Photo: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/6-got-milk-ads-even-more-sexist-pms-ones-133555

It is common knowledge that consumers today are spending more time online than ever before. As a result, online advertising is becoming an increasingly popular method used by companies to promote their products. While it provides an easy and relatively cheap marketing channel, online advertising means that anyone can access and modify the advertisement. The displayed original poster for “got milk?” provides a perfect example of this. The “got milk?” campaign is a popular marketing campaign promoting the benefits of drinking cows milk. However, the website funnyordie.com decided to parody the campaign by creating numerous meme-like advertisements. While the intent is to be “funny,” myself and I assume other women, take the advertisements seriously and find them to be extremely sexist.

This particular advertisement showcases that we are still living in a male dominated world and that gender equality remains out of reach for today’s society. It is obvious that it was directed towards a male target audience with no consideration as to how it would be received by the female population. Overall, the advertisement is absurd because it is strongly recommended against giving babies cows milk until they are at least twelve months. The words “BECAUSE HER BOOBS ARE FOR YOU – NOT YOUR BABY” imply that breasts exist for male entertainment only; not their reason for biological existence, which is to provide food and nourishment to babies. On the bottom of the ad, it says “MILK HELPS YOU TAKE BACK WHAT’S YOURS”. This is the most male chauvinistic and degrading part of the poster as the statement indicates that a woman’s body is owned by her male counterpart. It takes us back to the traditional view of gender roles which was that men were in control. While there has been progress towards gender equality, “humorous” advertisements like this one can still have a high impact on consumers. The information can be subconsciously registered into consumer minds and if seen frequently enough it could be perceived as normal behavior. This kind of influence can be dangerous and stimulate a backtracking of the progression that gender equality has made thus far.

Even though this advertisement is not necessarily approved by the original “got milk?” campaign, it still acts efficiently as an advertisement for the campaign as it endorses the product and has incorporated the “got milk?” logo. Furthermore, due to its nature, the chances are this advertisement has been viewed by more consumers than the original “got milk?” posters. Although this advertisement was already absurdly sexist to begin with, I tried to make my jammed version even more blunt and outrageous. The first thing I did in my jammed version was change the wording on the top of the poster. I chose the words “BOOBS ARE FOR MEN,” in order to remove the “humour” aspect of the original advertisements word choice. This also allowed me to be more direct with the message it was attempting to convey. Additionally, I made the word “BOOBS,” larger than any other word on the page as well as underlined, making it the main focus and causing it to grab male attention. While funnyordie.com deliberately parodied the campaign with the intent of being “comical,” I thought it was necessary to cover up the funnyordie.com logo. Hence, why I purposely made the bottom cover-up portion larger than required. Even if the intent is to not be taken seriously, the string of parodied advertisements are extremely sexist therefore having the logo there in no way excuses the actions. Alike other societal issues, the degradation of women should not be joked about under any circumstances.  As a society we need to take a stand and let people know that this type of advertising is unacceptable. Finally, I chose the words, “FEED YOUR BABY UNATURAL AND NUTRIENT LACKING COWS MILK SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO SHARE YOUR BOOBS.” This was done to highlight the outrageousness of the original ad. It is common knowledge that breast milk provides countless nutrients that babies need for healthy development. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that parents do not use cows milk as a substitute. Additionally, I finished my statement using “YOUR BOOBS” to emphasize the male chauvinistic message of the original advertisement.