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The Original Ad

This “Double D” burger advertisement objectifies women.  It places women in lingerie lined up with burgers in hand or licking their fingers like they just finished eating the burger. The main purpose of this advertisement is to promote the restaurant and their burgers. However, with the objectification of women featured in the ad dressed only in lingerie, it creates an offensive visual presentation that is demeaning to the female gender, which places them as “meat”, and discredits the advertisement as a whole.

First, the advertisement places women as “meat” and becomes the main focus of the visual presentation of the “Double D” advertisement. Three of the five females are holding burgers looking very sexy, with one of the females open-mouthed like she is about to take a bite. The two other women are looking at the burger in a suggestive way and licking their fingers like she just finished her burger.  All the women in the advertisement are placed like objects into the picture and have nothing to do with burgers at all.

Second, the size of the burgers is relatively small to be the main focus of the advertisement. You can’t even tell what is so special about the Double D burger that would set it apart from other burger establishments to convince the consumers to try their burgers above all others.  The visual representation of the burger is unappealing, because you can’t even see what is in the burger due to the small size and lack of detail in the burgers in the models’ hands.  Hence, the point of the advertisement to make Double D burgers look so good one would want to go try it, doesn’t exist.  It really is not proportionate to the advertisement, and becomes secondary to the women who are dressed in lingerie which visually becomes the focus.

The Jammed Version of the Ad

The jammed advertisement features the burger and emphasizes the establishment “Double D”.  In my cultural jamming, I put the focus on the burgers as the “foodie” media platform is quite strong in today’s society.  I do not think that today’s audience only looks to “sex sells” anymore.  This is also supported by many television programs and documentary movies/films that are quite popular which are based on food and the chefs in recent years.  Such programs are Master Chef Canada, Chef’s Table, Bob’s Burgers (movie), etc.

First, I covered up all the females in the advertisement.  The five ladies in lingerie don’t  appeal to both the male and female audience, so I do not think it is the most effective way to attract the majority consumers.  It does not add any “appeal” factor either, as today’s audience really do appreciate the quality of foods more and not just the “sex sells” factor.  Having models in advertisements is fine, and the fact that they are fit and healthy is a great example of real women sizes and not the “skinny anorexic” model.  I understand that “sex sells”, however in this case I think that it has more of a negative effect since some burger consumers might feel uncomfortable walking into a burger joint and having to stand in front of an advertisement where the women are barely wearing any fabric.  This could be taken as a sexist and demeaning print ad to the female gender.  With my jamming, I avoid all of the above issues by covering up the models and visually placing the main focus back on the burgers.  Making the size of the establishment’s name, “Double D”, in larger font and placing it in the center of the advertisement brings attention to the name, making it more recognisable and memorable to the consumers for easy reference.

Second, I added a big juicy “Double D” burger right in the middle of the advertisement to feature the actual burger, along with the burgers in the models’ hands.  Consumers are increasingly more interested in what kinds of ingredients are used rather than useless information that is irrelevant to the product itself.  Hence, I added information about the quality of the burger that burger-lovers do want to know about, and added the question factor, exposing what they are famous for, such as their “secret cuts” and “secret sauce” factor. The words added at the bottom of the advertisement are also key features of the burgers at this  establishment.  This appeals to the consumers that would be curious and interested in going to try the product ASAP! My adjusted version of the Double D advertisement brings the attention back to the actual product in a tasteful way, appealing to both female and male consumers alike.

Reference:
http://www.doubledburger.com/#signaturebites
Hong Kong feminist groups hit back at objectification of women in city, South China Morning Post,Wednesday, 22 April, 2015