Original Ad

Many celebratory days of the year that are meant to bring families and loved ones together are used as modes of selling products to consumers. A similar tactic is shown by the company, Mr. Clean, using Mother’s Day to sell their cleaning sponges. In this day and age, it’s common to accept that women and men are capable of sharing roles that were once deemed suitable for only one gender. This ad, unfortunately, highlights the opposite; gender differences. The imagery in this ad of the mother and daughter cleaning highlights the issue of categorizing women in the role of a “housewife,” completing household chores. The image also reveals a young woman being taught gender inequality roles at an early age.

Furthermore, the text “This Mother’s Day, get back to the job that really matters.” on this advertisement is easily focused on, as the writing is bold and colourful.  This text portrays that women are expected to consider household chores as “the job that really matters.” Thus, highlighting gender differences and sexism.  This simple sentence highlights a significant issue in our society; gender expectations. Such gender expectations being having the idea of women maintaining the household and doing so at an early age. One would think that Mother’s Day is about showering moms with love and giving them a “break” from daily life, but the opposite is shown in this advertisement.

By deeply de-constructing this image, it would seem plausible that perhaps the advertisement indicates that Mr. Clean’s sponge is a quick and efficient way to clean, which will further allow mothers to spend more time with their children. Implying that “The job that really matters,” could perhaps be spending time with children.  Thinking of the ad in this positive way still highlights the imagery in this ad to be showcasing sexism and gender inequality by assigning women the role to clean. Furthermore, an average consumer who briefly sees this ad would not assume the same. In fact, they mostly would feel offended.

Jammed Version of The Ad

This ad can easily be manipulated to convey a positive message. Since the two problematic concerns of this ad are the imagery of the women and the written text, I have changed both to show a more positive and compelling message. This would eliminate any gender differences, categorization, and sexism; and, instead, help the company sell this product. Firstly, I have removed the young women’s face entirely from the ad and replaced it with a male’s picture. The image now appears as if a couple is cleaning their home together. Doing so, would seem more relatable for the consumers while buying, as the couples could relate to cleaning together without any discrimination of the genders. Also, by adding a male along with the already existing female in the picture, we can show that cleaning is meant for both genders equally and eliminating categorization of women. Furthermore, it also eliminates the issue of teaching young women gender-specific roles of household chores. Second, I would eliminate the entire writing that says, “This Mother’s Day, get back to the job that really matters.” I find that it is unnecessary as it highlights the wrong message of gender differences. The new text heading is more gender-neutral and focused on the primary purpose of this ad, which is to clean. The new written message is “Easily clean with Mr. Clean”; which is simple and straight to the point. This text highlights only the quality of the sponge.  This writing also provides a positive message of using the sponge would get the cleaning done easily and quickly, which would allow the consumer to use their quality time on family or anything of their desire.

The goal of changing the imagery and the written message is to eliminate any gender differences that showcase women linked to the kitchen or household chores. Gender inequality in this advertisement was utterly unnecessary as women and men are equally capable of cleaning the household they live in.