Original Ad :
In the 1960’s, society strongly required women to be of certain roles and images. Some of the sexist ads including this ad about a tie are from the ‘Mad Men’ Era, during which media strongly reinforced gender roles to male and female. Through the ads from this era, we are able to take a peek at the gender roles and the “ideal” images of women that the media was reinforced at the time. During this era, women were portrayed by media to be like a Stepford Wife — an obedient wife to her husband and a good mother to her children who happily does chores while performing excellent parenting to her children at the same time.
This ad for Van Heusen ties, also, showed a completely unnecessary female objectification while reinforcing gender roles — how women were expected to serve her husband breakfast like a submissive wife. While this ad is about ties, it lacks any information regarding ties but rather has its focus on how a woman is kneeling on the floor while serving breakfast while her husband comfortably lies in bed. In this ad, sexism is prominent in a sense that gender roles, such as husband wearing a tie and going to work and an obedient wife serving cooking and serving breakfast for her husband, are clearly being reinforced.
Jammed Ad :
In the jammed version of the 1960’s Van Heusen tie ad, I attempted to erase the existing sexism and gender roles. By removing the image of the wife that is kneeling on the floor next to her husband as an obedient wife that does house chores, gender roles specifically for women are erased as well as certain images of how women, or wife, must behave. By putting a speech bubble that says “I made myself some breakfast!” said by the man, it is displayed that the man just made himself breakfast and served himself. From this, the viewers can easily predict that there was no “wife” or woman that serves the man. Therefore, the gender stereotypes enforced by the 1960’s media, such as “men should go to their work after eating the food that their submissive wives served them”, are completely erased from the ad. From the slogan “show them it’s a better world” instead of “show her it’s a man’s world”, it is implied that it is a better place for everyone without sexism and enforced gender roles.
I personally feel that without the image of the wife serving the husband in the ad and with the man saying “I made myself some breakfast!”, the man looks more confident and comfortable as he looks proud of himself for being a decent adult that can do his own chores and serve himself breakfast. I strongly believe that media must portray more gender-equality forward ads in the future and present.
https://www.businessinsider.com/26-sexist-ads-of-the-mad-men-era-2014-5#1955-guess-who-does-all-the-dishes-7
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