The Super Bowl was this past weekend. What is this "Super Bowl", you say? Well, it's the championship game of the NFL (National Football League) - the highest award in American football. It is a Sunday when huge chunks of the country come to a screeching standstill as men, women, children, cats and dogs all gather around buckets of chicken wings and barrels of beer to watch the game. With an estimated TV audience of 80-90 million viewers at any given time and a TV rating of 40 and 60 share (i.e. 40 % of all households and 60% of all homes tuned into television during the game), it is, undoubtedly the biggest night in TV. And, where there are people involved, there will be money involved. Stacks of it.
A sub-culture of the Super Bowl that has emerged over the years is the commercial. Of course with such HUGE reach, big corporations realise the advertising potential of the evening. So, people will tune into the game (and, if you've ever watched a game of American football, you'll know that there is a commercial break every half-a-breath) to catch some of the most creative ads companies can come up with. It is rumoured that a 30-second spot on TV during the game can cost upwards of $ 2.7 million. Yeah, that's a lot of zeroes after the 2.7 There have been some interesting ones this year: the 3D SoBe ad (if you have 3D glasses on hand, use them - it's pretty cool!), all the lavish Coke-Pepsi ads and (apparently the most popular ad of the year -- please don't ask me why) the Doritos: Crystal Ball ad.
Having finished all my reading for the week and having countless hours at my expense, I decided to watch a few of the SuperBowl ads (you can too! on hulu.com). And, my feminist ears couldn't help but prick up as the adjective "sexist" was whispered through the cosmic, online galaxy. Here are a few of the best (read as: worst) ads:
Pepsi Max - because replacing 10spoons of sugar with carcinogenic preservatives instantly transforms a drink from macho to sissy. if you thought the gendering of Scotch-on-the-rocks vs Apple-tini was the stupidest thing ever...think again.
Bridgestone - because we aren't creative enough to come up with anything except the age-old stereotype of "gabbing girls" and women as "passenger-seat-drivers"
Teleflora - because what's not funny about crushing the (stereotypically) shaky self-esteem of a young woman with the threat of eternal damnation of the soul, i.e. leading a man-less life
I feel so inspired! I think I'll get out of my pink pajamas, grab a bowl of low-fat cereal+skimmed milk, take a bubble bath and think about my massive school-girl crush on this totally hot guy who sold me DIET Coke at the cafe yesterday. Commercial media, is that a feminine enough way to start my day?
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