Is it me or are there lots of commercials aimed towards females these days?

Originally posted by pieman
to call it advertising is a sleight of hand, what it actually consists of is convincing you to buy crap you don't need. there are a number of different ways to do it and some approaches work better than others for different demographics.

women, it seems, respond well to direct advertising, men on the other hand respond well to product placement and children respond well to bright colours.

men emulate the men they wish to be, a guy wants to be james bond, driving a fast car with a beautiful woman beside him as he pulls up and beats the crap out of ten hench men, so he buys the same watch james bond had in his latest movie.

james bond type ads work, but men tend to flick so they have to be placed carefully to be effective.

women wish to project an image so they buy stuff with that is associated with the image they wish to project. the best way to establish an association is through repetition, tv and radio ads are the best medium for this.

product placement works, but the element of repetition limits the effectiveness of the strategy.

it's not that the companies are marketing only to women, it's just that they are marketing to men in a different way.

the ugly slob/sexy woman thing is just lazy advertising toward men via the "sex sells" button and towards women using the "men are slobs" button. it's just lowest common denominator stuff.

very well put. I agree 100 percent. Also certain channels haev certain ads, based on the statistics of who watches those channels. So if its MTV for example, many of the commericals will be geared towards women, because many of the shows are geared towards women. I dont know of many men who watch most of the shows i watch.

reply to post by SuperSecretSquirrel


Because the advert was targeted at men? And white folks are used because they are the majority. There can be no calls of discrimination, because statistically speaking, any two guys in the US are going to be white.

It's not feminism, it's marketing. You might want to untwist your knickers right about now.

Women are the top consumers when it comes these types of products.

They spend more money on clothing, hair, makeup and all the rest because they've been trained that way in the West.

My grandmother has been getting her hair done on Thursdays since I can remember - she's nearly 90 years old. That's 52 times a year and all the products used to keep that perfect look. I probably get 10 or less hair cuts a year at less than 20 dollars a pop because I think it looks fine for 4-5 weeks. Hell I can almost make a car payment for the difference in the amount we spend on hair. That's it I'd rather have a newer car or motorcycle than have my hair look perfect all the time - and they don't have to advertise those products as much.

While that is changing the fact is men don't have the same kind of pressure to look as attractive as they can in order to succeed in your daily life.

I am just saying that in the majority of commercials that I see, If there are two sexes , the male has a much higher probability of being portrayed as a moron. It is extremely rare for the opposite to occur although I have seen that too.

I guess equality only applies to women and minorities?

Originally posted by SuperSecretSquirrel
I am just saying that in the majority of commercials that I see, If there are two sexes , the male has a much higher probability of being portrayed as a moron. It is extremely rare for the opposite to occur although I have seen that too.

I guess equality only applies to women and minorities?

That's because many men are morons

No but really, they are appealing to women when it makes men look that way. As before, most commercials and ads are geared towards women, so of course they try to make men look stupid. They want the women watching the commercial to feel empowered

reply to post by calihan123


I think that many women feel that so many men are morons because that is the way that they are always portrayed by the media. As the earlier poster said, repetition is the key to getting something to stick in the female mind.

I think that there are about equal amounts of moronic men to women.

I agree with you when you say that advertisers know it is appealing to dumb down men when advertising to women but the practice is wrong and biased.

Originally posted by calihan123

very well put. I agree 100 percent. Also certain channels haev certain ads, based on the statistics of who watches those channels. So if its MTV for example, many of the commericals will be geared towards women, because many of the shows are geared towards women. I dont know of many men who watch most of the shows i watch.

Hmmm..good point. My wife loves HGTV. When I watch it with her I notice most of the ads are geared toward women. I honestly watch mostly news or things on Discovery, History, Nat Geo or sometimes Food TV if l get to pick. But, if I flip over to an MMA match I do see ads targeted mostly at men.

Originally posted by SuperSecretSquirrel
reply to post by calihan123

 

I think that many women feel that so many men are morons because that is the way that they are always portrayed by the media. As the earlier poster said, repetition is the key to getting something to stick in the female mind.

I think that there are about equal amounts of moronic men to women.

I agree with you when you say that advertisers know it is appealing to dumb down men when advertising to women but the practice is wrong and biased.

Yes, it is wrong. But thats the world of advertising. It's not based on morals. :-/

Originally posted by Frogs

Originally posted by calihan123



Hmmm..good point. My wife loves HGTV. When I watch it with her I notice most of the ads are geared toward women. I honestly watch mostly news or things on Discovery, History, Nat Geo or sometimes Food TV if l get to pick. But, if I flip over to an MMA match I do see ads targeted mostly at men.

Yes. and I notice also when I watch the history channel, or sci-fi, or A&E, the commercials are completely different from the more "teeny bopper" channels.

I actually really like the discovery and history channel.

Originally posted by calihan123

That's because many men are morons

No but really, they are appealing to women when it makes men look that way. As before, most commercials and ads are geared towards women, so of course they try to make men look stupid. They want the women watching the commercial to feel empowered

It can depend on the commerical and what's beeing sold. I'm using my experiences of watching TV with my wife alot in this thread to show differences.

An ad for one of those male enhancement drugs came on. My wife said, "How did that old guy end up with her?!" I looked and she was right. The guy was kind of average, but smooth, smart, he came acorss well. But was obviously a good bit older than his more attractive mate.

Kind of the same, just with the roles reversed a little bit.

I've noticed that quite a bit in some of the male enhancement ads. Except for the one where it has a bunch of guys together singing about Viagra. That's just umm.....different

reply to post by SuperSecretSquirrel


think about it this way, if the aim of an ad directed towards a woman is to associate the product with the image she wishes to project, what is the reason you would use a moronic man in the ad.

what the advertisement is attempting to do is to convince women that one way in which they can be better than their male counterpart is to buy the advertised product.

this ad is tapping into an insecurity in women created by years of sexism about them in male orientated advertising. it is using a sexist message to tap into it, this will create an insecurity in men which can then be tapped in future.

it's not sexist, it advertising.

Originally posted by Frogs
An ad for one of those male enhancement drugs came on. My wife said, "How did that old guy end up with her?!"

ehhhhhhh......M O N E Y. c'mon you gotta know of at least one case of an old, ugly, fat, bald rich guy with a bunny.

[edit on 4/11/08 by pieman]

Originally posted by pieman

ehhhhhhh......M O N E Y. c'mon you gotta know of at least one case of an old, ugly, fat, bald rich guy with a bunny.

[edit on 4/11/08 by pieman]

My exact response back to her was, "Eh - he's probably rich."

Originally posted by calihan123

very well put. I agree 100 percent. Also certain channels haev certain ads, based on the statistics of who watches those channels. So if its MTV for example, many of the commericals will be geared towards women, because many of the shows are geared towards women. I dont know of many men who watch most of the shows i watch.

BINGO! It is based on their target audience for the program. I have sat through sporting events on TV and seen one car commercial after another. Then my personal favorite. _javascript:icon('') Nothing like having your 6 year old ask you (in a crowded store mind you ) about the commercial with the 4 hour erection stuff in it.. and what does THAT mean ma?? .. Gotta love viagra and levitra.

Originally posted by Frogs

Originally posted by pieman

ehhhhhhh......M O N E Y. c'mon you gotta know of at least one case of an old, ugly, fat, bald rich guy with a bunny.

[edit on 4/11/08 by pieman]

My exact response back to her was, "Eh - he's probably rich."

well... you know... these days almost every girl i know has a "sugar daddy". i GUARANTEE you 100 percent. If you see a very attractive girl , she has a man who is giving her money or spoiling her. thats the culture of today.

d'ya know whats weird for me, being on the other side of the great blue divide, why the hell does the government of the US allow perscribed medication to be advertised on TV? surely the doctor is perfectly capable of diagnosing and perscribing medication without the need for your advertising influenced imput.


EDIT: calihans a gold digger

my opinion is, if your gonna pay for it anyway, go to the professional and have it any way you like.

[edit on 4/11/08 by pieman]

That's a good question. I've never asked my doc for any specific med for anything. I figure she can tell me, that's why she's got that white coat and degree on the wall. So, she should know far better than me.

But, I'm sure the doctor's do get people who tell them they are will to risk most any side effect if they suffer if they could just get pill X.

$ and power of the drug compaines in action I guess?

Advertising, by it's nature, plays to the lowest common denominator when it comes to hitting it's demographic. The ad company has 15, 30, maybe 60 seconds to get your attention. This usually means that they will be as stereotypical, lampooning, repetitive, and annoying as possible. Gender and ethnicity are all fair game - as long as the button gets pushed without consumers "getting" the insult.
If you do get the insult, I'd suggest that you don't buy the product - and write to the corporate headquarters telling them that you won't buy any of their product because you find their advertising to be insulting to your intelligence. At the very least, you'll know you're not allowing yourself to be cowed by a slap to the face.
The commercials with the smart/powerful women and the dumb/babylike men have multiple messages: Women can find "power" over their stupid men. Men are "childish morons" and that's all you ladies can "hope" for out of life. All men have to do is play dumb and their wives will handle all the gooey responsibilities for them (which is kind of a flip on encouraging single women to "play dumb" to get a man) Etc, etc...
This goes on not only in advertising, but in content of the TV shows themselves.
Pretty much a mind #ck all around. See it for what it is and don't take it too seriously, is what I say.