In only 30 seconds, this local Portland commercial for Mattress World manages to rewind gender stereotypes by approximately 50 years, scar children's psyches, and not say anything helpful about its products' features. They run more than one version of this exact message here during Trail Blazer games - other versions start with the little girl proclaiming her only dream in life is to be a cheerleader and then move on to the little boy with his many basketball-related dreams:
Not only are the gender roles here patently unnecessary and painful to watch, I fail to see how this campaign could sell mattresses. I imagine the crack marketing team at Mattress World sat down and said, "We need to come up with something that the locals will like. Locals like sports, right? Hmm, well there is only one professional sports team in the entire state. So the Trail Blazers are a pretty safe bet! Now, how to relate basketball to mattresses? Umm, well, they have cheerleaders, and players, right? Boys are the stars, and girls are the sideline decorations. But, we don't want to be too sexy, we are a family mattress company. Let's use kids, everyone likes kids. Go!"
They probably learned this form of marketing from reading kids' books from the '50s: "Girls can be nurses, boys can be doctors! Girls can be secretaries, boys can be businessmen! Girls can be mommies, boys can be rock stars!" Then they watched a few rip-and-replace local car commercials, where car companies come up with a bunch of generic characteristics they ascribe to a region, then voice them over pictures of their vehicles pasted over static images of local landmarks, and call that a regional targeted ad. It's insulting. What's worse is that they, and the vast majority of viewers, probably don't see anything wrong with this approach.
But kids ARE cute. And girls can't play basketball.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe your upset about this commercial...You got way to mad over nothing..This commercial is not setting women's roles back 50 years, it's one little girl's dream of being a cheerleader, I think most girls go through that phase...... In this day and age girls need to be reminded that they can still be a cheerleader if they want, and can still be a doctor/lawyer too....I get what your saying and I think your totally wrong and maybe a little nutts...
ReplyDeleteI only watch TV online, so luckily I haven't watched that particular commercial. It sounds terrible though. Women definitely do not need more reminders on how to please and support men. It's been shoved down our throats enough now. kthxbai.
ReplyDeleteWell, a big Duh to you out there in the Rose City. Cripes!
ReplyDeleteYes, truly an adventure in mediocrity. Portland provides many riches in the way of really dumb stuff.
Anon1: Yes, they are, sometimes. Yes, they can. See: http://www.famouswhy.com/List/Top_9_Famous_Women_Basketball_Players/300.html
ReplyDeleteAnon2: I'm not upset/mad, I just prefer to keep my eyes open while consuming media. Yes, it is, no, they don't, no, I'm not (especially not with that extra t, not to mention those apostrophe errors.)
Jenna: Smart move, that. I usually utilize earplugs when "the game" is on, but forgot this time, and I can't avoid the subtitled ads at the gym, unless I run with my eyes closed, which I do sometimes, and people look at me funny, but I don't really notice since my eyes are closed. ANYway, you're right, no, we don't. Yeesh.
Hattie: Yes, yes it does. Much like many other metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. Yayyy for humanity and its unending lameitudinousness!
If you pick it apart, you can blow it off as harmless. But I remember as a kid watching speed racer on MTV where Trixie suggested she wanted to be a race car driver and everyone laughed because it was out of her character. And I remember instinctively feeling, why is it out of her character? because she's a girl? so wrong. I get the same feeling with this.
ReplyDeleteSo often screenwriters hide behind the "character" argument, but if you spend enough time consuming media critically, you start to notice a pattern: a particular set of characteristics and traits are routinely ascribed to one gender (or race, or class, and so on) only on-screen. This goes for strong, silent menfolk and nurturing but incompetent ladyfolk. The oppositional argument is often "but that's just the character, it's got nothing to do with gender (or race, or class, or whatever)." Or, as Anon2 above argues, "it's harmless, it's just one girl's dream." This overlooks the fact that children in commercials are scripted and coached, and marketing people pay a high price for 30 seconds' of airtime, and carefully choose the words they use in in those 30 seconds, not to mention that childhood dreams (and adult dreams) are heavily influenced by society's ascribed roles for your gender, race, class, etc. Oh, the implications, they are legion.
ReplyDeleteSo, when you pick it apart, it's actually not so harmless.