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Man Bashing in Advertising

Reply 20

Apagg

13

Ah, you've collected statistics on the subject, have you? Or are you just making this up?

Reply 21

Amnesia

2

Please come back and debate when you have done a bit of research on the topic and don't need me to dig out all the statistics for you.

Reply 22

Apagg

13

So that means you don't have any, because there are none. Well done. Your "research" is based upon your personal experience, it's quite clear.

Reply 23

Laika

1

I think it's more about portraying familiar, humorous sitations. And most familiar situations in life are trademarked by idiocy.

Reply 24

Trangulor

6

women seem to be far more sensitive about sexism in adverts than men, according to the figures. less than a third of complaints about sexist adverts are from men (stats from earlier in the thread). perhaps this is why companies choose to make humourous adverts at the expense of men, because they are less likely to have to pull them off the air because of complaints to the ASA.

Reply 25

Howard

5

Apagg

Ah, you've collected statistics on the subject, have you? Or are you just making this up?

Come now Apagg, it's a fair comment. We don't need a team of independent statisticians to demonstrate the painfully obvious.

Reply 26

Amnesia

2

Trangulor

women seem to be far more sensitive about sexism in adverts than men, according to the figures. less than a third of complaints about sexist adverts are from men (stats from earlier in the thread). perhaps this is why companies choose to make humourous adverts at the expense of men, because they are less likely to have to pull them off the air because of complaints to the ASA.

But even when men do make complaints the ASA don't take them seriously. They are far more likely to uphold a complaint made about a sexist advert towards a woman, than towards a man.

Howard

Come now Apagg, it's a fair comment. We don't need a team of independent statisticians to demonstrate the painfully obvious.

Thanks for the support. You would think that every single post would be full of statistics from the way he is going on. Its not as if what I am saying is even particularly controversial.

Reply 27

Howard

5

Amnesia

But even when men do make complaints the ASA don't take them seriously. They are far more likely to uphold a complaint made about a sexist advert towards a woman, than towards a man.

Thanks for the support. You would think that every single post would be full of statistics from the way he is going on. Its not as if what I am saying is even particularly controversial.

We sometimes go over the top with our reliance on statistics. There is some scope for common sense and "speaking from (common) experience" As a matter of fact I doubt there even is any independent research on this matter (who's going to piss away time and money on something we all know anyway?) but surely to goodness a lack of research doesn't indicate a lack of fact.

Reply 28

Amnesia

2

Agreed. And the fact is that even when there are statistics you have to take them with a pinch of salt, as they can be relatively easily manipulated. I just can't understand how he can deny the presence of these male-bashing adverts. I just hope it does not get as bad as it is in the US where it seems to have beome a sport.

Reply 29

Apagg

13

But the fact is you get both men and women complaining that they are negatively portrayed in advertising. Both sides claim to be hard done by, and claim it to be "obvious" when in fact it is far from it.
Amnesia claimed that "I consistently see women portrayed as intelligent, caring, thoughtful, helpful, superior to men etc etc", backing down only slightly when I provided evidence to the contrary.
There is NO conspiracy by the ad agencies to portray men as worthless. Whenever men are portrayed in a comical way, it is often to make the advert appeal to women. When women are portrayed in such a way, it's to make the product appeal to men. See the adverts for "Nuts", for example.

There are plenty of "offensive" adverts on both sides, and I think it's wise to simply take it in your stride and move on.

Reply 30

Gravastar

11

Anyone, whether they be male or female, that makes a formal complaint about an advert clearly has even more time on their hands than i do.

Reply 31

Apagg

13

Howard

Come now Apagg, it's a fair comment. We don't need a team of independent statisticians to demonstrate the painfully obvious.

He seemed to imply he had such information at his disposal, it seemed a fair request

Reply 32

Trangulor

6

amnesia

But even when men do make complaints the ASA don't take them seriously. They are far more likely to uphold a complaint made about a sexist advert towards a woman, than towards a man.

that too. either way, companies will get into less hot water for portraying negative stereotypes of men than of women.

Reply 33

Agent Smith

11

Isn't this simply a counterpart to positive discrimination on a racial basis - the idea that swinging the balance too far the other way will somehow make the appalling inequalities of the past disappear from history, and that two wrongs (however well-intentioned the second was) make a right?

Reply 34

George_Insull

6

Christ, it works both ways.

Is it not obvious that this type of dicussion is exactly what the point of these adverts is? They pit us against each other and momentarily get our attention, turning us away from far more important issues that 'keep us down'. Remember, happy faces, always happy, don't forget to smile. :rolleyes:

What i don't think is right, however, is when they do it on children's tv and shows aimed specifically at young children. Adults are mature enough to not listen to every piece of junk that they see, but sadly the same cannot be said for kids. Although, why kids watch things like cbbc nowadays is beyond me, it's **** compared to things like Mr. Ben and Top Cat.

Reply 35

Chrism

1

Who cares? Do such adverts seriously affect your quality of life? Does a man drop stone dead every time an advert for Mr Muscle is shown? Calm down, have a cup of tea and relax.

Reply 36

meathead

5

Amnesia

Unfortunately, it has become a popular thing for advertising companies to do. They always seem to portray the man as an idiot and the woman as really smart and intelligent. It is not a great thing for our young boys to be growing up watching. One of the problems is that as well as women, there is a large proportion of wimpy men who actually enjoy these adverts as well.

Frankly, the only 'wimpy men' are those who write polite but indignant letters to the BBC about how a commercial hurt their feelings.

Reply 37

dyslexic_banana

1

I find it unbelievable how so many people are justifying man bashing in advertising, by claiming that it swings both ways, and that women are bashed, too; well, of course, it is possible, if one thinks hard enough, to recall one or two (literally one or two) adverts, in which women are 'bashed', but for every one of these, there is at least twenty, in which men are. Man bashing is now considered the fashionable thing to do, and the only people who claim not to have realised this, are probably men who feel the need to be pseudo-macho and ignore it (considering it 'wimpy', to stand up against women), or women who 'conveniently' overlook cases of sexism against men.

Apagg

He seemed to imply he had such information at his disposal, it seemed a fair request

No; he has common sense at his disposal, unlike you.

George_Insull

What i don't think is right, however, is when they do it on children's tv and shows aimed specifically at young children. Adults are mature enough to not listen to every piece of junk that they see, but sadly the same cannot be said for kids. Although, why kids watch things like cbbc nowadays is beyond me, it's **** compared to things like Mr. Ben and Top Cat.

Yes, it is all the more disgusting, when done in programmes or advertisments aimed at children. I remember observing this, when I was a kid, and I imagine it's worse, or got worse, afterwards. Did anyone ever notice this in episodes of 'Byker Grove', during the mid-late nineties? I found myself wondering if the scripts were written by an ardent feminist, as the storylines seemed to centre around the girls outsmarting the boys, in practically every episode (random example, I now, but it sprung to mind). It is quite perturbing to think as to what message this is giving out, to young children; girls are really going to be hit by a sense of superiority, as many young women these days seem to have. Incidentally, I last year read an article, in which it was reported that a recently-retired teacher (a woman) had come to notice that the young boys were being made to feel not as good as little girls; seems to be a prevailing trend, sparked by this kind of 'man bashing', in the media.

However, on a brighter note, I don't feel that it is quite as bad as it was only a few years ago (as bad as it still is); I think this sort of advertising peaked in the late '90s, so hopefully it'll continue to decline. If only more men would be like 'amnesia' and I, and have the guts to stand up for men's rights, instead of acting like clueless, spineless idiots, like the majority of men in this thread.

Reply 38

stoney

12

I think Amnesia had a point here about these ad's but perhaps we shouldnt take them to seriously, but interestingly when the feminists are doing this if you criticise them then its instantly bad but here men are supposed to just get on with it and "take it like a man" (i.e. its ok to counter our arguements). also some of the other points in that article made a lot of sense to me like the idea of a secret feminist tool (buffy implies dominance over men as does sex in the city) it just seemed to show feminists as the aggressors they are as oppossed to the liberators they claim to be, call me paranoid. I cant quite put my finger on what made so much sense to me in this.