on women and further pushes women into a corner. As Instant Identity author Shayla Thiel Stern states, “If this is the cultural ideal that girls are being “sold”—and, if the statistics are accurate, apparently buying into, to a certain extent—then we can expect stereotypes and cultural expectations of girls as shallow consumers to continue well into this new digital age” (99). It not only points girls/women as shallow for continuing to buy these products, but men as well. It also illustrates men as being shallow in their creative process, as it would be easy to assume that men developed these advertisements. Further thought needs to be used in creating and selling products to consumers in order to not further stereotypes and the notion that sexual abuse is acceptable.