Sexism in Russian advertising: New blatant videos
Dasha Tatarkova
Last year we wrote in detail about how things are going with Russian advertising - unfortunately, little has changed over time. Russian advertising agencies continue to exploit harmful gender stereotypes, playing up to sexist sentiments of the masses. And in print media, in small local advertising campaigns, and in online services, something incredible comes across - such as, for example, in this very unambiguous advertising of Rexona “Nabegala”, which many have seen when accessing the Internet in the Moscow metro. The worst situation is on YouTube: although many have long ceased to watch TV, video advertising, however, has not disappeared from our life anywhere and it is still difficult to hide from an obsessively dismissive and one-sided attitude towards women. We tell you which videos caused the greatest indignation and what exactly.
Tuc Crackers
"Look what a little thing."
It would seem that the crackers with the taste of chips - not the product that can be sold by braiding a beautiful girl. As if not so. The heroes of the video and Tuc lovers found a way to kill two birds with one stone: both compare women with cookies, and clearly show what sexual objectification is. "This is the thing in my taste" - maybe so, but this is not a thing, but a person. Separate greetings to the word "crunchy" are given by the team of copywriters who have come up with "snickers".
Internet "Beeline"
"And I have a song"
Sexism does not have to be dressed in the form of direct insults or discrimination - sometimes a patronizing and tender-mocking attitude towards one of the sexes implicitly shows through in details. Advertising "Beeline" is conceived as an ironic video and, in principle, could be funny if copywriters did not decide to demonstrate the benefits of the tariff by contrasting the sexes - where the same (female) is necessarily inferior to another (male). It does not help the situation that the actress Alla Mikheev was dressed in a pink sweatshirt and forced to speak like a naughty child - in general, play the cartoon character out of anecdotes about female weakness and naivety.
Dirol Gum
"Look do not confuse"
As you know, there is a whole unofficial "women's tax", according to which "women's" goods are often more expensive than "men's" goods. I wonder how long Dirol will take to join the disastrous global trend. The promise is in any case the most harmful: in no case do not think to deviate from stereotypes. If you are a "man", then you should behave accordingly: in no case do not experience emotions, certainly not show them, and, of course, God forbid you go to the stove. The division into “male” and “female” products seems to be a harmless brainchild of marketing (usually the same product, but in different packages), but often it comes to the point of absurdity and only reinforces gender stereotypes. The Dirol series is still ongoing: we are afraid that, until all the prejudices are sorted out, this ad will not stop bothering to watch YouTube videos.
Internet "Beeline"
"This is someone buffering"
About advertising with Svetlakov and Mikheeva has already been said, but this one simply couldn’t have been singled out: so we see a room full of men throwing paper into the air, rejoicing in their wit.
"Danissimo"
"Innocent curd pleasure"
"I know what you want. I know what you are afraid of." How good that a wise man turned out to be close by, who always tells a stupid woman what she needs. There is no direct Fatscheming here, but it seems that in the current state of society, it is not even necessary to directly call anything. Everyone understands what a stalking stranger means. We hurry to upset: the sugar in this yoghurt is not much less than in the desserts in the shop window, let alone deny yourself just because some man behind your back whispers something vague about the notorious “extra” weight, definitely not worth it.
Veet Stripes
"Be truly feminine"
Veet decided that for the sake of selling its products, he has the right to dictate to women how to look. "You can remain feminine even in his shirt, but only if you have perfectly smooth legs. And only his bristles adorn him." We reserve the right to be covered with bristles where it grows naturally, and to feel at the same time cool in any clothes. The history of shaving legs is hardly one hundred years old, and most of this time the idea of having hair removed on them was imposed by companies selling shaving products. Perhaps, after all, the time has come to make an informed choice.
Sausages "Cherkizovsky"
"Real men are worth their weight in gold"
It is even surprising that this video was filmed seriously: it is more like a series of "Friends", in which Joe does not know how to drink milk in an ad for "The Store on the Couch". Here, women are desperately trying to perform "male" affairs and, of course, their attempts fail miserably. The girls bite their lips and wrinkle their foreheads, but they cannot cope with the tires, drive a nail and even twist a light bulb in any way - and so on. As it turns out, all this time their place was just at the stove, where they had to cook the Cherkizovskiye sausages to their husband. And how can it be without him.
Acuvue lenses
"No one realizes that I have poor eyesight"
We did not find the full version of the advertisement, but this parody version is almost identical to it. Obviously, the creators of advertising lenses Acuvue went straight out of the time machine - no way shaming wearing glasses can not be explained. "No one realizes that I have poor eyesight" - but why, in fact, do you need to be ashamed of it? At the same time, the heroine of the roller rides a motorcycle, so the reason for wearing the lenses would be easy to come up with: for example, it is simply uncomfortable for her to wear a helmet on the glasses. But, of course, it is much easier to parasitize on harmful stereotypes about people with glasses: no man would like such a girl, and this is her main task in life.
Danone curd
"Now morning begins with a smile."
It would be more fair to write such a speech to the boy from this advertisement: "Before the new Danone curd appeared, I followed the patriarchal principles and did not care how my mother cooked breakfast for me instead of helping her." We understand the joy of poor mom: it's better to feed the whole ungrateful family with yogurt from a jar, than to live as a free slave in the kitchen all the time.
Home TV "Beeline"
"Do not worry, now we repeat"
Beeline continues to mock women, but now in advertising their television. The young father did not have time to give birth to the triplets, so he decides to rewind everything back to see - the horror on the face of a woman is at the same time unfaithful. The joke does not hold water, given the context in which we live, and the way men always strive to dictate to women how to manage their reproductive functions. And we wish the hero of the video at least once to experience what the mother passes through, giving birth to triplets.