Good piece in The National Times today on ‘Lad’s Ads’, pointing out the raw sexism of the new Brut deodorant advertising campaign – a perfect case study in sexist advertising. Brut appears to be following in the footsteps of Unilever’s Lynx, which has turned objectification into an art form (all the while promoting Dove ‘real beauty’). Thanks Brut and Lynx for entrenching the notion that women are mindless objects for male sexual fantasies. Oh, and men? Perhaps find something else to spray yourselves with. These ads demean you too.
‘Lads’ ads’ are ironic, we are told. They are also brutally offensive.
PLEASE, don’t adjust your sets – it really is still 2010. But watching TV lately, you could easily be forgiven for thinking you had slipped into a time warp.
For those fortunate enough not to have seen the latest commercial for Brut deodorant, let me paint you the picture.
A woman in a hardly-there, leopard-print bikini is walking down a beach footpath. A guy clocks the oncoming girl and, rather than selfishly ogle her on his own, he gives his mates a nudge so that they can leer at her as a pack. Their approval is clearly evident as they loudly let rip a couple of ”phwoars” while the camera pans to a shot of her bouncing breasts.
Read Sarah McKenzie’s piece here.
As you know, last week I appeared on the Gruen Sessions on the subject of women in advertising. I also published here yesterday an extract from a piece which unpacked the inconsistencies of the ad execs supposed positions (sexism isn’t good!) while at the same time justifying what they do (but it sells products!). Today Sheryl has made some further observations on her blog about last night’s Gruen Sessions – which also featured the Lynx and Brut ads, justified as ‘teen boys fantasies’, which makes it OK of course.
I’ll be talking about this on Channel 7’s Morning Show tomorrow.
8 Responses
I loathe this ad. I’ve seen it far too many times. I was watching the football with my children and it popped up between goals, right in prime time. I was livid.
It makes blokes look like a bunch of idiot Neanderthals.
That’s a great read Melinda. I will check out the Gruen Session discussing women and objectification, too.
Nicole, I agree. If someone wants to see smut they can hire it; not make the family sit through it. Similarly, most males I know would be embarrassed by it.
Did anyone see the panel on the Gruen Transfer discuss these deoderant ads on ABC last night? Objectification was found to be perfectly acceptable in the crush to be ‘edgy’ and titilating. There was little feedback on the ABC website about it afterwards. The show missed an opportunity to spark some decent discussion on the issue.
The Brut campaigns I find the most offensive. Having someone ‘undress’ a woman with a phone app while standing next to you on a station takes it to a new low. So does a product slogan which incorporates brutality in the pursuit of women. This campaign should be stopped.
Why are people getting away with such blatant sexist representations in advertising? Recently I learned that the UN has launched a new group “UN women” for womens equality and empowerment. So we have these global initiatives to improve the status of women, yet we have this constant undermining of those initiatives through the prolific objectification of women.
Heidi, I agree with your assessment of the second discussion on this week’s episode of the Gruen Transfer.
http://ohmykozy.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/just-in-case-you-missed-it-the-gruen-transfer-exposes-truth-in-advertising-again/
I didn’t like the way the ad execs justified these ads on the basis of humour and “but it sells!”. And I’m interested in the way the conversation slipped so easily from ‘how do you sell deodorant?’ into ‘what do you think about objectification of women in ads’. Were they wanting another chance to argue their case? Without a sane voice to challenge them? I do wonder …
I’ve also just caught Melinda’s quick interview on the Morning Show. What did that guy say? ‘These ads are never going to go away while we’ve got teenage boys.”
What a cop out! That sounds as if he’s saying ‘it’s not OUR fault – blame the boys’.
What really needs to happen is for us to help boys develop better skills at discerning unhelpful attitudes. Time to read Maggie Hamilton’s new book, I think.
Some of the comments in response to the article you cite Melinda argued that we have moved beyond sexism in our society and therefore these ads are harmless and ‘sending up’ the absurdity of female objectification.
I disagree.
When do you hear people argue that sending up African Americans is okay now that we have a ‘black’ president?
Why is sexism okay but racism comparatively protected? Aren’t both forms of prejudice harmful to a particular group of people?