Analysis of Mr. Clean Advertisement (2017)

by HaEunKoo

The above picture is the screenshot picture of the 30 seconds-long-advertisement of Mr. Clean in 2017. The advertisement has failed to deliver the proper social message. In this advertisement, the image of Mr. Clean has become a sex symbol; Mr. Clean dances erotically and his muscles were emphasized. The most controversial part of the advertisement is the captured scene where the statement “YOU GOTTA LOVE A MAN WHO CLEANS” appears. There are two reasons why this statement is controversial and harmful. First of all, the statement is indirectly insisting that a man who cleans the house is not common and cleaning is mainly the woman’s duty. Therefore, a wife should be thankful and adore a husband who ‘helps’ the chores as the men do not usually clean. The second arguable part is that the advertisement suggests giving a reward the men who clean the house. In the advertisement, when the husband asks, “Clean enough?”, a wife goes straight to him provocatively and they fall on the couch, kissing. This scene is also very absurd in a sense that it proposes the idea that reward for helping a wife to clean the house should be a sexual activity. This is not only considering a woman as an object of sexual activity, but also substantiating that cleaning is not a men’s job. In conclusion, I believe that this Mr. Clean’s 2017 advertisement is a harmful advertisement that delivers gender stereotypes; the problems of this advertisement which I am planning to change in the project are that it encourages an idea of cleaning is a women’s job and indicates men who clean should be praised with sex.