Due to sleep deprivation, I've written this post in the form of my thought process:
What the hell?
Is that Hitler?
Oh, it's about AIDs.
Wait, it's about AIDs?
Oh, cuz both Hitler and AIDs are mass murderers.
But...he's not murdering in the poster. He's having sex. And looking at us. Creepily.
Is this a warning to women?
Who is that lady?
Okay, I think I got it. Have sex with Hitler = you get AIDs.
What?
While I'm all about raising awareness about important issues, and educating people on having safe sex, but I'm not sure what shocking / shaming people accomplishes. Oh, there's also a graphic video (you've been warned).
So far, I'm only seeing women having sex with terrible dictators as a metaphor for contracting AIDs, and can't help but see this as more slut-shaming (woman making bad choices, and is apparently into the sex with that evil evil man--dirty slut!). And what does this say to those people with HIV and AIDs?
I certainly get why it would be problematic to show posters of Hitler and Stalin actually mass murdering people, but why didn't it occur to those behind this campaign that images of women having sex with mass murderers acting as a metaphor for contracting AIDs is also problematic?
I wasn't going to post pics of my vacation until after I got home on Sunday, but I simply had to share this one immediately. We were on our way to the Tampa Lowry Zoo, when I saw this:
According to their website, they've been around since 1959. I think it's time for a name change...
This is probably going to be the first of many posts about advertisements. I'm certainly not pointing out anything anyone else hasn't pointed out yet, but it's irritating and needs to be pointed out as many times as possible.
While watching t.v. at any given time, it is easy to see how products are given a gender based on who advertisers think will buy the product, and the result is this huge division between men and women (predominately white straight men and white straight women). Other groups don't seem to exist in commercials or ads.
One thing I learned is that beer is masculine, and is usually synonymous with watching sports (also masculine). Googling "beer ads" in an image search leads you to an array of print advertisements for beer, many of which portray airbrushed women (obviously for the straight male gaze). There's one that baffles me: What we see here is a flat-chested woman exploiting the chest of the other woman. It isn't the large-chested woman shading her own beer, nor is it a man, which one would argue makes it not sexist. But this is still for a male gaze because it is invoking some perhaps not-so-subtle girl-on-girl action. Just look at how the woman is checking out the beer-shades.
Ad after ad shows hot women posing with beer to attract their male consumers. What this tells me is that beer isn't really for me. If I drink it, it's for the viewing of some man. Which sucks, because my beer-drinking is not supposed to be an exposition.
I also learned how for a woman, shampooing your hair is like some sort of sexual release. I can't think of any time where I shampooed my hair, and felt like this: Energy drinks are male, and apparently will make something bigger?Chocolate is for women. Eat this and masturbate! Except Twix, which supposedly allows men to be pigs, and still somehow get the lady:
Speaking of chocolate, here's a familiar Axe ad:
Since women find chocolate irresistible, you should smell like chocolate! Creepy and misleading? Of course it is! Check out any Axe commercial. It's all about getting tehladiez. Therefore, if you're gay, Axe isn't for you. This whole getting "girl approved" shit alienates a whole demographic of men who are not into ladies...
Burgers are for the male gaze, and sometimes invokes some pretty violent imagery:
Male:Racist: So male they're actually testicles:I was also hoping to find video of the new Stacker 2 commercial, which heavily relies on the assumption that the dude is masturbating just before the hot woman enters his office, but I can't seem to find it anywhere just yet. I change the channel every time that commercial comes on.
What this all boils down to is that the ads that permeate our magazines and television is prevalently white and sexist. I didn't bother writing about the ads for children's toys, since that's a whole other argument. So I'll leave it up to Jared Logan:
I'm a writer still trying to figure out what I'm doing, so I'm trying to do a lot of different things.
I'm a daydreamer who hates being social. I'm afraid I fit the stereotype of angry, loner writer who enjoys sitting in the dark writing about things that piss me off. Yes, I enjoy drinking, but no I do not smoke.
I seriously couldn't think of a better title.
