Bad Ads (Revised)

Posted by Unknown at 02:53 on Sunday, 27 October 2013

Science, It's A Girl Thing!



 After doing a little more research regarding this European ad encouraging women to engage in the science field, I have read a few articles that brought me to encounter a parody of the original ad. In this article, the ones responsible for the parody (phD candidates in neuropsychology at the University of Bristol) I quote from them,"We made the video mainly for fun, but also because the original was so awful. It was really demeaning to women, and contained no science at all—just make-up. There are big problems regarding women in science."

From what they have said, I began to stew on idea of how this ad does NOT relate to the culture and society of Europe - and European women. Of course, since this ad was made for a whole continent and not just a country itself, its rather hard to pinpoint exactly which specific culture its related to. So, I've decided to look at a much bigger picture. The commonalities of European culture is :

(a) their basic education came about in the 19th-20th century and Europe possesses among the best schooled peoples in the world. (Jordan-Bychko, T et.al, 2008). In other words, Europeans are not foreign to education and they prioritized it. 

(b) the status of women in Europe has improved since the early 20th century. However, women still face the 'glass ceiling' effect in private sector and corporate leadership positions in most European country are occupied by men. Even the U.S. pales in comparison to them (Jordan-Bychko, T et.al, 2008).

Science, It's A Girl Thing has harvested many negative response from the audience (both female and male). 
According to Curt Rice, Pro Rector for Research and Development at the University of Tromsø, "Will it suggest that girls wanting to do science not only have to be smart but also feminine? Will it imply that there's sexy girl science on the one hand and real guy science on the other? My uncertainty about how the campaign would be received was vanquished the moment I saw the teaser video. Not only was it completely devoid of any trace of our group's recommendations – as we noted in a recently released joint statement – but its sex roles were stereotypical clichés."
(Rice, C, 2012). 

From the gathered comments, this ad has triggered something within the audience and I propose that this ad not relate to its culture and society is because of the inequity culture or rather stereotyping of the female population in regards with science in the E.U.  Although feminism occurs in any culture around the world, however, this ad was made particularly for the Europeans and one would think "is this how people view the female category as when it comes to science and R&D?" In my opinion, this ad was well-meant but, the message to be relayed was misunderstood and it became a form of stereotyping the feminine gender's role in Science itself. Thus, an ad that doesn't work means that something somewhere in the ad itself must have gone wrong.

For further clarification, click on this http://www.europeanpwn.net/index.php?article_id=139 for more information, entitled Women in Science:Leak Pipes. 

By Vanessa Vera

Reference:

- Jordan-Bychko, T, Jordan-Bychko, B and Murphy, B.A. 2008. The European Culture Area: A Systematic Geography. Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 

- Breslaw, A, 2012. Female neuroscientists parody that embarassing 'Science: It's a girl thing' video. [online] Available at: <http://jezebel.com/5966870/female-neuroscientists-parody-that-embarrassing-science-its-a-girl-thing-video> [Accessed at 27 October 2013]. 


Oh My God! I'm Gonna Puke!


So, I did a little bit more research for this Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 advertisement. I found out that the reason that the woman vomit after looking at her husband's laptop was because she inadvertently viewing hardcore pornography on her husband's computer. Dean Cain - the actor best known for playing Superman in 1990s TV series (yes, I just found that out as well) - then walked into the scene and suggested this situation could have been avoided by using IE8's private browsing feature.

Here's what a Microsoft spokesperson said : "We make a point of listening to our customers. We created the OMGIGP video as a tongue-in-cheek look at the InPrivate Browsing feature of Internet Explorer 8, using the same irreverent humor that our customers told us they liked about other components of the Internet Explorer 8 marketing campaign. While much of the feedback to this particular piece of creative was positive, some of our customers found it offensive, so we have to removed it."

Thus, I try to explore more on how this ad does not relate to American humor, since this ad mostly targeted to American. American humor is of course one of American cultures. I will pick stand-up comedy to relate this ads to. Why? Because, the one who created this ad is a stand-up comedian, Bobcat Goldthwait. Since his acting days, Goldthwait has turned to directing, including stints on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Man Show, and several of his own movie projects. The Internet Explorer ads were his first shot at commercials. So, basically I think that his main purpose to create this ad is to make people laugh. However, his attempt went way off of what it was meant to be.
I did some research about American humor as well. I'm gonna talk about American stand-up comedy. American stand-up comedians deal with a variety of forms and issues. They dealt with subject manner like race, religion, and sex in a manner that was generally not allowed on television or film. That said, other stand-ups in the US choose an opposite approach that involves avoiding angering or offending elements of the audience. They may also try to work "clean" either because they prefer doing so or because they wish to reach audiences that disdain raunchy material.
"...not allowed on television or film."; "...avoiding angering or offending elements of the audience."; "clean". Those are 3 elements that this O.M.G.I.G.P ads doesn't consist. "Clean", obviously this ads doesn't have it, instead, it disgusts people because of the vomit scene. And just because of this vomit scene, many viewers complain about this ads, and find its offensive. Furthermore, this ads was pulled out by Microsoft, because consumers think it doesn't suppose to be on TV.
The American sense of humor is generally more slapstick than that in Britain. Their jokes are more obvious and forward, a bit like Americans themselves. When Americans use irony they tend to state that they were “only kidding”. They feel the need to make a joke more obvious, maybe this stems from a fear of offending people.
In conclusion, this ads attempt to makes funny jokes by using the vomit scene was completely out of the way. Americans are sensitive in finding anything that is offensive. Whereas, this ads actually did offense them.
By : C. Tanata
References :
     - Lexio Philes. 2009. English Humour vs. American Humor – Is There a Difference?. [online] Available at: http://www.lexiophiles.com/english/english-humour-vs-american-humor-is-there-a-difference [Accessed: 30 Oct 2013].
    - Matyszczyk, C. 2009. Microsoft chucks vomit ad. [online] Available at: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10278063-71.html [Accessed: 30 Oct 2013].
     - Matyszczyk, C. 2009. Microsoft vomit ad more than half of campaign's views. [online] Available at: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10286009-71.html [Accessed: 30 Oct 2013].
     - Paul, I. 2009. Microsoft Pulls Gross-Out Ad for IE8. [online] Available at: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=8011946 [Accessed: 30 Oct 2013].


Wet Burger

Amongst all three ads that I have provided, I have done some amount of research on each one and picked out the one that I could clearly comment about its irrelevance to the culture. The Carl's Jr commercial on promoting its brand new burger featuring the actress, Paris Hilton did not receive a good response from the public eye.
Position Statement: The Paris Hilton/Carl's Jr. commercial is nothing but a sleazy attempt on Carl's Jr. part to make money selling burgers with pornography. If this television commercial were to go unchallenged it would set a new standard for acceptable television commercial content. Therefore we must let our voices be heard. (parentstv, 2011)
This commercial here has been known and categorised under the series of 'The Slutburgers' due to the fact that they try to promote Carl's Jr burgers using sexy female actors as their ambassadors. For this particular ad though, Because of her pornographic involvement, Hilton has grabbed an endorsement deal as the Guess? Jeans girl (the New York Observer reported that "her bad-girl image jibes with the clothing company's porn-lite ad campaigns"), endless tabloid headlines, and now, this deal with Carl's Jr. As Brad Haley, marketing chief for Carl's Jr., stated, "Paris was chosen to star in the ad because she is an intriguing cultural icon and the 'it girl' of the moment." (Saphiro, B. 2005) 
Plus, Carl's Jr.'s message to the PTC was "The group needs to "get a life," said Andy Puzder, CEO of Carl's Jr., a subsidiary of CKE Restaurants (Research). "This isn't Janet Jackson -- there is no nipple in this. There is no nudity, there is no sex acts -- it's a beautiful model in a swimsuit washing a car." (Silver,C. 2005) According to the Los Angeles-based Parents Television Council research director, Melissa Caldwell, the advertisement was basically soft-core porn and was inappropriate for television. The LA Times reported that the group plans to assemble its more than a million members to protest and is considering asking the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) to declare the advertisement an indecent. (MediaTrips, 2010)
In addition to all these research, the commercial was considered as a soft-core pornography, which was why the video was later banned in the first place due to the fact it was being very suggestive and titillating, and was inappropriate for the audience of New York, especially younger ones. The PTC's main objection is that unlike a television program, parents have no way of knowing when the Paris Hilton Spicy Burger ad is going to appear on TV, and cannot steer their children away from it.
The company knows what it's doing: Just three days ago, Hardee's posted a (somewhat satirical) video in which they admit, "We believe in putting hot models in our commercials because ugly ones don't sell burgers."
This being said, they stood their ground and was not sorry for creating the ad. As said, they believed in putting hot models and iconic female figures or should it be said, sex icons to sell their burger. Burgers are also part of the American Culture, and plays a huge role, because burgers are consumed almost daily in the society. This video was also perhaps targetted to the male audience, by targetting the main subject of sex, leaving men interested after watching such suggestive commercial, luring them in to buy their product because of these female icons, who mostly are the ones that drive the men wild with their fantasies, especially when they are the fans of that specific figure.

In conclusion, the commercial was racy enough to create protest from the moral’s lobby. It is being controversial for its sexual content and connection between greasy hamburgers and rich beauty Paris Hilton. Many people were confused about the commercial; whether it was for car, for Hilton’s new song or was it really for hamburger.

By Erica C.

References




Oishi Green Tea Commercial

From the research I did for this commercial, I found out that how the Thai view towards plastic surgery/boob job has to do with their transgender culture. In Thailand there is a great number for the transgender group, they even have a music group are form with katoey. (Thai term that refers to effeminate gay male in Thailand) the music seems like were well accepted by the society, which include the cities and the countryside as well. However they still continue face discrimination or haven’t attained the equal status with the non-transgender. But they are gaining acceptance and made themselves as a very distinct part in the society. 

Even though Thailand culture has shown a deep influenced by the religious -  Buddhist. The religious embrace the value of respect, self-control and a non-confrontational attitude and they do not specifically stated that homosexuality asa sin and no specific prohibition regard their lifestyle but homosexuality still do not accepted by the religious. 

In the commercial, the focus is kind of focus on how the girl “transform”, so it actually make the audience relate it to plastic surgery, and as the cases of transgender in Thailand. When male had plastic surgery and transform themselves into a female body. The audience is actually can relate it together. So for my opinion is indirectly encourage the audience to consider about plastic surgery, which is not encourage by Thailand Buddhist culture.

Reference
Winter, S. (2002d) Thailand country report . TransgenderASIA website. Retrieved 23/5/03 from the World Wide Web. [Available online]<http://web.hku.hk/~sjwinter/TransgenderASIA/country_report_thailand.htm> [Accessed on 30 October 2013]
Culture in Thailand. [Available online] Available at: <http://www.reachtoteachrecruiting.com/guides/thailand/culture-in-thailand/>  [Accessed on 30 October 2013]
BY: Li En

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