andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2004-10-31 11:22 am

Opressed by sexuality

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.

[identity profile] cruft.livejournal.com 2004-10-31 11:44 am (UTC)(link)
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.