Every Women Has A Fantasy

This Fantasy is the perfume "Fantasy" By Brittany Spears

"Once upon a time, there was a goddess and a hunter,

She was beautiful and he couldn't help himself,

so he did something kind of crazy,

(Close up of the arrow he shoots at her, labelled "Magic Love Arrow")

(After shooting her, Brittany continues)

And they live happily ever after,

Fantasy, Everybody has one"

I too wanted to step away from the mundane cleaning products.
This commercial is short, and probably cost way more than it was worth, but that is beside the point.
The point is, the women (Brittany) is running from a man. She is in a magical forest, like the fairytale princesses we read about as children. The reason she is running, is to be shot, literally, in the back by the man. That is how her fantasy turns out. Her romantic notion is fulfilled by a man shooting her in the back with a suction cupped arrow, so they can be together. It is a wonder that little girls or even teens, see romance in another light.
The man catching the women makes her his pray. The prey is the submissive partner in that game, which can be said for a women's role in life. To be submissive to those around her.
This also takes on the element of the forbidden fruit, similar in the Nina Ricci Perfume commercial. These women are in a forest or by the tree that Eve took the forbidden apple, thereby tempting men into sin. Brittany, in her commercial can also be seen as the seductress who lures the man into doing something "crazy", but in the end his violent act is accepted because he now holds his power over her, keeping her in her rightful place.
And who can forget the parting line, "and they live happily ever after..." just like in fairytales. But realistically, who is living happily? The women or the man?

~ Rosebud

The Perfect Family

 In this febreze commercial we see the perfect housewife and perfect family being portrayed. The house wife is a young put-together woman, hair and makeup flawless. It seems this woman has achieved the stereotypical aspiration all woman should have (as encouraged by corporate consumer culture), or the "all american" dream. The perfect husband, two children (girl AND boy) as well a dog. The little girl and boy are both "socially correct" girl wearing a pink dress, and boy a blue plaid button up. By the looks of the house, their clothes and the items and furniture inside, we can assume this family to be of upper middle class (a common pattern seen in most cleaning ads).

In this commercial it seems the mother or mother in law is coming for a visit. The wife here is encouraged to have the house smelling clean and fresh before she arrives, it shows specifically the wife spraying the febreze all over her home, because it is a womens job to clean and use the household products.

The house is spotless and smelling fresh when she arrives, and it seems grandma approves. The wife is now seen and reinforced as "the perfect housewife".

-Meryle Girl

Fall in "furniture" love

Before wrapping up this blogging assignment, I wanted to post this furniture advertisement which I feel ties in perfectly with our discussion topic: romance. The way romance is used here is pretty similar to the way it is used in any other type of ad whether it be household good or food item: the woman is seen as fulfilled and complete because the item that is being sold to her satisfies her psychological need to feel loved. In the photo above the elegant angel has fallen in love with the "perfect" couch. The ad then prompts other women to come fall in love with their ideal piece of furniture, suggesting they cannot truly be happy without it. This then lingers on a very important concept about life that exists within our society: falling in love is seen as the climax! As humans we are taught to believe that our sole purpose is to find a mate that we can unconditionally love for the rest of our lives. We are to marry this person, buy a home with this person, start a family with this person. Therefore it is not so shocking that companies fully tap into this anxiety that people have, more so women,  when it comes to falling in love. Companies want to make the consumers believe that just like finding a soul mate, buying the right products will satisfy our 'need' to fall in love and be loved. Both however are social constructions. Am I wrong?
Cheers
The Veiled Interpreter

Say Cheese

I'll bet you didn't see this one coming...

I wanted to try to move away from cleaning products for a moment to look at a different type of household ad - the camera.
       For starters, a digital camera is a luxury for most, and so these ads are clearly more marketed to a middle-upper class. What is clearly so fascinating about these recent Canon ads is how they too have fallen victim to incorporating romance and sexuality in order to appeal to their audiences - a majority which I will assume are women, and here is why. In accordance with the idea that women are to be the ones who do the cooking, cleaning, nurturing of the children and so forth, it would make sense that a camera is also seen as a 'female household product'. A camera enables a woman to record her family memories so that she may then scrap-book them or print them out to frame around the home. I don't find it so shocking that companies have cleverly tapped into the use of romance in these advertisements in order to target the female psyche!
     These are my thoughts on the manner, so allow me to rant for a minute. Romance is seen as an "escape" element for many women, as Hollows puts it women seek romance to fulfill "their psychological needs, needs which are produced by patriarchy but aren't satisfied within patriarchal institutions" (Hollows 81). To continue romance almost seems to exist as a fantasy that some women need in order to be released from the oppression they feel existing within a patriarchal world. Therefore the ideal romance offers a woman the opportunity to feel nurtured, and to allow for the integration of her inner self. Advertising companies feed off these understandings in order to sell products directly to women. These camera ads attempt to sell the idea of the "perfect man"; the genuine, caring, mature, loving man that supposedly every woman longs for... or in this case the "perfect camera". So it would appear to me that the relationship between women and romance is a viscous circular pattern:

1. We (as in women in general) are oppressed by patriarchy because it creates a serious division of inequality
2. We are then bombarded with advertisements that force us to believe that we actually can be with a man (sticking to heternormative standards here) that will cherish us and allow us to be equal to him
3. We then buy mass amounts of household products that sell us this belief in order to fulfill our psychological fantasies, which do not actually exist in patriarchal reality anyways? WHAT!

     Thus romance exists merely for the exploitation of females in a patriarchal dominated world. Wouldn't you agree? My point here is not to reject the idea that romantic fantasy cannot be enjoyable and rejuvenating, but that women truly need to be aware of the honest intentions behind these ads.
Cheers
The Veiled Interpreter        

Feedback on Week 1 (Posts and Comments from Nov. 1-7)

Hey Counter-Culture blog!

There is some really great analysis here of how gender socialization domesticates women. You will need to make sure that you connect those ideas back to the assignment question about romance: how romantic tropes are used to sell things [review the Hollows chapter on Romantic Fiction carefully, she very carefully lays them out for you], and keep women in a subordinate social position. A great example of the analysis of romance appears in these ads as an ideological mechanism takes place in Goldilocks' response to "A Difficult Marriage" - if you're not sure about what the question asks you to do, have a look at that to see how s/he connects the ad to broader social structures. Make sure that the very good analysis your doing already gets directed to the assignment question.

The Doctor

The POWER of pine-sol:

It’s unreal how women are portrayed in cleaning commercials, and I can see from a lot of the other posts that other people have noticed the same things. When researching this topic, I remembered how I used to see all sorts of pine-sol commercials when I was younger, and knowing what I know now, and thinking back at the discussions we’ve had in class, it’s weird how I can now notice how ridiculous these commercials are, and how in most of them, it’s almost always the women cleaning.

In this one, it shows how wonderful a woman feels about cleaning their toilets and showers, and how they seemed to be so pleased about how much happier their life, with their families will be if they all chip in. The thing is, and as it is stated in the commercial, the wife gets the wonderful duty of cleaning the toilet and everything else that no one else in the house wants to touch. :) they are just SO happy.

In this cleaning product commercial, women are cleaning the household, and yet the men are cleaning the cars, and motorcycles. It definitely shows how gender in stereotyped and how things are labelled either masculine or feminine. 

With all that said, i do have to say how nice it is to see that some commercials are actually changing it up and showing men doing something rather than coming in from a long day at work, or watching their wives clean, this video shows just how caring and compassionate husbands can be to their wives after a long day.... NOT!:

 

-tm- blogger

Romance in Dish Soap Ads

Romancing the roles of women in household products like dish washing soap is something that has been around for a while. I found both older advertisements and current advertisement that target women and reinforce their 'place in the home'. Household product companies work hard to incorporate the romancing of women's roles in their advertisements.

The romancing technique in advertisements can be used as kind of the underlying message and it takes a trained eye to pick it out. Here is my first advertisement under critical analysis:

Here it's it obvious the company is using romance to let them women know they should be the dishwashers. The ads uses a pink bottle of dish soap and advertises the special 'rose petal' ingredient that is for her hands. The hands in the ad are obviously a woman's. They are made out to look so smooth, skinny and delicate. She has manicured nails with a shiny pink nail polish. Each hand is holding onto a rose very gently. Roses are a symbol for romance and that seems to by why the company chose to use this particular flower. They advertise the soap as having rose extract to make a woman's delicate hands smoother after washing all the dishes. These typical dishwashing soap ads have chosen to use 'the smoothing' as a selling technique because women are supposed to have soft hands. Women are supposed to care about their skin and look good for their men when they come home at the end of the day. Think about the typical soap operas that show women cooking and cleaning for their husbands. After they make dinner, they must clean up too. But most importantly they must look good while (and after) doing this. Smooth hands are what a women needs to impress her husband and keep him happy. While doing the dishes she must look good like the women shown in the ad. The 'miracle' rose infused dish soap is going to make women feel so good while doing the dishes. She gets a little bit of suds on her lower arm and holds the dirty dishes so delicately so she can impress her husband while cleaning. But after she is done cleaning she has to come out with nice clean, soft, smooth hands. It looks like she will have nice hands to massage her husband after his long day at work. These ridiculous ads remind women their place is in the home. The softener in the soap allows women to keep her skin looking young and please her husband by looking pretty and fresh. It reminds women that they are the dishwashers and they belong in the home.  Advertising companies restrict women abilities to be recognizes as just ones in the home (dishwasher, launderer, cooker, etc).  Dishwashing is made to look like a womsn's job and a woman's job only. But, being a dishwasher also requires you to be a 'sexy woman' while doing them. This particular ad is suggesting you use roses to scrub the dishes instead of a sponge because its 'sexier'. Household product companies tell women they have to look good while they wash, make it a sensual sense and use nice scents and flowers in the process. Women have to make themselves sexually attractive objects. Soft (white skin) hands are beautiful, and beauty is a huge part of being the 'romantic' women men supposedly want. There is nothing 'manly' in this ad that suggests this dishwashing job could be done by a man too.

I also found a more recent advertisement that came from a magazine. This one also reminds women that doing the dishes is a women's job. 

"Send your hands to a spa without leaving the kitchen". The quote at the top of the ads is obviously reminding a women that their place is in the kitchen. Again, we know this ad is directed at women through the use of the hand cut out. It's a silhouette of a women hand; skinny fingers, small wrist and long nails. Inside the hand we see a beautiful scene, the same one we often seen advertised as a 'romantic getaway' (commonly advertised to be taken with your heterosexual husband/boyfirend). Women must purchase this dish soap in order to feel like they are on this romantic getaway. The description at the bottom also includes a few key techniques used to remind women of their place in the home. Not leaving the kitchen to get this feeling- tells women they belong in the kitchen and to stay there. The unique protein improving look and feel of hands- tells women they have to be 'beautiful' to be a real woman. Women need to have soft and silty skin to be a real woman. Thats the beauty of it- using worlds like 'beauty' remind women they have to look beautiful while doing the dishes (and after). Calling dishwashing a beautiful act is reminding women that this is the job for them. Romance has created a ideal women type, and she must be beautiful. Beauty is an important part of romance and women must stay young and look pretty in order to be happy. That happy feeling you can get from being on a romantic getaway is achievable to women by only doing the dished with dawn soap. Dishwashing has been portrayed as a women's job through the use of advertising. Many ads convince women that is is only a job for women, men aren't present in most ads (they are off at work while the woman is at home cleaning). Women need to use specific types of dishwashing soap so that their skin can look younger and fresh. Many soap operas leave women dreaming about that vacation that one day they will get to go on, and this advertising company is telling them they don't have to dream anymore, you can get that vacation feeling from our soap! While the women is at home washing the dishes, her husband is off making the money. That might mean that that vacation dream is only really achievable by men (who have the money to pay for the trip). A women dosen't have the ability to purchase that vacation for herself, so she stays home and has to wash the dishes to get that 'feeling' from her dish soap. That is the best she can do (pathetic). 

Both of these ads remind women their place is in the home and achievable by being a romantic women (sexy, pretty, gentle, etc). All these romantic characteristic are used by advertising companies to trick women into believing all of this, and to get them to use/buy their products. This portrayal of women results in the gender roles placed on women and the stereotypical role to stay in the home. The use of this theme is used by all sorts of media and advertising companies. The same message is being repeated to women so many time that it has resulted in them (often) believing it. They have been restricted to the home. 

I found other ads that have very similar themes and messages. Take a look:

-romantic theme of women trying to beautify herself

-emotional women caring so much about the dishes

-women showing a bit of leg in the back ground hugging her man (because she didn't use sunlight her man left her and went to another women)

-pink outfit, dressed to impress, jewel, long hair, pretty romantic looking

In the home is not where I want to spend all my time!

-Goldilocks

You CAN be the perfect housewife!

Did you know Electrolux appliances can make you the perfect housewife? It's obvious in this commercial by using these products it will make your life easier, your kids will be amazed by you, and everyone in your family will love you and you'll love doing ALL the chores!

I find it hard to believe by owning a certain type of oven and washing machine that it will make your life this easy and perfect.  This brand is attempting to show that if you buy their product it will make your life this way, which is what every woman wants right?  I doubt from washing all the clothes, hosting a dinner, and cooking everything and having that kind of energy at the end of the day is the image of most women after that.  

This is the portrayal of women we see everywhere including commercials, movies, and most TV shows.  The woman who looks perfect all the time while doing all the housework, and making her children and husband happy, is the standard to which we are influenced to achieve.  It's difficult to comprehend when many women are also in the work field today that most women can pull that off with a job and still have the time and energy to run a household alone.  TV shows like the genre of soap operas are very encouraging of the housewife image.  The women are all perfectly made-up and seem to run a fairly impressive household amongst all the other drama.  In real life, as most people have parents who both work, most mothers do not work an 8-4 and come home and take care of all the chores.  More commonly I believe the chores are shared between children, and cooking is sometimes be done by the father, and that is the real family life most of us live and I don't understand what it is about that image that no media source thinks is right?

When these types of commercials are made, I feel as though for most women it would be hard to relate.  But is that what we want is to secretly he the hero of our home? The "Angel in the House"? We are shown everyday it is what we should want, but that's just not reality and I am glad I am not from a house hold where the mother is "perfect".  I come from a real family of shared responsibilities and am happy to say I do the laundry, and when I do not have a smile on my face.

- Regina Filangi

Tides take on Gender

Tide, just like many other household product ads, is notorious for being sexist in it's commercials.  This ad however, is new for Tide, showing it's view on gender roles.

The video shows a woman, obviously the perfect housewife and mother, who is upset that her daughter does not dress like a little girl "should".  Despite her attempts to stain her daughter's clothing, she uses Tide, which no matter what gets the stains out because it is meant to make life "easier and cleaner" for women.

Usually it is the sexist ads that only show women cleaning, doing dishes, and laundry that bother me, but this ad is taking it to a new low, trying to tell children how to dress and their role of a frilly, pink, little girl or a camo, cargo shorts, little boy.  They are saying if you do not conform to this social standard you will be "wrong" and clearly it will make mom unhappy.  This social norm of gender begins at birth with the colours that are attatched to gender and the roles associated as well.  The little girl in the commercial is playing with blocks and trucks but to society should be playing with dolls and kitchen sets because it is expected that she grows up knowing about the kitchen and babies because that's all she will know. 

In the movies and soaps, women are often portrayed as the perfect housewife and that is usually the norm.  This is just another way women we are influenced to grow up doing dishes and laundry and taking care of the family, and if you don't conform with that idea you are out of place and won't fit in to what society wants.  A movie that goes outside the norm like "Bridesmaids", that shows women in a more vulgar manner is deffinetly funny but not meets the standard of the lady-like homemaker.

I do agree with one thing in this commercial, this detergent works and gets my clothes clean.  But the "style is an option clean is not" caption at the end, I do not agree with.  Tide, stick to cleaning my clothes and not defining my place in society, thanks.

- Regina Filanji

Women as Targets

Women are targeted in many of the advertisements for household products and goods, because they are considered to be the major consumers for those products. The advertisements are produced to appeal to women in a way that will make them want to try a new product, because the outcomes that are presented in the commercials are positive.

The thing i don’t understand is why so many women in cleaning commercials look so happy to be cleaning. I know myself, i dread the thought of cleaning, and it definitely doesn’t put a big smile on my face when it comes time to do it.

You can see in many of the Mr. Clean commercials it is always a women cleaning. And the thing that really gets me, is that they are using Mr. Clean products, yet mr.clean himself never picks up his own product and shows what it does. Instead he stands behind the women and watches as she cleans. Also, at the end of all the commercials, when the women as successfully scrubbed all the dirt off, she seems to always need a sign of approval from mr.clean that she did a good job. He does a wink of his animated eye, a nod of a job well done or a super exciting high five!

Here is a Mr. Clean commercial that shows this, as well as showing how a women`s cleaning can bring the family together:

Here is another Mr. Clean commercial that shows the controversy behind the "magic"  power of his products, and what the advertisers may really be trying to sell. I think it is pretty funny and gets a point across..

The crazy things about this commercial is that after she is done cleaning, she gets her reward, of him naked in her bed.

Let me know what you think about this..

-tm-blogger

Toilet Paper ~ Or Sex Drive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHbhngwg3uc

This is the most recent commercial for the toilet paper brand "Cottenelle"

At first I thought it was simply another one of those ridiculousy adorable commercials with kittens in it, but instead they are not so subtly making a connection between toilet paper and a healthy sex life with just "one little switch".
The age of the couple is apparent and made all the more exaggerated when she explains how they have been together for so long. It is also apparent by her mannerisms as well as her general look. That of a healthy older women roughly in her fifties, early sixties. Their age is hinting at the need for change in their routine. That somehow changing to a new type of toilet paper will make them young and sexy again. The man will take her out and that is going to give them a fresh start.
The commercial takes place in the bedroom, (as if that is the only place a women is sexy? that is the first thought that came into my head as I was watching) and references the thickness of the toilet paper as she fingers the package. If there were anymore innuendoes it would be an add for a vibrator or Viagra.
It once again leaves the changes up to the women, who is bound to her household duties and the Mans job to take her outside the home. She is to make his life more pleasurable.
How her life is so routine that the only way she could think to spice it up is to buy new toilet paper.
When her husband try's to ask where she keeps something, she doesn't even wait till he has finished asking the question before answering, as if she is so used to his commands, that she no longer needs to be asked to know what he wants.
Over all, I found the commercial to be quite sexist and stereotypical. The way they portray older adults needing to step things up, by breaking out new toilet paper is a subtle innuendo that is sure to be noted by many viewers.
I thought this was the perfect "Household good" :)
~Rosebud

A difficult Marriage

Yes, this commercial is supposed to be humorous and ironic. But to me and I'm sure many others its humorous and ironic for a different reason.

First it seems the woman is in a marriage counselling session with her unseen spouse who is out of the shot. Here by itself, it shows a stereotypically emotional woman, who explains she is begging for her unseen "spouse" to make their "relationship" work.

Surprise!! It's actually her mop! I'm sure the producer of this commercials intent was to produce a light laugh and maybe a "I know how that feels" reaction by a women's audience. But I definitely find this ad extremely annoying.

They are sending the message that women are so attached to their everyday cleaning and household products that the relationship between women and household product is that of a marriage or relationship. Perfect example of how maybe our society has not come so far from the age of 1950's housewife as we had thought.

- Meryle Girl

Whirlpool

Take a look at this video!...... Whirpool...

The 21 seconds of this 'Spot Lavadora Whirpool' commercial is obvious proof that women are a major target for household product advertisements. I feel this is a great example of a variety of techniques companies use to remind women of 'their place'. 

This commercial connects with our class discussion on chick flicks. These types of films (and advertisements in this case) are designed to attract women and use the same 'story line' that women have claimed to love and watch over and over again. This 'typical chick flick' theme is presented when the woman in the ad gracefully prances over to her prince charming (the washing machine). This idea of the washing machine being the one she reaches out to and is so happy to find is the same idea seen in everyday chick flicks. The women always ends up running to the man and falling in love. The advertisement shows women that cleaning (household products and household duties) is their destiny in life. Once she has found the perfect washing machine, she can stop looking. This new fancy washing machine makes her feel complete. The washing machine is standing still, looking strong and sturdy (like the stereotypical man). Chick flicks typically use this theme too; once she finds her husband her life is complete. He means everything to her. The theme used is romance. The washing machine is seen as the romance in a women's life. This household product is made to look like her soul mate. The video is made to feel romantic through the use of dark lighting (setting the mood), soft pictures, transitions between pictures and different camera angles that are soft and slow, and the soft and seductive voice used for narration. This romance is advertised to women because they are trained to believe that is what they care about. The company tells women they need romance in their life to be happy. Other aspects of sexuality and romance in the commercial are present too. The woman used is a stereotypically beautiful woman; tall, blonde and skinny. They have her hair blowing in the wind and slow motion running towards the washing machine. Butterflies are used so softly and gracefully, making the video seem airy and light. The light and airy feel is just like the chick flicks we have studied. This ad can be considered 'light entertainment' in the sense that its 'fluffy' and we aren't expected to think much into it. This makes the women feel like they don't have to think about their choices; its obvious they need this specific washing machine. Butterflies are also girly and produce that same romantic feel we get from the previously talked about techniques. We can say the company has achieved 'emotional engagement'  as the overdramatic actions of the woman running over to her washing machine its definitely over the top. It gained 'real time' as the ad makes this woman seem like the real deal; the real representation of women in society (perfect). The video produces a a romantic feel when they do a close up shot on her face with long blinking eye lashes. The next shot does a close up on her lips. The woman in the video is pursing her lips making a kiss face that is supposed to be sexual and romantic. The company uses this advertisement to remind women their place is in the home using these products; and they should be satisfied with that.  

The video reminds women that their place is in the home. The end of the video says "sensing the difference" and that is telling women that if you are smart, you will understand that this washing machine is the answer to all your problems. Cleaning gives women their '6th sense'; their power. Cleaning is what makes them worthy individuals. The part that says 'results with a real sense of difference' really is saying if you are a women and have 'a lot of sense' you too will choose this washing machine. 

I feel like the ad is polysemic because its tells women they should love this machine because its romantic just like they should be. Its also is telling women they are good for nothing but cleaning. You can either see it as a light and fluffy ad that we are used to and enjoy,  or, we can see it as a horrible representaion that devalues women.  It can be considered a cultural dupe because women are being tricked into believing they are supped to be romantic creatures and this washing machine is what will allow them to achieve that position. 

Women are reminded that being a woman means doing the laundry. Having the latest and greatest household products make you feel young and alive just like the girl in tho video! The only thing you are good for is doing household chores, like the laundry. Strong powerful men love girls who are delicate and caring about the household choses. Remember to show how sexy you can be while doing the laundry, its such a romantic chore! ;)

When I was doing research for romancing in household advertisements I found (somewhere!!) that companies like to use European words/French words to name their products because it sounds more romantic. I must have read it in my research somewhere along the line but now i can't find it anywhere. Has anyone come across this? The title of the video I chose reminded me of this and I am curious now.. It makes sense though; sex sells! 

I found this whirlpool commercial on the blog below, it has a lot of other great stuff I hope to analyze in later blogs.

 http://adwomeninenglish.blogspot.com/2009/01/has-household-products-advertising.html

-Goldilocks