Representation of Women in Pop Culture

I came across three commercials on YouTube that really caught my attention. The three commercials I found fit perfectly on the topic we are analyzing this semester and they help round up all the information we have discussed in the last couple of classes.

These are the first two commercials:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHX2mvFVQMs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi47UcyK4Ms

The German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz made both TV commercials a couple of years ago to promote two of their new models. Both advertisements use allegories to promote their product and be innovative in some way. I have to admit that I found the first commercial to be really funny and amusing, it is definitely intended to be humoristic. But this didn’t draw me away from the subject we are analyzing. How is this commercial related to the way women are represented in pop culture? Well, in here we find a stereotype of women that has been widely used in media: the dumb blonde girl. The phrase at the end of the commercial says it all: “Beauty is nothing without brains”. In this commercial, like in many others, women are solely associated with physical beauty and mental shallowness. Mercedes uses this “cultural idea” or representation to make an allegory with the product they are promoting: a car not only has to be attractive on the outside, but also on the inside. This stereotype shows women as superficial human beings, as if they had nothing else to offer than just their physical looks. I found the second commercial really interesting too, since it is also closely related with the topic we are analyzing. In this TV ad, we find other stereotypes of women that are commonly used. Just like in the first one, physical beauty is pretty evident. As I mentioned above, women in media have always been associated with physical beauty. None of the ladies we see in the commercials are unattractive, and they definitely don’t represent normal, day-to-day women. The second ad goes a little bit further and touches the sexual representation of women. Women in media are commonly related to sex, they are shown as sexual objects. The two ladies seen on this one are engaging sexual activities, and they fit perfectly on the cheating-wife and hot-mistress stereotypes. Both of these go hand-in-hand with the sexuality and untrustworthiness that women are sometimes related with. Mercedes uses this last part to make an allegory with the weather in order to promote the car model: You can’t trust your wife, but you can trust your Mercedes.

I personally find these TV ads entertaining and funny, but there is more to it if we make a profound analysis. Without a doubt, both of these commercials are intended to be seen through the eyes of a man, or the male gaze: women are attractive, sexual, and mentally shallow. Car-related topics are commonly associated with a male public, and that is probably why Mercedes decided to make these in the first place. The ways in which women are represented make the ads only appealing to men. Most women might find them disrespectful and unimaginative.

Mercedes also created the third commercial I found, but much more recently:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MercedesBenzTV?blend=3&ob=5#p/u/22/_JPxcUfEbz0

This commercial is very different to the first two. There is a change in the way women are represented. We find a more recent female stereotype: the independent, executive, and intelligent woman. In this commercial the lady is in charge, opposite to the role the other women play in the first two. We can say that there is a more feminist perspective of women in this ad, and that makes it less disrespectful and more tolerable to the female public. But is this type of woman a true representation of real life? I don’t think so. The lady in the ad is incredibly attractive; she doesn’t look like most women in real life. Even though the woman has a different role in this video, it makes us think if the commercial was made to be seen through the eyes of a woman or a man.

Popular culture is very male centered and the various representations of women in it are pretty narrow, they don’t show the real situation of women and don’t show real women. Like we saw in the last video, there has been a slight shift in recent years due to feminist movements and cultural changes, but the male gaze still dominates. Publicity and advertisement are everywhere in today’s globalized world and they are an important part of popular culture. Everyone has access to and is inevitably influenced by them. The way in which women are represented in advertisement is crucial to the way individuals perceive and accept the their role in society.