Advertising is a subliminal and powerful force in our everyday lives. Have you ever seen an ad on television and thought to yourself, “That is sending more mixed messages that a pack of drag queens dressed as Sarah Palin.”
Maybe we are alone on that last part.
Anyway, while it is easy to come up with examples of ads that are perhaps in questionable taste—those Carl’s Jr. ads starring Paris Hilton soaping up a Bentley and eating a burger comes to mind—car ads usually aren’t the biggest offenders. Lately, the pinnacle of auto ad creativity seems to be making a 1960’s Beetle talk from its front trunk via ads for Volkswagen.
Another cliché that most automakers rely on heavily is the image of a foggy mountain road and the vehicle, no matter how bad it handles in real life, is shown clipping the apexes like a race car. C'mon! Who really think anyone in their right mind would take their Dodge Grand Caravan out on roads more suitable for a Porsche 911.
Rarely do ads rely on such blatant stereotyping and lack of gender understanding as those for the recently introduced 2009 Chevy Traverse. We may be wrong, but they just seem like they were thought up by men who were just sure the Traverse would appeal to women. Problem is, the ads are about as sexist as the ad guys on the AMC hit “Mad Men.” At least those guys have the excuse of living in the 1950’s and being fictional.
In the first TV spot, you find a professionally dressed woman driving a new Traverse down an urban street. Suddenly, shoes of all types and colors begin to fall from the sky and pelt her windscreen. As she looks up to see where they are coming from, a soothing voice intones “A sudden downpour of shoes…and best in class cargo room! Sometimes, you can have everything.” Are they kidding with this stuff?
Okay. We know the gals at “Sex and the City” love shoes, but we are pretty sure even they wouldn’t buy a Traverse in case of a sudden downpour of Mahnolo Blahniks. We are also sure most any female buyer in the market for a crossover in this economy is far more interested in things like fuel economy and pricing. And don’t men buy the Traverse? Or do they only buy midlife crisis sports cars like the Chevrollet Corvette in between trips to the doctor to get their hair plugs installed? Sorry, we just got all caught up in the gender stereotyping there.
In the second TV advertisement for the Traverse, the first scene opens with an impossibly handsome, shirtless man standing in an impossibly clean home ironing. He then speaks and says, “Yes, 8 o’clock…table for two. It’s our six month anniversary.” Then the scene pans out and you see he is ironing his wife or girlfriend’s dresses. The tag line is as follows, “The all new Chevy Traverse. It’s useful. It’s beautiful. It’s everything you ever wished for and more.” We don’t know whether it’s women or men who should feel objectified by this one. All we can say is at least he was wearing pants.
Our view? We appreciate and understand the fact that sexy models and comedic situations are what often make advertisements stick in people’s minds. But history has often shown that when ad guys and gals actually try, they don’t need to pander to our deepest seated stereotypes in order to succeed. We have to deal with enough people who stereotype us in real life. No matter if we are male or female.