Feminist or Just Angry?!
For someone who does not or has never owned a Mac-product, I am a pretty big fan of Mac. I love everything they produce. I love Mac so much that, in fact, I should probably be getting a sales commission for the gazillion conversations I have had with people, trying to convert them from PC. Mac products are easy and cute. What else can I say.
However, I just watched their latest ad (new for me, anyhow) and, to be be honest, I threw up in my mouth a little bit.
So the Mac and the PC compare the movies they have created. The i-movie happens to be Gisele Bundchen (totally fucking hot, naturally). The PC-movie is some man dressed as a woman.
No no no no NO!
SO WRONG! On SO MANY levels!
Being a woman who works for a tech-company and loves/lives/breathes technology, I seriously want to scream after seeing this. I hate the fact that technology and everything that goes along with it is always implicitly or explicitly gendered: men know computers, women don't; men LIKE gadgets, women don't; both computers in this ad are guys, the women are the product of men.
I KNOW what you're going to say: it's supposed to be funny. Or, what's even worse: somebody will pull out some madeup statistics about gender-differences in technology purchases or something.
These are things that I KNOW will come up and will gladly address when people bring them up. Not now though because, to paraphrase Steve Colbert, at this particular moment I can't really tell whether I am being a feminist or I'm just FUCKING ANGRY.
However, I just watched their latest ad (new for me, anyhow) and, to be be honest, I threw up in my mouth a little bit.
So the Mac and the PC compare the movies they have created. The i-movie happens to be Gisele Bundchen (totally fucking hot, naturally). The PC-movie is some man dressed as a woman.
No no no no NO!
SO WRONG! On SO MANY levels!
Being a woman who works for a tech-company and loves/lives/breathes technology, I seriously want to scream after seeing this. I hate the fact that technology and everything that goes along with it is always implicitly or explicitly gendered: men know computers, women don't; men LIKE gadgets, women don't; both computers in this ad are guys, the women are the product of men.
I KNOW what you're going to say: it's supposed to be funny. Or, what's even worse: somebody will pull out some madeup statistics about gender-differences in technology purchases or something.
These are things that I KNOW will come up and will gladly address when people bring them up. Not now though because, to paraphrase Steve Colbert, at this particular moment I can't really tell whether I am being a feminist or I'm just FUCKING ANGRY.
19 Comments:
you're takin' it too personal, imho
all that 'gender-differences in technology' thing, i mean ;]
do you really need to be so affected by it? and if yes - why? (:
i know women which are pretty good with all kind of this pc/techy stuff, which is commonly accomodated with man in the company in which i work currently, .. and others, which are not.
so? =]
Yeah, I was really disappointed by this one too, especially because these ads had been such a guilty pleasure up until now. I have secretly loved Justin Long (the actor who plays the Mac) ever since he was the only good thing about an awful TV show called "Ed." This one just made me feel gross.
Well, you could also look at it as two pencil-necked geeky guys (though one is supposed to be more hip and attractive) who spend so much time with computers that the machines have become the only "women" they're likely to meet. haha. Reminds me that, when finished typing, I need to lift weights at the gym and then get "schooled" on the athletic court by some sports babe.
btw, it's more 'Apple-product' than 'Mac-product', to be precise ;]
I have to say, I don't thinking "taking it personally" is the issue here. The ad is bothersome because it's stupid, and because we've come to expect better from this company. Do we need to be so affected by stupidity? Yes! Why? Because if we're not, who will be? That's just how a consumerist society works, if it works at all. When corporations make products that we don't like, we have to tell them, or we are tacitly expressing our approval.
"The ad is bothersome because it's stupid"
that it correct.
therefore (and perhaps because i'm not Apple user, nevertheless that i like some of their products), it doesn't bother me at all.
let me ask you something - as I am PC user, do I have to be insulted by this commercial and the way it shows/treatens pc's, pc software and pc users at all?
LOL! :D
c'mon people, keep it real, ffs! :D
this is just a f****n' stupid ad, not the end of all humanity (:
and it's also Apple propduct :P
I don't think that I, or the author of this blog, ever suggested that this is anything remotely approaching "the end of all humanity." But I don't think that that should be the sole criterion for voicing an objection to something. Again, speaking only for myself, I am bothered by this ad because it represents a real misstep from a company that I generally think highly of. So I'm disappointed. But I don't take myself so seriously as to confuse my private disappointment with the end of anything other than my belief that Apple was a better company than that.
As a PC user, do you have to be insulted by it? It doesn't matter what kind of computer you use, or whether you use one at all, you don't HAVE to be insulted by anything, and I think that's the point. If being insulted were compulsory, then there wouldn't be much point in expressing our offense at stupid ads that perpetuate stupid ideas.
Still, I think you're confusing the issue. As a direct competitor of manufacturers of PCs, Apple has every reason to target its ads at what some people perceive to be the shortcomings of Windows. What Apple seems not to have any good reason to do is remind us of the outdated idea that computers are toys for nerdy boys. Frankly, that just seems like bad business.
I've only seen the picture posted here, and not the full commercial, but I agree, if anyone found it offensive in any way, then let them know about it. Also, it's true that most everyone uses computers to some degree these days (even if people like myself are still often considered geeks due to a higher level of usage), so they could probably find ways to advertise that show a wider variety of people. Of course, that one pudgy character is intended to resemble old-school super-nerd Bill Gates, and the other guy is supposed to be less in that mold, but still maybe comes off as "the new nerd". They could likely replace the younger guy in the ad with a successful female from any field of endeavor, and still be able to make the same points about their products being more modern and effective.
Cut the crap and sue them! ;))) :D
I think you're going all around the real problem and the only one actually addressing it is kgrady.
Yes, man, you are totally right in your expectations of something diferent from a company like Apple.
Playstation-style creative freedom and expression, to say the least. Just to match the uniquely cute design that anything bearing the apple logo tends to muster.
iPods had such a campaign. Ingenious both as an idea and as execution.
Yet, everything else since the launch of the Mac Mini and the MacBook Pro has been nothing else but the lowest level of testimonial bullshit with a touch of witty humour. Maybe it has a special idea behind it. Or maybe it's just done for consumers, not for connoisseurs. (Which, I am sorry to find, seems to be the major point in the new Apple consumer politics.) Maybe...
Should I have to want more? Yes, of course!
Running my fingers on the matt curved sides of my 15" metal-cased eye-pleasure... Why?
Well, because of this additional value, that could have been created for my 15" laptop by an idiotic, unperceptable yet enchanting ad-story, that some half-witted well-paid colleague in London/NY/LA or Hong Kong could have taken out of his goldplated designer-style asshole.
And because I love to have gadjets with a story attached to them. I know it's a fucked-up show-off thing, I know I am a snob, yet I love it. It's personal, that's all.
And to go back to Playstation - there are too many people who'd never have a PS, there are too many people who'd never see a PS2, or ever play any videogame... Yet, they would need an instant to connect the PS name with the song from the "Fun anyone?" video. And they'll remember the story. The untrue, false, yet funny story, that would now go with the PS 2 brand forever.
The story, that these Mac's missed to have...
I haven't seen this commercial yet (probably due to my lack of cable and thus reduced TV watching), but thanks for expressing your general pissed offedness at it--we have to say when shit like that bothers us, even if they were trying to be funny, and anyway, you have a fabulous sense of humor, anyway, so I don't think you'd pick on something needlessly.
Oh come on. They just wanted to portray "wannabe". Would it be better if they created an ad in which a woman is dressed like and tries to be a man?
And btw, I prefer the math guy ;) I love math. And I hate ads in which a product is portrayed as superior to some other product. Comparing is stupid, especially in this case.
Well,
let's not get too carried away here...
the way this ad is supposed to work for the mind of the consumer is via a simple visual metaphor, a visual SAT analogy, if you will, for example:
home-made movies made on a PC:home-made movies made on a MAC ::
man dressed as a woman:beautiful woman.
I think this ad is very specific in its message. It is about the different capabilities of Macs and PCs when it comes to making amateur movies. Nothing more, nothing less.
I don't think it is directed especially at male customers, implicitly assuming women are not technologically versed and therefore being mysoginistic. If women hone in on the SAT analogy, they will internalize the message as well.
On a larger level, in advertising sometimes every commodity needs to be genderized to be played by an actor/actress. "My computer" is perceived to be male even by women, who name their hard (!) drives Brad Pitt, while a "movie" or a "picture" is most probably female.
And somewhat unrelated, but "Ed" wasn't so bad. Well-developed characters, several memorable quotes, pretty accurate portrayal of Littletown, America.
At least it was much better than 95% of the c**p on TV today.
home-made movies made on a PC:home-made movies made on a MAC ::
man dressed as a woman:beautiful woman.
I think this ad is very specific in its message. It is about the different capabilities of Macs and PCs when it comes to making amateur movies. Nothing more, nothing less.
I agree with concerned. I don't think that it had anything to do with women and computers, but that the Mac version of a movie was more beautiful than the PC version. I absolutely, 100% agree with your rant about women in technology... I just don't see how this ad brought it on. I guess I was reading into it differently.
Television ad caters to target demographic, more news at 11.
i agree..the ad made me sick as well..there are plenty other commercials out there right now that are all leaning towards this type of ad now days..i don't get it.
btw i love your blog its awesome.
Exactly! There are so many and the intended message is obvious. However, that does not make them good nor interesting.
:)))
:).. .. .. had an argument with an indian dude at dinner today about the relevance of prices of t-shirts sewn by indian kids in India for 2 cents a piece, then sold in Europe for 20 euros.. then remembered this : http://daspasimirakli.com/ .. well these are the things that make me angry.. I know you have a point, but .. well.. it's just an ad, and it's funny
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