h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just clocked this over on the skepchicks blog:
http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=7574

I mean, those are real ads? Are there really that many women in the states who don't mind being patronised?

I'm sure those are real ads- in fact, I've seen at least one of them on TV. There are apparently many, many women who don't mind being patronized so. Many who probably don't even realize it. Perhaps some of the same women who are taught from birth that their "purpose" in life should be to be subservient to men, accept less pay for equal work, and "crank out hoards of offspring" (as one of the commenters on that blog so wonderfully put it). Fortunately, there isn't a product among the lot that I'd ever purchase or use anyway.

As an aside, I find it sickening the way that various farm boards, especially the dairy industry, and manufacturers of processed foods manage to convince so many that their products are so necessary to health, not to mention good for bad hair, PMS, etc. Most TV ads are for food!

yes, some good turns of phrase in the comments!

I guess that 'eat sutff, your body needs it. And try to make it a reasonably balanced set of foodstuffs in order to be healthy' just doesn't cut it as brand marketing. Everything has to have some magic power or other. I suspect that trite and annoying acronym 'USP' was mentioned during the meeting!

The question is 'do the women really truly get to have a say in how they are advertised to'. I'm guessing not.

One advert I saw today read 'last chance to buy or lose it forever' now that just really tugs at a shopaholics strings right.

ah yes the 'save now' type things as well - 'I always by the sale items' - I don't - if I don;t need it I don't buy it. 'Save 50% now!' - well actually I'm going to save 100% - now! by not buying the thing!

Do women have a say in how they are advertised to? Hmmm, interesting question, shall have to think a bit about that. Does anyone?

*giggle* Know that feeling. I did buy myself a little something...a little black and white scarf which nobodys noticed yet and I had a £5 voucher to use so treated myself. Work is good for something.

Well we do in that if they advertise badly then they don't get so many sales.
The quality of adverts may reflect more on us in general than it does on the ad-people.

Having said that - and I only briefly glanced at the first ad linked to above as I'm at work - my experience of UK advertising is that it is many orders of magnitude less patronising than those in the US.

But then they may think our ads are rubbish too. We're used to seeing our own culture's ads after all.

I've marketed to audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and from experience you need to me alot more obvious and sometimes patronising to the US audience - regardless of gender. UK (and some of continental Europe) can be more subtle and creative and still get the point across.

True as a consumer we have a choice to buy or not to.

I think the advertising people have tried to paint a picture of their audience in their minds but like stereotyping it is not necessarily true of everyone.

From experience of being in America I feel the US has too many adverts. I've certainly been deterred from actually watching tv there because of it. Maybe Americans are so used to seeing lots everywhere, that like the news they almost switch off from it, thus companies are always trying to find other ways to get to their target audience. Not necessarily the right way, but a way just the same.

The commercials drive me nuts, but they're what pays for the programming, so I usually just push the "mute" button and ignore them.

lots of breaks ...or how abouts water as its so hot there.

Fortunately it's not hot here yet. But commercial breaks are convenient for making , going pee, etc.

Fortunately there's not much on TV I want to see so I don't have to endure too much. And PBS is non-commercial, as it's funded via taxes and grants (and supplemented by subscribers like me).

Ah so you're not an American

Yep, I am. I'm from Chicago. Sorry if I confused you. TV in the US is paid for by advertising, except for publically funded television (PBS) or cable/satellite (to which I don't subscribe).

This is why I like the BBC *no ads* and this website *no ads* I've been put off Facebook because of being bombarded by ads

I've got an add-on in my browser at home that blocks web ads, thankfully. They're more annoying than TV ads, IMO.

leighm - that's interesting in light of the thing I posted above about the Krod Mandoon series.

There's a lot of negative comment on US boards and critics pages because it features a lot of fantasy film stereotypes - scantily clad female, black wizard, very camp gay bloke who don;t do much. So these really obvious stereotypes (which it is actually subverting and hence the humour) they seem to be rather worked up over calling it homophobic and sexist and racist.