Gendered Commercials and Advertisements

It's always fascinating how many gendered advertisements one runs into on a daily basis. That is proof that gender plays a big role still today in society, if not in the forefront of our conscious, then at least it's in the very front of our subconscious. Marketers use this gender difference to target adult males and adult females separately.

The first advertisement is one found in Costco, catering to the male crowd that primarily has influence over buying stereo systems.

Having a picture of a female on the box of speakers has nothing at all to do with communicating any relevant information about the product. Instead, the female seems to be simply there just to catch the male shopper's eye. The female is objectified, turned into an object to be looked at and seen, rather than listened to and considered like a human being.

However, the more interesting ad of the day was a Super Bowl Ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQPM6y3ZnAo

This ad clearly caters to the female audience members, featuring John Stamos teasingly eating a yoghurt in front of a woman. However, the advertisement has a twist to the end - instead of letting Stamos keep control over the spoon and who gets to eat in the household (much like a family wage), the woman decides to take things inside her own hands and head butts Stamos in order to regain control of the spoon. This seems to show the audience members that

1. Women already have control over the figurative spoon that feeds
2. If a man comes along to play along, they are willing to entertain it and to be open-minded

3. However, if the man is unfair and over-controlling of the situation, the woman has no hesitance of reclaiming the control.

I am impressed at the messages this advertisement conveys. However, even if it is a statement that women themselves are powerful and shouldn't be beat into submission, the advertisement falls into a similar category with the Costco advertisement. One cannot deny that this yogurt commercial played upon the gender roles, and thus it shows that the advertisement is buying into the belief that gender differences exist, that they are currently in place and should remember that. Saying that either one of the two sexes is superior to the other is equally untasteful, no matter in which direction.