The Swifter commercials are quite interesting, mostly because it takes the idea of "woman empowerment" to a new level. It takes the swifter and represents it as a kind of young lover or something, treating the old mop or broom as the sort of ex-boyfriend trying to win the focus of the commercial, a young woman, back. It's interesting how a commercial about cleaning supplies can imply and underlying layer of sexuality. In these commercials it tells the women that the product is targeting, "you have the power, you have the choice to throw out the inferior broom or mop (the desperate ex) for the superior swifter (the new man able to please you in a number of ways). It's quite interesting how something as simple as cleaning the floor can be tied into relationships and sex.
Here's a link to one of the commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKZg_qLiIj8
alli-Elizabeth S. #3
15 years ago
These commercials are amusing and very strange. The women are depicted as having almost culturally male stereotypical attitude of having moved on from a relationship, while the rejected mop or duster is still trying to salvage the broken bond.
ReplyDeleteInteresting commercial... not quite sure how I feel about it. One the one hand you could argue that it's about female empowerment because it is she who is dominating the relationship... but on the other hand that relationship is with a broom. An inanimate object. It almost could be saying that housework is so important a part of a woman's life that it's on the same level as her significant other. I get that the commercial is supposed to be funny-- and it is-- but to me there also happens to be a strange message behind it.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember it exactly, but this sort of reminds me of a commercial for (I think) McDonald's, which portrayed women as being empowered for making the choice to buy fast food-- as though that represented an ideal of independence or something-- and I vaguely recall internet folks skewering the ad as being offensive to women.
Sorry for jumping on this post again, but the topic really interests me... ^^
ReplyDeleteI was browsing through a community on LiveJournal called "Vintage Ads" and saw an old print ad for Tide detergent that featured a similar women and romance with a cleaning product theme:
http://community.livejournal.com/vintage_ads/1445998.html
I thought it was interesting how this trope has been around for 50+ years.
Well, when I wrote this I was in a bit of a hurry, and for some reason, I thought putting "women empowerment" in quotes said a whole lot more than it actually did. In re-reading it, I realize that this provides little to none of what I was actually thinking. I am of the opinion that that the empowerment the commercial displays is an illusion. It still puts women in the position of housework and as Denise said, it is a rather stereotypical view that has been in all likeliness been coined by distinctly male views of women and their roles. I say that this power is an illusion because really in the end it is the corporation that has the power, with it's ability to reinforce ancient cultural norms and views of gender and sexuality. I'm glad that you found and interest in this, and I must thank you for the link, Mr. or Ms. or Mrs Moore, since it is an invaluable asset to my paper, and presents an entirely new perspective to contemplate, regarding the history of similar advertisements that deal with similar themes. Yes, the swifter mop campaign was, in fact, going to be the focus of my paper. Thank you for what you've said. Your input has been invaluable to my thought process. I only wish that I had seen your comment earlier. Oh and thank you to Denise as well, since I could have easily overlooked the fact that there are men and women behind these campaigns and that they too are influenced by cultural norms and ideals.
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