Opressed by sexuality

[andrewducker]

I was reading this months Empire (films to look out for: "I love Huckabees" and "The Incredibles") when I happened upon a full-page advert for speakers, advertised by a sexy woman holding one in each hand.

I waved it at Lilian and said "Look at this! It's so blood unnecessary!", and we had a brief discussion to the effect that naked women were fine in naked-women-magazines, but not really elsewhere. Her reasoning was the traditional "It makes me feel that all women are valued for is looking sexy.", but I had my own reason, _I_ felt patronised by it.

I really object to the idea that my buying decisions for a set of speakers will be largely affected by the fact that there are a pair of breasts next to them. I want speakers that (a) sound good and (b) will look ok. As pretty much _all_ speakers look ok to me, I'm primarily concerned with finding ones that sound good enough. Saying to me "Look! Speakers and _Breasts!" just feels like the crassest form of manipulation, and I object on principle.

Comments

[sneerpout.livejournal.com]

Hear hear. It's also desperately lazy - if that was the concept selected, I dread to think what the other, unsuccessful pitches were.

[opusfluke.livejournal.com]

Let us have naked pictures and advertising seperated. Also irritating is that Straight Man only fancies Blonde Woman With Large Breasts according to these adverts. As a Straight Man I get irritated by this also- I prefer non-blondes with small breasts. Added to this is the lack of thought going into the promotion. Worse are the "ironic" ads. You know "Hey, Look! Woman dominating Man!" No, that's just the same (unfunny) gag. kontraband.com has some good ads from around the world. You know ones that are actually witty?

[pisica.livejournal.com]

Would you have been less offended by the ad if you HAD been reading Maxim or whatever? I mean, would the manipulation have felt less on the grounds that you were reading Maxim *because* you wanted to see breasts (or else you wouldn't be reading it) and thus the breasts-and-speakers combo would have seemed a logical extension?

[andrewducker]

Well, if I was reading Maxim they could at least assume I was in the market for breasts and be saying "Would you like some speakers to go with your breasts?"

But actually no, the speakers/breast connection would still be entirely....lacking.

I feel the same way about the car advert with the bottoms.

[pisica.livejournal.com]

The one with the French guy at the beginning, and then it's all about shaking that ass? Yeah, I don't understand how that's supposed to pressure me into buying a car. A French car, at that.

[andrewducker]

I know it's _supposed_ to get me to remember the make of the car.

Damned if I can remember what the make is though.

[pisica.livejournal.com]

There are some adverts I'll hear multiple times and realise that although I distinctly remember hearing the advert before, the actual product they're selling is completely forgotten. Doesn't seem to be useful!

I mean, the only reason I think that car commercial is Renault is because I find the French guy kind of cute. It's not *quite* breasts-and-speakers, admittedly.... :)

[cruft.livejournal.com]

My God, your cat looks exactly like mine! Separated at birth?!

[pisica.livejournal.com]

Possibly, but only likely if you also rescued a street cat who wandered into the American embassy in Bucharest.... :) (see my userinfo page for the story)

There are certainly a lot of cats who look like him around - you're the second person on LJ to be amazed about him. And then there is also tuxedocats!

[paddie-gal.livejournal.com]

I really hate the fact that Empire and Total Film seem to be primarily aimed at a male market, as though us ladies can't possibly be interested in movies - Rich buys Total Film each month, and it's so male orientated - even down to the 4-5 pages at the back of each one, with chatlines and sex-lines listed - why are films only meant for men??

[red-cloud.livejournal.com]

I really hate the fact that Empire and Total Film seem to be primarily aimed at a male market

Well, Empire is not a public service and they have a right to target whatever market segment they believe will make them the most money.

[biscuitware.livejournal.com]

I'm just going to be really contraversial and say:

Turn the page.

:)

[cruft.livejournal.com]

Hello! It's advertising. It's inherently ridiculous. Looking for an advertisement which will help *you* make good buying decisions is like trying to make friends with a lizard.

[terminalmalaise.livejournal.com]

I think for the most part it's just a cheap and lazy tactic to get the reader's attention on the ad for at least the initial few seconds, which is the biggest hurdle for advertisements. Their biggest fear is the reader will ignore an ad and just flip the page.

[red-cloud.livejournal.com]

It's only a crude attention-getting device. And since the mag is clearly targeted at a certain market segment (to which you probably don't really belong) it's just doing its job.