An example of a vintage Valentine's Day ad
Valentine's Day has been tied to commercialism for centuries, and complaints about these ties are nothing new. Ads for the holiday tend to focus on promoting cultural norms related to consumerism, emphasizing that the best way you can spend your Valentine's Day is by getting your significant other a gift to make them appreciate you more--often using sexual innuendos to highlight the pros of buying specific goods.
 |
| A Valentine's Day ad from Natan, a jewelry company, with obvious sexual connotations |
Ads like the one featured above rely on sexist messaging to sell products. The message in this particular ad tells male consumers that giving their loved ones expensive diamond rings will literally make them open up their legs. The use of common feminine posture and clothing reinforces this message. It not so subtly suggests that a woman's heart can be "bought," for the right price. Other ads can be a little more subtle with this theme, although such ads don't explicitly discourage the norm created by other ads.
Dairy Queen's Valentine's Day ad from 2016
Some ads, however, take a satirical approach to the holiday. In 2016, for example, Dairy Queen launched a satirical ad which ridiculed the ties between the holiday and commercialism. The ad itself starts out like a typical Valentine's Day ad, featuring a couple cuddled together near a fireplace. The man takes out a gift, giving it to his significant other, who opens it...revealing a red spoon. The ad is meant to promote a new red velvet cake from Dairy Queen. As Megan Gerber points out, the ad pokes fun at the stale, often sexist conventions of the commercialized Valentine’s Day. The ad is ridiculing the notion that buying someone a gift will make them swoon, confronting the cultural standards set by other ads. It should be emphasized that the ad is still actively trying to sell a product, however, sending a message that consumerism is still ultimately the best way to win someone over on Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day ads also tend to focus on gender and relationship norms as well, generally featuring a man and a woman. Some ads in recent years have gone against this established norm, instead featuring LGBT+ couples in their Valentine's Day ads. Lush, a cosmetics company known for its "ethical" stances, launched an ad campaign on social media for the recent holiday featuring same-sex couples. The ads, according to a spokesperson for the company, were meant to show that love transcends gender. While the ads still promoted a product, they went against traditional social norms while simultaneously focusing on couples being together, minimizing the commercial aspect of the ads.
Although Valentine's Day traditionally has been a holiday known for love by both genders, I believe most of the aspects of Valentine’s Day have been targeted more towards women. All women can relate that we often feel that they we aren’t doing enough for our significant other, due to the fact most men are spending their time spoiling us. Such as, going out to dinner, buying teddy bears, and giving us a dozen roses. For us females, we can all say that these gifts are the one thing that we look forward to on valentine’s day. But what really is the true reasoning men aren’t receiving the same gifts as us women on valentine’s day? This is due to the large amount of bias advertisement. Advertisement on valentine’s day all delay the same message to men “If you buy your women this, she will cherish you forever, or she will do anything in return.” Even though many types of media are trying to decrease the amount of gender bias on this holiday much has not really changed nor have been focused on. One thing I have seen happen though in the media is trying to increasingly provide their audience with more of a LGBT movement. One way this has been happening is that company’s now such as, hallmark is providing Valentine’s Day cards that are not just targeted toward men to women, or women to men but now Men to Men, and Women to Women. I do believe that this is a great start to fix the number amount of problems towards Valentine’s Day but there is still numerous amount of problems that must be fixed.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid growing up, Valentine’s Day has always been for two people to show affection to each other. However, now that I’m older I see how commercialized it really is. Society makes it out to be the most important time to show affection to your significant other, more importantly a time for a guy to shell out money for a girl. The media and marketing of multiple different companies doesn’t help this point. Companies choose this single month to allow a guy show a girl how much he cares for her with heart shaped goodies. The media is biased on the grounds that most ads depict men providing gifts for the girls and not equally. This could be a result of stereotyping genders. In some of the commercials I see around Valentine’s Day, is the depiction of men giving women expensive material possessions in exchange for a “reward” later. In the end of all of this, in my opinion, companies are the ones who benefit from this day of love, while most people are left eating overpriced chocolates and dealing with less money in their bank accounts.
ReplyDelete