Objectifying women to sell almost anything is a
very common trait. Yet, surprisingly, I was still caught in disbelieve at the
way the restaurant in the above commercial uses a woman's breast to portray the
value of a burger.
Humorous it is indeed, but very stereotypical and
sexist as well. In the commercial, an extremely chatty, big-bobbed, blond
haired young woman (who seems to be conversing about how spoilt she is with the
person on the other end of the call) hastily calls on a waitress to express a
concern. The blond woman directs the waitress towards herself using her finger
(which is considered extremely disrespectful, especially in South Africa) but
her playfulness and light high-pitched voice, as she speaks to the waitress,
suggests innocence and perhaps being naive. Of course the commercial moves so
fast that we're forced to forgive this incident.
The blond woman asks about chips (fries) that she
cannot find on her plate, to which the waitress responds by shifting the
customers plate (from under her fairly large, exposed breast) to give her a
better view of her plate, whilst pulling a sarcastic face-making the blond
woman feel "blond"
"The bigger, fuller, bouncier, double-breasted
burger" the commercial immediately announces.
This reflects how women are constantly associated
to sexual connotations to sell products that are as popular as speedy cars to
products that are as insignificant as a burger. We see this in the metaphor
used in the commercial, where the Nando's burger is compared to the woman's
breast suggesting that the burger is, like the breasts, big! Full! Bouncy! And
tender!
Also, by using the typical blond woman, the
commercial poses emphases on the common belief that blond women are careless,
and stupid. Which is stereotypical and extremely offensive. This makes me
question how advertisers think when they put together such commercials but then
I remember that Nando’s is known for having controversial adverts for their “burgers”
Feel free to mention anything that stands out to
you in the commercial.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7yzDSgKNU8
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