As yes. The super bowl. Yet another has come to pass with a new array of advertisements. Frankly, I don't particularly enjoy the super bowl. Football (American) is probably my least favorite of mass publicized sports, and I am less than satisfied with the absurd commercials which adorn the screen every ten minutes. However, this year I found myself unable to ignore the event and amused (and angered) myself with analyzing the 2012 bowl commercials. My criticism of advertisements and commercial garbage is nothing new, but our recent discussion in class had made me even more critical. Of the vast array of commercials shown this year, most were for vehicles. And of these, one in particular made me very angry:
http://www.superbowlcommercials2012.net/2012/02/fiat-500-abarth-seduction-2012-super.html
Entitled here as "FIAT 500 Abarth Seduction" this commercial portrays a very "sexy" women who entices and seduces a man on the street. Just as he leans in to steal a kiss, the camera zooms out, and it is revealed the women is, in fact, a very sleek and fancy car.
"You'll never forget the first time you see one."
Watch it. Really.
Here's what makes me upset: They are selling a car using a woman's body. Just as Jean Kilbourne mentions in her series of films "Killing Us Softly," the first step in justifying harm or violence against someone is dehumanizing them. Turing them into an object, and in this case- an object to be sold.
This commercial also aids in selling our society the ideals of the perfect women: tall, slender, and beautiful.
In conjunction with this, I would also like to highlight a particular Go Daddy.co:
http://www.superbowlcommercials2012.net/2012/01/2012-go-daddy-girls-paint-hot-model.html
In this commercial, two women decked out in Go Daddy.co garb, paint advertisements on the body of another women who is wearing nothing more than undergarments. Her body is literally being turned into an advertisement. A thing. The paintings are sayings such as "get noticed" and "hot." Unfortunately, the commercial featured on the super bowl site is not in its entirety. The full version allows you to view the entire woman's body and the complete array of slogans which adorn it. I personally find this commercial disgusting and am uncomfortable with the fact that a woman's body is being as an object to sell commodities... as well as the image of "perfection."
I find it particularly terrifying that a large percentage of persons tune in for the super bowl solely for the purpose of the commercials. What a success for capitalism; our commercialized society. We tune in to be bombarded with ideals and values under the guise of entertainment, but end up paying a price.
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