Testicles Wanted. Ovaries need not apply?

Oh, where to start?

Well. This is a real ad, fresh from an Indian ad agency, that I found on Adrants today. Steve Hall's write up is dead on: objectifying men for once, all while excluding women. I'm tempted to apply and see what happens.

Meanwhile, if you want to learn more about the prestigious company that's looking for a few good balls, check out Concept Communication's website. It wasn't what I was expecting from the guys who gave us the recruitment ad above: it's a site heavy with phrases like "quality assurance," "integrated solutions provider," and my favorite, "project-value registration qualification."

UPDATE: Ok- that site I found above was Concept's global site. Here's the India-specific site. Hmm.

Sorry Jerry, you shouldn't have a stinger.

Interesting article on the NYT today, discussing the realities of life in the hive. Poor Jerry's bee seems to be a bit confused. Male bees don't have stingers (only female worker bees do). Aside from the fact that Seinfeld couldn't star in a female-driven movie, I wonder why they opted to make such a drastic change. Even then, couldn't it have worked w/ a male drone bee? Aside from fertilizing eggs, it's not like they do much around the hive. They still could have had a slacker bee character yearning for more.

Where's our Harriet Potter?

My mother works at a library upstate. We talk frequently about books we've read, books we like, books we want to read. I was talking with her on the phone tonight, and she mentioned a conversation she had w/ a co-worker. When thinking of children's books with strong female characters, especially action-oriented books, it was tough to come up with a list. This is coming from LIBRARIANS, so if they're stumped, I don't know what it says about the state of publishing and the heroine.

Plenty of books had girls as protagonists, but most were set in inward-facing roles, coming of age stories, or humorous stories of day to day life/growing up. Lois Lowry's Anastasia books, Ellen Conford's Jenny Archer series, Megan McDonald's Judy Moody are all great. Believe me, I loved them! But where's the girl's equivlant of Harry Potter? (Hermoine- we love you. But you're a straight-laced goody goody. Who do we turn to when we want to manage some mischief?)

Lyra Silvertongue of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy is definitely our answer there. (Besides her, I can only come up with Harriet the Spy, The Blue Sword's Harry [a girl, thank you], and the indefatigable Sammy Keyes. Please please, add to this list.) She's intelligent, courageous, and incredibly quick-witted. Sure, she doesn't have a He Who Must Not Be Named to take on, but she makes do. Her antagonist? Just Metatron and a bunch of rebel angels.

One of the best additions to literature in the past decade, The Golden Compass, the first in author Phillip Pullman's trilogy, is coming to theatres this winter. If you liked Harry Potter, give Lyra a shot. She won't disappoint.


PS: The book is teaming with religious metaphor and philosophy, questioning the differences between personal spirituality and organized religion. Through the course of the trilogy, Lyra comes to symbolize a lot more than a plucky girl from Oxford. While appropriate for a YA audience, the book has plenty to chew on for adults, in a meatier way than a certain boy wizard. If that's not a ringing endorsement, let me put it this way: I willingly read it on a long car trip, knowing I was setting myself up for nausea and a splitting headache. Just couldn't put it down.

Surprisingly doable? Realty gets into the act.

Well, if you saw yesterday's post discussing alcohol and its use of the female form in advertising, then this ad shouldn't come as a surprise. Realty's decided to get in on this act, and has come up with this winner:

Nothing like using condos to say women are property. (Again, note the facelessness and impersonal touch... just a pair of legs. In heels and what appears to be a nightgown or lingerie. In the frickin' kitchen no less. What year is it again? And why is one of the most recent ads I liked from 30 years ago?)

Via adrants.

"Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker!"

And for tonight- a hand picked selection of magazine ads. Not just any ads, mind you, but the finest "We're selling alcohol, not skin, we promise!" ads. Whiskey, vodka, beer... doesn't matter here. We've got scantily clad women.

Is it aspirational? (Ie: Drink this and you'll be as hot as these fine women) or is it... just bull shit?

1. Skyy Vodka- note the dominance/submissive themes at play, and how both models are objectified and faceless. (The viewers are now free to insert themselves into this booze-fueled fantasy.) The man wears a smart navy suit, and the woman wears a bikini as he towers over her, on display. Also note the man's firm grip on the bottle.


2. Chivas- another semi-anonymous woman here. We're free to project our fantasies onto her. Her relation with the product is unknown; she and the alcohol exist in a different physical space: she's confined to black and white monochrome, the liquor meanwhile, in full color. Does this suggest that she's more lifeless than some booze? Also note the bonus copy (right-hand top): "Yes, God is a man." Well, while that may or may not be true, we can tell at least the designer was: a woman sure as heck didn't design this one.


3. Brava Cerveza- Spanish for "The Beer of Summer" or Frat-boy for "Nice Ass"? We may never know. Notice how this woman has been reduced to a single body part. Also, check out the bottles towards the bottom of the page. Great phallus subsitutes, eh? Peicing together the visual messages and cues of this one, I think it's telling us to have anal sex on the beach.

4. Cutty Sark Whiskey. Now we have a full shot of a woman, but where's the product? (That tiny bottle hardly counts!) And if she's sailing, I doubt that she's wearing the most practical outfit.


5. Tabasco Sauce. I know this isn't alcohol, but c'mon, you can tell that it's trying like hell to capitalize on the same type of advertising. Not only is the woman a blank faceless slate for us to project our hot and firey fantasies on, but the product itself is missing from the ad.

Did Tobasco Sauce just beat the beer and liuqor world at their own game? I believe it did! We have a winner.

Time trip! (Or "A few good women")

I stumbled across TV Party, a site featuring vintage TV as well as 1970's commercials aimed at women... I felt like I was in some sort of virtual museum/tourist trap. All of the spots are dated (well, yeah), and some are decidedly hokey.

My favorite? The US Marine Corp- they had a spot that was aimed exclusively at women. Keep in mind that the armed forces had just switched to an all volunteer force and they had to think of new ways to keep enlistment up. I love how simple this spot is- not condescending, not pandering, just a spokesman talking straight to the camera.

You rarely see this type of direct appeal nowadays in ads- especially not in Army/Marines commercials. Flashy graphics, fast cutting, and overwhelming sound effects or a booming voice over are more the norm. And heck, you don't see many women in the newer Army/Marine commercials (if you do, they're wearing make-up, tending to children, ostentatiously as medics. How progressive!). You certainly don't see any spots that reach out solely to them. I wonder why. With the mess in Iraq, you'd think they'd be trying to appeal to as many different able-bodied people as possible.

Be a woman. Be a fan.

I like this new(?) Reebok commercial for women's NFL apparel. As it states, you can be a woman and be a fan- no conflicts. It's great that women are meeting up to watch the game together on their own, no boyfriends, no men-- just as a social girls' activity. Rock on.

My only complaint? The cat fight yowl at the end. C'mon, sorta funny, but ultimately plays to the stereotypes the ad previously was doing a great job to dispel.