I just saw this online ad while perusing the
Slate.com site:
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| Woman arching her back. Tres sexy. |
The dark image of the bending lady in the black dress slowly merges into an image of a folding chair. Lady = Object. Nice going, Acura. Who are the copywriter and art director that thought this would be a good idea?
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| This chair is easy to bend over — just like that lady! |
I get that sexy cars = sexy ladies. It's a trope in advertising, albeit a rather out-of-date one. But what really got me with this ad was the way that the woman was so thoughtlessly merged into an object. We are so numb to women's bodies being objectified that such images line the columns of our liberal magazines without comment. It's depressing as shit. I'm sorry I'm using bad language but I'm not a journalist. I'm just an opinionated bitch from Detroit.
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| Never forget who the car is made for ladies. |
And....end scene. Acura is more than happy to objectify a woman's body to make a point about ease and comfort ... and flexibility? But they don't want us to forget who this car is made for. That's right. It's made for a man. Ladies, no Acura MDX's for you.
Forgive my little advertising/feminism rant in the middle of my middle school series but this was just too much for me. I work in the industry. I've worked in advertising and specifically, in automotive advertising, for over a decade. If you think sexism is a thing of a past, try working on a car account. At one point in my career when someone with less education, less experience and less skill than I had got a raise above my own salary, I was informed that he "had to make a man's salary." Yep. Why would I, a senior level with a degree and a child to support, need to make a "man's salary." I'm just a ladywriter.
Let's take a little tour of the history of sexist advertising in the automotive industry. Just for funsies.
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| Women are soft and gentle, but they hit things. Like sexist assholes, for example. |
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Oooooh! You get to clean the vinyl buckets! Don't let that Dodge-driver go, ladyfriend.
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| You know you're not the first. But do you really care? |
Stay classy, BMW.
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| This is the face I make when driving over chauvinist pigs. Tee hee! |
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| I actually do drive a Jeep. Because that's what dirty four-wheelin' feminists drive. |
*End rant.*
Sorry folks. Now we can go back to our regularly scheduled programming.
