Great moments in advertising
As I tweeted earlier this day, I believe this ad sold exactly zero Snapper Mowers:
I saw it in the office today, sound off; I was compelled to find it online because the women did this fist-bump / finger-flutter thing that made me want to throw a spanner through the set. Then, of course, they arm-wrestle, with a little callback to the “We Can Do It!” WW2 Rosie the Riveter poster. Meanwhile, the men drive around like passive dorks, looking like they're on trikes with motors. I hope there's ice cream afterwards!
Obvious, tiresome, humorless point: the ad would be unacceptable if the roles were reversed. Boring, equally obvious observation: the ad is supposed to be Clever because women don’t talk like this, but of course if the ad suggested in any way that women really don’t talk like this it would be doubleplus ungood. In a just world of gender equality, they would! In fact they do already, but society conspires to shame them if they do. And so on.
The real question is this: what sort of company looks at this ad, considers its target market, and thinks: yeah, that’ll work. Is it possible the real intent of the ad is to make it okay for men to buy a Snapper mower, because his spouse saw the ad and has a positive opinion of the product because the ads were all girrrl-powery and such?
(BTW, they found the woman who posed for the Rosie the Riveter poster. Her name was Geraldine Hoff Doyle. She did indeed work in a defense plant, but as her wikipedia bio notes: "Because she was a cello player, Hoff feared a hand injury from the metal pressing machines and soon left the factory.")
Before anyone gets up in my grill, as I never say, and suggests I have issues with strong women: you should meet my dynamo wife, who has an adamantine spine and a legal mind that makes a leg-hold trap look like a paperclip. It’s not about strong women. I’s about the advertising culture’s belief that expressions of female strength need to be accompanied by milquetoast simpletons, and that men will look at that and think “I’m lame! Dude, you totally nailed it.”
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May '10
Re: Great moments in advertising
The only perspective from which that ad has any appeal is the picture before you press Play.
May '10
Re: Great moments in advertising
James, I am certainly with you on the pervasive emasculation that is prevalent in TV shows and ads today (Perhaps Rob's new show can turn the tide). But I would argue that the arm-wrestling at the end was not an homage to Rosie, but simply another effort to belittle "stupid things that guys like to do". The only stereotypes missing from this ad were scratching and spitting....
Edited on April 6, 2012 at 5:17amJan '11
Re: Great moments in advertising
The woman on the left became head of the GSA (up until last week) the woman on the right became a waitress in Moorhead and received a huge tip from some fellow citizens.
Mar '12
Re: Great moments in advertising
I wonder how idiotic the two actresses felt when they saw their performance on TV? Even if the dialogue was spoken by two men, it would come off as moronic and immature, dude!
Re: Great moments in advertising
Geraldine Hoff at the age of 17. Nice of the Germans to take notice. They say she first saw the poster in 1982, and that she never had biceps like that. She was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Leo.
Also, according to another page, she only worked in the plant for a week, but a UPI guy happened to be there that week and snapped a picture of her.
Two other pictures of the lovely Geraldine, here and here.
And, as I'm sure Mr. L has observed many a time, amazing how in the ’30s and ’40s, the teenagers looked like adults.
Nov '10
Re: Great moments in advertising
I don't think James actually wrote this post, for two reasons:
1 - The use of the word spanner, instead of wrench.
2 - "before anyone gets up in my grill"
I suppose the next podcast he'll say something like "You should really go to Encounter books because it's dope, yo."
I'm making a joke, James...!
Feb '12
Re: Great moments in advertising
The ad worked. You're talking about it.. James Lileks you're such a neo counter culturalist.. right back at ya bro.. flitter finger..
May '11
Re: Great moments in advertising
After they are done mowing, the men get together and sing Viva Viagra.
Oct '10
Re: Great moments in advertising
Kinda makes gals look like a couple of real classy chicks, Hey ?
They missed adding a cooler full of Buds and the porch dogs..
Mar '12
Re: Great moments in advertising
I've always wanted to be turned into a newt. Or is that neaut?
Edited on April 6, 2012 at 6:44amRe: Great moments in advertising
Doc: sure, I'm talking about it, but people talked about HITLER, too.
Sorry for the Godwin. I don't buy the idea that buzz and chatter is an automatic boon; I mean, everyone's talking about Arby's these days because they bailed on the Limbaugh show, and it doesn't make me more interested in buying a sandwich comprised of meat-slurry compressed with binding agents and served with a "Horsey Sauce," which sounds like the nasal secretions of Sarah Jessica Parker.
Mar '12
Re: Great moments in advertising
P.S., I own a Husquvarna. Or as my dealer called it, a "Husky."
Feb '12
Re: Great moments in advertising
James- I take your point but it is just a lawn mower ad. Too bad they didn't have the women in summery mini skirts; as the old saying went (70's) with a skirt that short she could cut grass.. oouch! Now that is a snapper..
Apr '11
Re: Great moments in advertising
The ad just came on whilst watching the news. I have no idea what they were trying to get across. Men are stupid because they talk that way? But the women were talking that way too weren't they? I guess they were being ironic? I agree with James, I don't know exactly what that has to do with the merchandise.
Feb '12
Re: Great moments in advertising
The art of selling.. getting the public's attention out in viewer land. Soft, hard, sly, witty, catchy, irony, corny.. so on it goes. Whether Snapper mowers goes out of business will have more to do with whether their Mowers do what the gals claim they do.. Not with some role reversal to get the viewers attention and it seems the ad does that to date.. Meanwhile in Mali..
Nov '11
Re: Great moments in advertising
Well, she does look a bit like the mechanic from Firefly.
Wait! That's what she looked like at age 17!?
Jun '10
Re: Great moments in advertising
Ken Owsley: I don't think James actually wrote this post, for two reasons:
1 - The use of the word spanner, instead of wrench.
2 - "before anyone gets up in my grill"
I suppose the next podcast he'll say something like "You should really go to Encounter books because it's dope, yo."
I'm making a joke, James...!
Re: Spanner.
It could just mean that James drives a foreign car, and actually reads the manual.
Apr '11
Re: Great moments in advertising
Doc: I've heard of Mali too. But, can you not agree that the upheaval in the role in popular culture of half of American society also may merit some discussion? I don't think Lilekses' point is that Snapper is going be declaring Chapter 11 because of this ad anytime soon. I think his post is about a larger trend, and its disquieting aspects, in one of our culture's last truly communal experiences; television advertising. That the ad gets attention is beyond dispute. What Lileks is saying is another question, and much more interesting than I think you're giving him credit for.
Edited on April 6, 2012 at 7:30amRe: Great moments in advertising
Doc: playing the Mali card is like saying you can't think about your child's report card because the roof needs replacing. We can multitask and prioritize.
I'm fascinated by the messages of ads, and how the tone has shifted over the decades from reinforcing the desires of the audience to expecting them to accept contrapositive messages. Ads still flatter, but now it’s different: you’re savvy and schooled in the ways of media, so you get what we’re doing here, and you get the Humor and the Irony, however disconnected it might be from your actual experience. This makes us Hip and Cool, which matters more than anything.
The old school: this, at 2:08.
Feb '12
Re: Great moments in advertising
james and Eric- I think you're over analysing. There was no Mali card, just ending my point.
Doc: sure, I'm talking about it, but people talked about HITLER, too.
Maybe the guys are listening to the Ride of the Valkyries on their ipods and imagine they're invading Poland and these mowers aren't Snappers but tiger tanks..
Imagination is funny
It makes a cloudy day sunny
It makes a bee think of honey
Just as I think of you
Imagination is crazy
Your whole perspective gets hazy
Starts you asking a daisy
What to do, what to do