Gawker
Could it be true that advertising is nothing more than a big pack of lies, designed to get you to purchase things that often you don't need and perhaps believe things you shouldn't? Advertising copywriter Copyranter brings you instances of advertising lies and the lying liars who sell them.
According to iRobot's new advertising for its adorable little auto-vac, Mom is in charge of cleaning up after her pig children and jackass husband. Literally! But since it's tongue-in-cheeky, we shouldn't get our panties in a bunch, right? Riiight. Until the writer of the commercial says he's specifically targeting "Chief Home Officers." Ding ding ding goes the sexism alarm!
"The Chief Home Officer in our spot realizes that cleaning up after her family is a never-ending chore," said David Bernstein, executive creative director at The Gate, IRobot's agency. "But at least she can delegate it to a robot."
"Delegate it!" See? Moms can be bosses, too! VPs of Sanitation. Char-women of the floorboards.
And so on. Whatever, just watch it!
Aw, her jackass husband is her best friend. Nice save? And dig that campy 1950s, "Leave It To Beaver"-esque music. See, they think by showing us that they know it's a dated setting makes the insulting stereotypes copasetic.
But sexism aside, the commercial just plain yanks, doesn't it? Humans as barnyard animals! Who'd have thunk that craziness up! The ad is from an "edgy" ad agency that claims to be all about killing "sacred cows," naturally.
Whatever. The product's a goddamned high tech robot, built by a company that makes bomb disarming machines currently helping our brave men (and women) in Iraq and Afghanistan! Where's the cool demonstration of its capabilities? If I'm going to let a robot "do the dirty work," I want to know exactly what the drone can do.
Unless of course, the product isn't as efficient as advertised. But MIT roboticists with a lucrative government contract would never mislead the heroic American Mom, would they?
Comments
Well my bloomers are in a bunch.
Oh Emily, it's not sexist just becau--wait, Choire?!
I'm most offended by the fact that she appears to be fucking the donkey instead of the pigs.
@Steverino: Helloo!! Gayfemiladyism!
Oops, this was written by Copyranter. I get confused sumtimes.
If she's just give her little piggies some condoms, they'd turn into humans. See what we can learn by paying attention to ads?
Wow - I bet he's hung like a horse!
They have to go for the housefrau who feels the family is a bunch of animals. No husband is going to order up an iRobot for his wife and live to tell the tale.
If they made a commercial consisting solely of people using the roomba to scare their cats, then and only then, would I consider buying one.
What's with all the weird sexist housewife commercials lately? First that crazy play cottage from Fischer Price and now this?
I really want a Roomba, too. I heard it's awesome for taking care of pet hair on wood floors. Damn those ad men for ruining my hopes for fur-free floors.
My cat rides our Roomba like it's his personal hovercraft. It's the Scooba that scares the crap out of him.
As far as I can tell, all television commericals for any cleaning-related products are still explicitly directed to women. This has always struck me as sexist, but nobody else seems to notice or comment on it.
So I don't understand why Copyranter is singling out iRobot here. Please, someone, show me just one commercial for a product that cleans anythign that's directed to a man instead of a woman. Just one.
@MisterHippity: If a man is left to himself, he will wash dishes with the same rag (or sponge, even worse) until it grows mold or disentegrates. That is why.
I guess what offends me most about this ad is, why couldn't she be buggered to at least put on a little mascara? Laziest housewife ever.
@mipsy6: Next up: a fischer price boys version with recliner, fridge and tv - complete with fake beers cans and a remote.
@mipsy6:
All cleaning products are marketed to women...it is assumed that men don't clean, or if they do, they are so ashamed of themselves for doing girly things they won't buy something marketed directly to them.
That freaking play house -- housefrau slavery for your toddler! -- is a backlash toy, pure and simple. We're all out of the house now, and some asshole is trying to convince the next generation to go back in -- it's fun!
@shuffler: Well, men throw things away when they start to stink. That's the man rule. It applies equally to peasants and popes.
But on the other hand, men aren't total pussies about germs. I love the ladies wandering around with costco-sized kegs of hand sanitizer, slathering their babies in alcoholic goo so that their immune systems are pathetic and weak and their children frail like Dickensian orphans.
My kids are going to have to spend one night a week catching and eating their dinner outside.
@MisterHippity: It was the "Chief Home Officer" crack by the stupid male creative director. That's pretty damn demeaning.
@Pope John Peeps II: I never clean my house, and I haven't had a cold or flu in 9 years!
So yeah, that's sexist. But what's most disturbing is the implication that she fucked a donkey and gave birth to pigs. I saw that shit online once, and I think it would take more than an dirt-sucking vacuum to make me okay with that.
@josh speed: That's totally the shit. Everyone should be dirty. Except for genitals which should be scrupulously clean. That way everyone's hot and sexy and no one gets colds from kissing at parties because everyone's immune.
Come on, people - aren't ANY of you in marketing? You speak to the people who use your product and to those most likely to want to use your product. Fact-o-the-matter is that most moms do the housework, and they probably do think their husbands are asses and their kids are pigs. It's no different than marketing sports cars to men - women drive, too, but a company has to know to whom they'll get the biggest results. Jeez.
the commercial that pisses me off lately is for tonka trucks and how "boys play differently"
um, almost every straight guy i know had a cabbage patch doll growing up. and most gay guys i know played with toy trucks. for reals.
I'd take this sexist crap over this: [www.youtube.com]
Sexist? Yes.
Speciesist? For sure. How insulting to donkeys and pigs everywhere!
@MisterHippity: Yeah, I'm failing to see how this is any more sexist than 98% of commercials that come on during daytime TV. You know what? I'm an at home mom, aka "housewife"...and please don't assume that I'm uneducated and/or conservative; don't just assume that I spend all my time cooking, cleaning, and chauffering my kid around. I do have a *little* spare time, much of which I spend posting here. Oh GOD I'm pathetic....but I digress). I can't get too upset over this ad. My daughter can be a bit of a pig, and my husband definitely has jack-ass tendencies. And I freaking LOVE my Roomba! (More time for the Internet, right? I'm crying now.) So I guess I'm the targeted demographic, maybe that's why I'm not offended. Of course it could be that there is so much more important stuff to get upset about out there, and after all that laundry, I don't have the energy to spend my outrage willy-nilly.
All those douche and tampon ads are so totally targeted at women -- they don't even hide it!
@MindGrapes: And of course the only way to speak to Moms is to condescendingly call them "Chief Home Officers." You can target Moms without being sexist...it just takes a little creative thinking on the part of the ad agency...which, after examining the uncreative work at The Gate's Web site, would require another ad agency.
@MisterHippity: Car wax/cleaning shit. Because the garage is a man's domain.
@mark duffy: Believe it or not, out in the unironic hinterlands (i.e. anywhere besides supercynical urban areas), average men and women find this sort of bland humor very enjoyable. I'm always amazed when my parents, their friends, and the parents of my friends chuckle at what my friends I find really stupid and lame. They're amused by the derivative gags they find in the typical commercials for beer, Glad bags, mouthwash and the like. Although you, me and everyone we know have no patience for stupid humor, and we know that we're right, that doesn't mean that what works for the majority of people should no longer be employed.
@Pope John Peeps II: You're right about the hand sanitzer.
And I sort of lied. I buy the cleaning products and toss the old sponges, but my boyfriend is the one who scrubs the shower after I've neglected it for a couple of weeks. Why is this ok? Because it takes me an hour to clean it whereas it takes him a mere 15 minutes. I admit it, I am the weaker sex.
Wench looks like she's on drugs.
I have a Roomba AND that couch - that ad makes me nauseous. I'd like to go all Chief Home Officer on that dude's ass if he made that comment to me, or implied in any way (other than the couch or my beloved Roomba, because that thing rocks) that my life resembled that poor lady.
@CristinaS: i agree, the truly sad thing about this commercial is that it might deter people from buying a roomba. i have had one for 2 years, and without it, i would loose my will to live. 3 cats, no hair on the carpet. ha!
Start a discussion:
Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?