There are many commercials and other types of media that send subliminal messages about society. They send messages about Gender, Race, Class and Sexuality(GRCS). The three following commercials posted show the way this society portrays and is harmful towards the peoples vision on GRCS. Please comment on how each of these commercials exploits GRCS and whether you think they are problematic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgBpfP5jn8Y (Paris Hilton – Carl’s Jr.)
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1899896/6290295 (Taco Bell - Mariachi)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=670X2MCWzK0 (BUD LIGHT - Classroom)
6 comments:
I believe that not only commercials, but all media have played a large role in making society to way it is. Part of this is by showing through media (whether it be TV or magazines...) the way society is and should be. Commercials are advertizing for companies that will use any method possible to try and sell their product. Sometimes they will take any means necessary, even if it is degrading, racist, classist and so forth. This is a large problem that keeps on growing because people dont view it as a large issue. These three commercials are great examples of gender, race, class and sexuality playing large roles in order to sell.
The first commercial to me is the most disturbing although I'm sure many (especially men) would disagree. It is not even obvious that it is a carls jr commercial until the very end. Apparently sex sells and that was all that mattered to them. This seemed to me like a seductive sex type of video rather than a commercial. This commercial deals with sexuality mainly, in the way Paris is dressed and moving and washing. This shows women as a piece of meat. This is obviously geared towards a male audience. WOmen are seen as objects of sex and degraded. The saddest part is when women like Paris degrade themselves in this way. This video also deals with gender. Because it is a thin, tall blonde woman who is almost naked as the main subject, Carls Jr. seems to be looking to recieve more male customers. They have methods to attract the desired gender and sexuality was obviously used here. Class can also be seen in this commercial due to the fact that Paris HIlton is very wealthy. The message this can be sending is that if she is eating this burger from carls jr, it must be good because she has that wealthy reputation that people would love to relate to. Paris is a white woman on top of everything else which involves the issie of race. She is the 'typical' white woman with the blue eyes, long hail, tall and thin figure. This commercial I believe was rightfully banned. It shows many of the problems with the way this society is today.
The next commercial is the Taco Bell one. This commercial has a lot to do with race and gender. They have a mariachi band in this office which is mainly full of white workers. They used the 'latin lover' stereotype for men here when he says 'hola' to the lady and later when she says it back. Maybe this can be seen as a positive stereotype that they are playing on here but nevertheless a stereotype. The mexican accent did not seem authentic either and I feel that they could have done a better job with that. I didnt understand why everyone in this office job seemed to be white. They maybe could have shown other ethnicities to properly depict society.
This last commercial is the bud light commercial and has a lot to do with race and gender. They really showed men of all different ethnicities but I feel like they were portrayed in a demeaning manner. They were in a classroom being 'taught' as if they were stupid and didnt know anything. This was a funny commercial but maybe funny at the expense of the ethnicities. Its easy to laugh at the accents of the men here and think of yourself as better than they are. There did not appear to be any white men in the classroom being taught which was strange. The subliminal message here could be that white men dont need to be taught. It was also strange not to see any women in this commercial. Most commercials for beer are geared towards men just like this one which definitly excludes women. They imply that women dont drink beer which is not true.
Commercials have the power to attach people without them even knowing they are being degraded and attacked. In the long run, when people constantly see these negative images and incorrect stereotypes, it becomes imbedded into their minds and becomes natural to do. These messages need to be fought against more rather than accepted. In order to change the society, we must start small and thats where the commercials and media comes in.
For the Taco Bell commercial: I think this commercial contains race and gender issues. The race issue that lies within this commercial is in the fact that a Mariachi band is playing in a white office. Since Taco Bell is some fast food form of Mexican food, then maybe that is why the creators thought it would be appropriate to use a Mariachi Band. I could understand that part of it and how it relates. However, they shouldn't be placed in an office with the only other people in the commercial being white. It just implies that corporate America is reflecting how this society is still being run. That "white" privilege is still very dominant and present in the world today. As far as the gender issue I noticed in this commercial was the fact that it was all men and one women. To me, it also implies how the corporate America sees society, as men being dominant over women. Also, I think they have the commercial geared more towards the male population because maybe men are more likely to eat fast food. Women are thought of as not wanting to eat that food because they are more concerned with their bodies and their physical appearance.
As for the Bud Light commercial: This commercial contains the race and gender components to this class as well. It is racially discriminating because there are no "White American" men in the whole room. If there, they are kept in the back or in a place where the camera does not focus in on them. All the men are of different races and different cultures. I think this could imply that since Bud Light is not a high quality, expensive beer, that the white man does not waste his time drinking it; yet drinks something that may be considered to be what society deems as a better beer. In which case, the only other men to drink it would be every other race besides white. Also, when the lead man asks the question, "and when someone asks you for a Bud Light, what do you say?" their response was "No speak Ingles." It is also gender discrimination because the commercial only has men in it. It is geared toward men which shows that the creators of the commercial think only men drink beer. Society considers beer to be a men's drink and women should not drink it. They should drink something else like wine or the fruity drinks.
Lastly, the Carl's Jr. commercial with Paris Hilton. In this commercial we can find gender and sexuality issues. Gender is a big part of the commercial because obviously they are targeting the male population with their newest food product. Again, targeting the men and not the women knowing that men are more likely to buy this new product. It would not have the same effect if it was a man doing the same thing that Paris was doing. They also use a nice car in the commercial which targets men over women. The creators know that men know more about cars so they put in that extra feature of a nice car. Sexuality is a huge part of this commercial. In this society, sex sells and it is used more often than not, especially when it comes to selling to men. This is the perfect example of how white corporate America uses the sexuality of women to sell food to men. I also think it's interesting how they chose a successful white women, that many people know and many girls look up to, and whose dad just happens to be part of the white corporate America. Also, that she is the typical appearance of what society assums what a guy looks for in a woman - tall, skinny, blonde, with blue or green eyes, and possibly even that she is white. It is so typical that the way society acts is portrayed in commercials.
Regarding the first commercial, the Paris Hilton (Carl’s Jr.), I think that it definitely has an implied message about class, especially knowing that Paris Hilton is a celebrity. The commercial is practically saying that anyone who buys the burger is a person who is wealthy enough to buy it. At the end of the commercial, it says that the burger costs "six dollar;" that's more money than what one would expect when buying a burger. Moreover, the commercial talks about gender. Its audience is definitely more towards men than women. I don't think women would want to be portrayed like that (as Paris Hilton in this commercial). Women could lose respect because of this since men would see and want them not because of their qualities but rather because of their physical.
In relation to the second commercial, which is called Taco Bell - Fiesta Platters, I think we could use it as race/gender. I think in this commercial, there is a misleading representation of the mariachi men. There are portraying two mariachi men as fat and with mustaches (not that there are no fat Mexicans and with mustaches); it's just that there are other Mexicans who don't have mustaches and aren't fat. Perhaps they wanted to represent that with the mariachi man who is singing, but I think he had no accent and therefore not a good representation of a Mexican speaking. The other characters were only white people, I believe, and therefore limiting the participation from other ethnic groups. The girl changed during the commercial in terms of personality; therefore, we could perhaps unconsciously not take her participation as serious work. And therefore, we could assume that all girls can change quickly in regards to their personality.
About the third commercial (Bud Light), I believe that it also portrays race/gender. First of all, I think even though the commercial could be seen as funny, it gives an image of men as unintelligent and self-centered because of the beer. Although, that changes at the end of the commercial when the "teacher" tell his "students" to say that they don't speak English. In this case, men are seen as smart, clever. This is saying that men can change depending the circumstances whenever it is beneficial to them. Therefore, women would not see the men as honest people. Moreover, it seems that there are a lot of ethnicities portrayed in this commercial. And that could be good (even when there are only men in this commercial); however, the commercial doesn't represent them in a good, positive way. They are depicted as if they needed to learn how to speak English in different ways that are spoken throughout the United States. Therefore, it seems as if they wanted these people ("students") to fit in society and forgetting their backgrounds. However, at the end of the commercial, they come back to the general stereotype and general phrase that they don't know any English, spoken in their regular accent.
1. When watching the Paris Hilton video it really shocked me even being a guy. I was watching it in shock that I couldn’t tell at first if it was a burger commercial or a strip show. I also noticed the music in the background that just kept repeating that they loved Paris. The video really exploits women in the sense that it seemed to me that with watching it, I was going to not just get a burger but also going to get a gorgeous girl if I bought the burger. I was more intrigued with watching her and not even paying attention to the burger. I think that every guy would just want to get the burger because she has it herself. I see more and more watching this video more things that just kept causing me to think that I wanted the girl and not the burger but if she is holding it than I should go get it because I can get a girl like that than if I buy it. Which is exactly what Carls Jr. wants us to do but we have to look at the real picture of expoitation of women in this case.
2. In the second commercial with the taco bell fiesta bowl, I saw this video as a little racist with how it was presented. I saw a man talking with a Spanish accent and it made me feel that if I was going to buy that fiesta bowl that I would have a Spanish accent. That has nothing to do with a fast food meal. There really was no reason to have the person have an accent and also have the mariachi band. It was not showing a true idea of what you get with the bowl but rather that it was Spanish and that they wanted to exploit that idea. I see this video as an idea of what we should not judge Mexican restaurants as and that those places only have that background of people making the food and eating it.
3. The third commercial made me feel a little uncomfortable because of how it was presented to the group of people. It was set in a United States citizenship classroom and all of the people there were of different cultures. The way it was set up was a Hispanic man was teaching all of the immigrants how to speak English by asking for a Bud Light beverage. It made it look almost to me that they were judging people of different cultures and wanting them all to sound Americanized and not sound like their own backgrounds. If they all were saying the same thing than we were all trying to play the same role rather than be individuals. When you look at people and who they are and what they represent and are proud of but than take it away when they want them to all say the same thing and the only thing separating those people were their accents. Why should someone change their way of life to have to fit in? This was the place of freedom and new life but instead if you don’t have the life that they want you to have than it is not really the free life you deserve.
The first commerical which is the Carls Jr. commerical is a representation of a product that is being advertise through a young ans sexy women who happens to be from an upper class white family. This elements when all come together presnets the ideal image that the viewrs wnat to see. In this case speacilay the males. Eventhough this is an advertisment for a burger but it can not be viewed until the end. The car and the way that Paris Hilton washes the car is a tricky way that the media plays to attract peoples attention. I think this commercial is made to target the male population for two reasons. First the presence of the car which usually guys are interested in cars and second for the sexual representation. This commercial uses gender, race and sexuality in order to sell a product.
The taco bell commercial uses the mariachi band and the spanish speaking people to sell the fiesta platter. I think the main idea from this commerical can be understand in a way that Mexican food is being advertise in an office with many white workers with a presence of a mariachi band. Race plays a big role in this commerical and it tells people from other races especialy whites to come and try the new fiesta platter.
The bud light commerical is widley focused on the issue of race and gender. Since it shows a class room full of guys from different cultures who are lerning how to pronounse bud light. The teacher who uses different accents to pronouns bud light tells the student when you are asked for a bud light just tell "No English".
I think this commercial presents the culture diversity in United States and also the point in which people (especially men)from other races and cultures with different accents are fan of the bud light bear. It is portraying the group of people who live in U.S but are not fluent in english it also elimenats whites since they want to foucus on the other races.
Carl's Jn commercial brings up two issues - gender and class. gender issues are appearant - let us bring all men close to the screen with half-naked Paris Hilton and then at the end let us show them our new burger. Are they trying to use something similar to 25th frame effect? Class and gender are interconnected in this commercial - since thic commercial shows everything that upper class of the american society have - nice big car, tall, blondy nice looking girl and six dollar burger - they can afford all of it. What is sad is that men from upper class society who usually are expected to be gentlemen (at least originally, when first settlers came to shores of America from great Britain) are now looking at women as a submissive pieces of meat and are only interested in their sexual propreties. Furthermore, this commercial implies that if one can afford a burger like the "big guys" he would have a piece of their life style, which is, for some reason, thought to be the desirable way of life.
Second commercial, Taco bell's one, to me is about race and gender. They used a stereotype of a "hot" spanish lover and how he can in a second transform a stiff boss into a "woman". I think that men who work with women especially as their bosses start to see them as business partners and bosses and not as women at all. It is the other pole from the Carl's Jn commercial - both are too raical in my opinion. As far as race issues go, they put a Mariachi band in a "white" coporative office, but i think it was a good move, especaly because it goes good with theor slogan - "think outside the bun". America has many diversity among its population and if we are going to sit in our "boxes" we will never experinece all the possabilities among us -such as new food and culture that come with it.
The last commercial - the Bud Light, has a lot to do with race and class. All the "sudents" in the classroom are men of different ethnicities and cultures, they all speak English with accent. Their "teacher" however is white and he is teaching them different waysof asking for Bud Light - it is one for New York and the other one for East LA. He also asks to repeat his phrases different students - as if each one of them would go to that place. In this the commercial shows how ethnicities are divided by their place of living and that each place has its own way of saying the same thing - asking for a beer. The class issue derives from they way "sudents" are talking - not just their accents but also the way they structure their sentences - they do not speak Standard American English. This depicts them as lower-middle (at most) and working classes. What is funny, is that when they are asked what should they say if someone asks them for a beer, they all answer "Don't speak English" - same accent, same intonation.
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