Hot secretary get-up in Gillette commercial
This body wash commercial from Gillette bugs me for a very subtle reason:
For those who don’t want to wait for the video to load, it features a man showering with this product, then going into the office. As he walks into a boardroom with mostly women sitting around the table, something starts bothering me, even though you’d expect “Boardroom! Mostly women!” to be a positive representation of women. The voiceover says he’ll now feel he’s ready to “take on the world” just as we cut to a closeup of one of the women looking coyly up at him. Here’s a screenshot:
Check out the girlish cap sleeves, the upswept hair. Can’t you just see her standing up, closing her eyes all sultry, pulling one pin from her hair to release the whole swirling mass, complaining how warm it is and starting to undress? That’s exactly what they’re trying to evoke. And all the women around the table are dressed the same, complete with short skirts and black sheer stockings that are completely out of fashion at the moment.These women around the boardroom table are not powerful with a voice. They are “hot secretaries” from Playboy spreads and 1960’s Girl Friday movies. They’re softened and rendered childlike so Mr. Man can summon up a semblance of security for his fragile ego. Believe me, nothing Gillette puts out will reassure the insecure male half as much as a pliant girly-woman. She is the world Mr. Man feels like he’s ready to take on: a smaller, weaker country greeting its future conqueror in unworldly friendship, with no idea what she’s getting into.
You might be tempted to argue the message is a fatuous but not especially gendered “People will want you sexually if you use this product.” But there’s clearly another layer here. Like the Axe commercials we’ve critiqued (here and here), the message is “Women will be rendered helpless prey to your sexual predation - enjoy!” It’s not about appealing to women; it’s about conquering us.
And why has Gillette chosen this? Either insecure men are the market they want buying the product or they’re concerned a moisturizing body wash might be perceived as Not 100% Heterosexual so they’re overcompensating by invoking heterosexual stereotypes from 40+ years ago.
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14 comments
Further to your comments:
1) “Boardroom, mostly women” is not necessarily a positive image if the one man in the room is in charge (as our protagonist appears to be from the brief impression we’re given).
2) It’s hard to be sure, but the other men at the table look older to me. So there’s this implication that men belong at this table if they’re experienced (or wearing magic bodywash) whereas women belong there by virtue of being young and cute.
OK, so I’m reading a lot into a small amount of footage, but impressions count, right?
Both your points are absolutely true, too.
We are arguably “reading a lot into” it, but that is the point of commercials. They’re so short, and they have to pack every message that the client wants and speak to the audience the client wants buying its product. Ad agencies pore over every second, every image, every shot and how it’s framed to make sure they’re putting across what they mean to.
And apparently, what they mean to put across is that their product is for men who are so fragile they can’t normally handle even profoundly non-threatening women. I think I’d be insulted if I were a guy.
These sorts of ads always remind me of the argument of “Well, sex sells! What can you expect?”
Apparently “Sex sells” means “women in sexy poses sells”, and not “men being all sexxed up” sells.
I’m assured this is because advertising is supposed to appeal to women.
Also, I notice that bodywash commercials for women are all about “nourishing” your skin with “lush botanicals,” [cue images of silk, sunshine, waterfalls, whatever] this one is telling guys to “unleash the power of your shower” [slam] by using “a powerful defense” [bam] to “defeat dry skin.” [Thank you ma'am.] It would be sad if it wasn’t so laughably transparent.
But this equating Dry Skin with The World with Women definitely bugs me. The message ultimately seems to be, “Hey! You can defeat dry skin [a nagging but minor annoyance]–a roomful of women is no big deal!” I didn’t think I would ever find anything creepier than an Axe commercial, but this might be it.
Anna–I don’t really find men or male bodies attractive? This is news to me, and I’m sure it will be for my boyfriend too.
I was all for this commercial (hello, man with nice body in shower…) until that bit where they say he’s ready to conquer the world and cue the pretty girl looking up at him coyly.
Ugh. Apparently conquering the world really means getting the women.
Predation is right: the way women are portrayed in this type of ad doesn’t evoke attraction as much as drugging.
What is the song playing in this commercial?
funny part is…you did the same thing by the way your wrote your title
Did the same thing as what? Invoked the stereotype?
What would you have suggested for a title? In the amount of words a title can accommodate, it’s sometimes hard to name a stereotype without invoking it.
To that end, I don’t exactly regret that we’ve gotten a fair amount of commenters who appear to have been looking for something sexxxay and instead found this article.
I’m so glad to see that I’m not the only one annoyed by what I see in commercials lol Don’t get me started on all of the issues I have with the new Dove shampoo and conditioner campaign directed at “moms” or my favorite - a Clorox bleach commercial with the wonderful voiceover…
Know what that commercial said to me? Women are supposed to do the laundry and that’s all that women were ever supposed to do. It’s POSSIBLE for a man to do the laundry, but not really the “norm”.
Commercials suck.
I’m aware of the topic here but a lil off subject.. Who IS that girl in the white top with that seductive look in the snapshot above??? =)
Haven’t a clue, Ricky. It’s always hard to track down actors in commercials.
I seriously doubt that the creators of this commercial thought any of the things you read into it. Their real thought process probably went something like this:
“Ok, this product is for men… what do men like?”
“Men like hot women.”
“Good thinking, let’s put some hot women in there.”
The End.
You obviously know nothing about how major advertising campaigns come together. The lack of thought process you described simply does not happen when someone’s spending 6 figures on a 30 second spot. Every frame needs to suit.
Furthermore, there are a million ways to put “hot women” in an ad. They most certainly thought of the precise way they wanted to do it, and what the clothing and lighting and hairdos and makeup and everything would contribute and put across.
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