Monday, October 17, 2011
Satire in Tide Commercials
This commercial for Tide Detergent has been getting a decent amount of air time on television and has a bit of internet backlash. The comments on the video on You Tube are mixed, but for the most part, they are negative. It has more than four times the amount of "dislikes" than "likes". The argument revolves around whether or not Tide is pushing heteronormal and cisgendered norms. At the surface it does look like the commercial could be poking fun at the little kid, who only wears "hoodies and cargo shorts" and likes making typically-boy structures with blocks.
After watching it a few times, I think that Tide is actually poking fun at the mother and Tide is being supportive of a dirty and fun childhood and not of the prim and proper feminine life the mom has. At the same time, however, I don't trust that the majority of Americans who watch this commercial will understand that and will think the small child is in the wrong.
The commercial itself is still for a laundry detergent and the major character in the commercial is a woman and the primary audience is women. At the core, there is still a sexist problem with the typically-feminine role of doing the laundry, even if it is for a gender-variant child. There is another commercial by Tide in this campaign about a middle-aged man buying designer jeans and is being made fun of, but at the end, the person doing the laundry (using Tide Coldwater, of course) is his wife. Satire only works if the entire problem is explored and everyone is in on the joke.
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I hate this commercial! I feel that it takes being sexiest to the extreme. What kind of mother would frown upon a child playing with "boy toys" and wearing "boy clothes" I get what this commercial is trying to do, but it just makes me angry. Parents should't be that angered by what their kid is playing with and wearing... come on now!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Christy; this commercial makes me cringe. The uber-feminine mother in her conservative pink cardigan laughing nervously about her little girl's refusal to conform to her gender role, even though the girl can't be more than four years old. While I think its possible to read this commercial as subversive by saying it invites viewers to laugh at the mother, I took a much more cynical message away from it. Because this type of commercial tends to be geared towards mothers, I would argue that the mother is the one the (target) audience is supposed to identify with. I do think that it's supposed to be a funny commercial; but to me the joke's not that the mother is too controlling, it's that it's a commercial for laundry detergent, and the mom's complaining that the clothes WEREN'T ruined. We're supposed to laugh at the fact that a commercial trying to sell bleaching products would show you a situation where you wouldn't WANT the bleach to work.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the commercial I couldnt help but laugh knowing what my own mother was going through when I was that kids age. I would rather throw the biggest tantrum then put a dress on or even change my plain stud earrings for holidays and family gatherings. But I do understand all the backlash from the public about the message that Tide could be sending to other parents. The reality of the commercial is what makes it funny to begin with, not trying to send some message about the heteronormal norms of society.
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