Saturn Edits Commercial To Eliminate Gender Stereotyping
Posted by: Catherine Strawn
Filed in:
news, video
10:30AM, Monday April 27th 2009
Saturn debuted its “Total Confidence” campaign earlier this month, aiming to help automobile buyers make car payments if they lose their jobs. Yes, this is a great idea during this recession, but the ad missed the mark. In the original commercial, Saturn retailer Jim Smith talks about how losing your job and your car would be the worst ever, saying, “Honey, I’m home! Lost my job! Don’t have a car! What’s for dinner?” When we first saw the ad, we were a little offended by this line. Jim’s partner is responsible for making dinner? He just expects dinner to be ready for him when he gets home? Maybe the two take turns preparing the evening meal, and in this instance it was his night off—or maybe “honey” is a man—but we doubt it. Commercials should be advancing parity, not reinforcing visions of ‘50s housewives setting a giant pot roast on the table as their husbands walked through the front door.
We weren’t the only ones who found the commercial dated. Now we’ve started seeing a tweaked version airing. Basically, it’s the same ad without the “What’s for dinner?” line. Thank goodness they wised up and changed it—we don’t want men assuming we can cook ... because we can’t. Keep reading to watch the edited version of the ad.
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wild-ting
wrote on April 27 2009 @ 12:16 pm: [report]
I didn’t think the line was dated. The commercial was fine and good. It was just a “phrase” “a line” a pattern of speech that is known in our culture. It doesn’t mean that Jim’s wife cooks dinner every night or that we—as viewers—think that Jim believes his wife should have dinner on the table or that we believe Jim is chauvinists.
Geesh! I hate when the media and whiners try to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Soon we will have to edit our speech to say “hello”.
cattgirl813
wrote on April 27 2009 @ 12:51 pm: [report]
@wild-ting: And then someone will get offended because “hello” has the word “hell” in it. I didn’t see any gender stereotyping or chavuinism in the commercial at all. I saw it as a bit of sarcasm or self-deprecating humor in the face of a bad experience. Here’s something else to think about: Who says the “honey” had to be a wife or even a woman? It’s a bit of stereotyping to assume that it was a woman, don’t you think?
jojo32
wrote on April 27 2009 @ 01:19 pm: [report]
I’m with both Wild-Ting and cattgirl. It never occured to me when I saw the commercial that it was sexist. I really never cooked for my (ex) husband because we both worked. So yeah, we’d both come home, look at each other and say “what’s for dinner”. LOL And I completely agree w/ you, Wild-Ting, that anymore, people love to make that mountain out of any mole hill they can find. Ugh it’s so annoying!
Alison Wonderland
wrote on April 27 2009 @ 03:14 pm: [report]
I have to agree with everyone about the over dramatized reaction to this commercial.
Though this commercial does annoy me in the sense that they skewed Hyundai’s guarantee as to suggest if you lose your job your car is going to automatically be reposessed. The Hyundai guarantee offers the option of returning the car and walking away from the loan agreements if you lose your job within a year of buying it. But way to go Saturn. -1 street cred.
joyy
wrote on April 27 2009 @ 04:41 pm: [report]
also throwing my vote out for “that wasn’t really offensive at all”
jojo32
wrote on April 28 2009 @ 05:49 am: [report]
Oh, and one other thought I had…what about these ‘Swiffer’ commercials. The deal about how you’ll “never go back to your mop again”. They never show a man mopping the house with a swiffer (or anything else for that matter). So, should all of us women be offended by that? Do men never pick up a mop or broom either? It’s ridiculous that people get offended over such simple sh*t anymore. Drives me absolutely insane.
Lynn
wrote on April 28 2009 @ 12:08 pm: [report]
What the hell. I hate when people are so bored with their lives that they have to make up things to get offended and dramatic about. What a waste.
My mom always had dinner ready when my dad got home. Does that mean he’s a chauvinist pig who expects his wife to be a slave? Hell no. It means that my family had to eat. My my parents each took up household responsibilities like responsible adults.