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
I agree, women are mostly the target in 99.9% of household products that I have ever seen. It's pretty annoying that I can't see a commercial for cooking or cleaning without a women who is extremely happy to be doing it. No one is happy to be cleaning that intensely. The fact that Mr. Clean magically appears and says, "Wait a man is here to show you how to do this right without doing it myself because that's not my job", is ridiculous. The parody commercial is funny because it shows what some people really think about the Mr. Clean character.
ReplyDelete- Regina Filangi
ReplyDeleteI liked the comedy sketch of the ad (which isn't a real Mr. Clean ad)!
ReplyDeleteThe Doctor
Oh Mr. Clean.. He is so creepy and gross looking (sorry, but seriously). I'd never enjoy having some bald, bleach eye-browed, older man, dressed all in white standing behind me watching me clean. Nonetheless I enjoyed this post tm-blogger, and you pointed out quite a few things I actually did not analyze until now. For instance how Mr. Clean never actually cleans himself but just stands back and watches as the woman scrubs away at the dirt and grime. And so if there is anything that these ads do exceptionally well, it is that they do an excellent job at perpetuating the naturalization of heterosexuality and stereotypical gender roles. Of course the woman is confined to the home cleaning and the man (which has to be a MR. Clean, not a MRS. or any other gender) is the one with the control and power. I am bothered to think about how these concepts are fed to people everyday through the media in order to 'keep us in our place' so to speak. Society persuades us to believe in these hetero-normative standards through all possible outlets, including something as simple as a short 30 second TV advertisement for all-purpose cleaner.. how depressing.
ReplyDeleteCheers
The Veiled Interpreter
Like most cleaning advertisments it is almost always the women who is cleaning and also who is the target audience. In terms of the dominant discourse it seems that this is a power structure that those in power are in no hurry to change. Despite the fact that more men are becoming the stay at home dads, or even sharing the burden of the more "domesticated" chores, these comercials are still only targeting women. It is a perfect illustration of how although women are liberated we are still bond to the home. Most of these commercials also suttely point out that the women is cleaning her house for her man, mr. clean is just another representitive of the need to impress and seek aproval of the man of the house. Although not a cleaning advertisment I have seen one brand that focuses on a man doing the household chores. However it was because his girlfriend had to bribe him with whipped cream flavoured vodca. Despite the fact that the men in these advertisments are shown vacuming, doing laundry, and cooking, it is not because they want to impress, or seek approval from their wives. A power structure still exist, and yes the women have sort of turned the tables here by getting what they wanted but in comparrison when a women is portrayed in these advertisments she takes on extremely feminine characteristics that represent the man's "ideal" houswife in a modern world. However the men in these ads are just doing it for the drink, not for the love of the wives.
ReplyDelete-As we understood