Screw it.
So that Old Spice commercial is a big success. I find that depressing beyond speech.
It would be one thing if dumpy middle-aged women were all over the ad universe. They are not. I spent about an hour looking and all I can find is that damned Old Spice ad and my son pointed out this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKkPFDEiC6Q
These are the only ones I can think of. Seriously. Please tell me you've seen an ad with funny interesting (or even just meh) women who physically resemble those people. I don't mean a local ad. I mean a commercial that is supposed to appeal to an national audience.
Please. Tell me. Please make me feel better.
There are lots of middle-aged dumpy guys in ads, hanging around on sofas watching television, washing cars, going to the hardware store, acting like doofuses but not really figures of pure mockery.
What do I find? Those two ads with women in the mom role acting like
1 disapproving, pursed-lip cowards or
2. strange shadowy stalker figures who obsess about their sons (IT IS ALWAYS ABOUT THEIR CHILDREN)
That's it.
That is the sum of us.. Invisible except in the shadow of our children or maybe in the background of a group scene. We are not there..If it happened to another sort of group, with another set of stereotypes, I could imagine the calls would go out. Where are the positive or at least HUMAN portraits of that demographic?
I posted on their facebook page basically the same thing. ranty rantage:
Do you people in the marketing department pay any attention to who actually BUYS your stuff? It's not the teenaged boys or even the jobless 20-somethings who've moved back in with their parents. Those guys might spend their money on junk food but deodorant? Not likely. Speaking as one of middle-aged not-thin moms you just portrayed as a group of obsessive, frumpy, passive shadows--nope. I don't think you made a hit with this one. I know you're laughing at a stereotype and it might have worked.. Maybe if there were legions of middle-aged ladies all over the ad world, this one would be funny, or perhaps less disturbing. ... [yada yada] Sad
The responses I got were "Stop with the butthurt"
and . "Brb, got to go buy Old Spice."
Okay, sure. This is just business and butthurt is always dumb because, even if it was something real, and not a goofy ad, what good does feeling insulted do? Answer. Nothing but make you look petty. It isn't about me, I know. I KNOW.
But none of that changes the fact that at the moment I'm filled with that useless rage at that demeaning, shitty, stupid, clever, manipulative, well-made ad, and wish I could do something about it beyond writing diatribes, ranting for My People, the invisible middle aged women (frumpus domesticus) . . and making a point of not buying some dumb deodorant.
Because I am not buying their stupid fucking deodorant again.
The part that makes me sad is that I don't get how I could have had any other response once I got past the "oh that ad is cleverly made!" ... . . even though so many people I respect and love adore that ad.
It's exaggerated, stereotyping over-the-top and that's where the humor comes from. The whole world seems to love it. Then again, the whole world once loved the exaggerated, stereotyping over-the-top song stylings of Al Jolson.
It would be one thing if dumpy middle-aged women were all over the ad universe. They are not. I spent about an hour looking and all I can find is that damned Old Spice ad and my son pointed out this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKkPFDEiC6Q
These are the only ones I can think of. Seriously. Please tell me you've seen an ad with funny interesting (or even just meh) women who physically resemble those people. I don't mean a local ad. I mean a commercial that is supposed to appeal to an national audience.
Please. Tell me. Please make me feel better.
There are lots of middle-aged dumpy guys in ads, hanging around on sofas watching television, washing cars, going to the hardware store, acting like doofuses but not really figures of pure mockery.
What do I find? Those two ads with women in the mom role acting like
1 disapproving, pursed-lip cowards or
2. strange shadowy stalker figures who obsess about their sons (IT IS ALWAYS ABOUT THEIR CHILDREN)
That's it.
That is the sum of us.. Invisible except in the shadow of our children or maybe in the background of a group scene. We are not there..If it happened to another sort of group, with another set of stereotypes, I could imagine the calls would go out. Where are the positive or at least HUMAN portraits of that demographic?
I posted on their facebook page basically the same thing. ranty rantage:
Do you people in the marketing department pay any attention to who actually BUYS your stuff? It's not the teenaged boys or even the jobless 20-somethings who've moved back in with their parents. Those guys might spend their money on junk food but deodorant? Not likely. Speaking as one of middle-aged not-thin moms you just portrayed as a group of obsessive, frumpy, passive shadows--nope. I don't think you made a hit with this one. I know you're laughing at a stereotype and it might have worked.. Maybe if there were legions of middle-aged ladies all over the ad world, this one would be funny, or perhaps less disturbing. ... [yada yada] Sad
The responses I got were "Stop with the butthurt"
and . "Brb, got to go buy Old Spice."
Okay, sure. This is just business and butthurt is always dumb because, even if it was something real, and not a goofy ad, what good does feeling insulted do? Answer. Nothing but make you look petty. It isn't about me, I know. I KNOW.
But none of that changes the fact that at the moment I'm filled with that useless rage at that demeaning, shitty, stupid, clever, manipulative, well-made ad, and wish I could do something about it beyond writing diatribes, ranting for My People, the invisible middle aged women (frumpus domesticus) . . and making a point of not buying some dumb deodorant.
Because I am not buying their stupid fucking deodorant again.
The part that makes me sad is that I don't get how I could have had any other response once I got past the "oh that ad is cleverly made!" ... . . even though so many people I respect and love adore that ad.
It's exaggerated, stereotyping over-the-top and that's where the humor comes from. The whole world seems to love it. Then again, the whole world once loved the exaggerated, stereotyping over-the-top song stylings of Al Jolson.
So many good comments gone. Alas.
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