Is This Sexist Advertising?
05
July
What is wrong with sexist advertising? Is it not a reflection of society? What is sexist advertising?
At the recent Cannes Lions 2006 Lynx won numerous ads for their new campaign “Lynx Jet”.
The target market (in marketing term, “the people we want to talk to”) was young males. This is what came out as a result.
TV Ad
This here is another Lynx ad targetting “young males” which screened in England.
Is this sexist? Does this bother females?
If you want to see the entire campaign check 21stcenturymarketing for a documentary on the making of this campaign.
1. Jimmy | July 5th, 2006 at 23:40
It’s all in the eye of the beholder.
These are well made ads, and I think they look great. Nobody can seriously sit there and think that it is a personal affront to women.
The thing that gets me is that the budget for the campaign is obviously huge, but Lynx is the cheapest stuff. It smells funny, and the only person I know who uses it is my teenage brother…. Who smells. But he does get the chicks.
2. The DayDreamer | July 6th, 2006 at 00:00
Does anybody care what women think?
Does anybody actually use Lynx?
Can a campaign be sucessful if it doesn’t increase sales?
Does anybody else wonder how many questions MonkeyBoy will ask before he gives us an original idea?
3. MonkeyBoy | July 6th, 2006 at 00:23
“Does anybody care what women think?” - Pretty stone age question….
“Does anybody actually use Lynx?” No idea - I don’t!
“Can a campaign be sucessful if it doesn’t increase sales?” - Success is always measured on the objective. If the objective is to sell, then it should. If the objective is to get Monkeys blogging about it, then it should have Monkeys blogging about it!!
“Does anybody else wonder how questions MonkeyBoy will ask before he gives us an original idea?” WHAT?
4. Oz | July 8th, 2006 at 15:16
What’s a target market???
Seriously, where is this bikini island?!? I want to go there for a holiday. And let’s face it: the kind of people who would object to such excellent ads are those who go to the beach fully clothed. And we all know just how much their opinions count…
5. BillyGoatEric | July 11th, 2006 at 12:55
Without going into details of campaign objectives etc, I still believe Boonanza was a better all-round campaign than this!! But they both won at Cannes.
6. A Woman | June 9th, 2007 at 11:31
How you can say that this is “…all in the eye of the beholder.” This is outright sexist and purile. This is using a mythical presentation of female sexuality and feminiity- that it exists only as an Other to male sexuality. The advert propogates the represenation of women’s bodies as objects for the male gaze. It also promotes the “ideal” of multiple partners and the notion of “all women being the same” shown here through the fact the women presented were shot mostly at their torsos and breasts and not at their faces. They share the same long hair, tanned skin, made up faces and fake faces of lust. I am a feminist, i wear a bikini at the beach and i dont burn my bra or hate men. What i do hate is misogny. The personal is political, and it is very important what women think.
7. A man | September 30th, 2007 at 23:23
I was just wondering if any one noticed that the entire advertising industry plays on the insecurity of humans? the nappy san campaign is the only exception. They play on the idea that you are inadiquate. But these ads aren’t saying that women are inadiquate. They are saying that us men are. this ad says to me “bet this hasn’t ever happened to you! Get some lynx, you loser.” I dont understand why more guys arent pissed off by it.
8. Oz | October 2nd, 2007 at 20:06
One year on and this post is making waves! Go figure.
It’s an interesting point of view a man has offered up to which I offer this: I am aware of my short-comings as a person and have an insecurity or two. Who doesn’t? But I’m comfortable with that because that’s me. I learnt to be happy with who I am and recognise what was really possible to improve about myself.
I don’t get pissed off with advertising simply because I don’t care about it. I enjoy the entertainment factor and that’s about it. Any deeper sociological or emotional meaning you want to draw from it, talk to someone else. But that’s just my take…
9. Cruden | November 6th, 2007 at 11:46
The women portrayed in the commercial are projected as ideal- It puts forth an unnatainable model that affects women’s satisfaction in their own bodies, breeding discontent and insecurity in the name of selling a product.
(From ‘A Man’)
“But these ads aren’t saying that women are inadiquate. They are saying that us men are. this ad says to me “bet this hasn’t ever happened to you! Get some lynx, you loser.” ”
I don’t know if you watched the beginning, what with the very thin woman’s breasts flapping about and such, but it says that women who don’t look like this are inadiquate.
What is says to men isn’t “I bet this hasn’t happened to you, get lynx you loser”, but “hey, if you get our stuff, this’ll happen to you!”
There’s a difference.
10. Jordan | November 25th, 2007 at 05:48
I personally think, their really funny. But, if their not sexist why am i studing sexism in the media and the contents is the lynx adverts.