Many of you have probably seen the "Women dig it" commercial. A man takes a lie detector test as he answers the question, "Why buy a Paseo?" Two buttons appear on the screen three times. One displays three aspects of Toyota's Paseo and the other states "WOMEN DIG IT." All three times, the man chooses the former and a buzzer sounds indicating a lie.
I saw this ad while watching a basketball game with three men. I asked, "Do they really think women don't buy sports cars?" One man told me, "They're showing it now because women don't watch ballgames." After we established that I am a woman, I asked if he thought I was the only woman watching the decisive Suns-Lakers game. "Women don't have enough money to buy cars anyway," he responded. I don't know if he was joking, and I don't care to ask.
This advertisement is the most unabashedly chauvinistic commercial I have seen. Beer commercials also employ the "impress women" tactic, but they show a social environment. They don't hint that women enjoy standing around waiting for Paseos to drive by so they may throw their Gucci purses in the air and chase after the car in stiletto heels, screaming through fire engine red lips. In addition, in beer commercials, women are invited to purchase and drink beer. Women are not invited to buy a Paseo.
I sent a blitz with the above story to several female friends. It has circulated much of the campus, and I'd like to answer some of the most common arguments I have received.
One dissenting view is this: The commercial is genderly reversed and a button saying "MEN DIG IT" appears on the screen. It's shown during a soap opera.
Such a commercial DOESN'T exist and wouldn't be successful if it did. It doesn't work when one considers traditional roles in society. Men have been stereotyped as the money holders in the family, and the Paseo commercial reinforces this belief. It's upsetting that a Dartmouth student feels he can tell me that a woman doesn't earn enough money to buy a car, if only in jest. I'm not earning an Ivy League diploma so that some day I can ask my husband for a ride in his Paseo.
A female friend of mine brought up the commercial that shows nothing but well-muscled men wearing Levi's and surfing. My response is that it's a clothing commercial and should stress how good someone looks in the product. Women's clothing commercials employ similar tactics. Both aim at specific markets. Further, I am not saying these are right. I am only saying the Paseo commercial is wrong.
Another comment is that the commercial depicts men as stupid, purchasing a car to impress women. If that's how dumb the writers of the commercial think men are, how stupid do they consider the women who admire these men's choices? I know the advertisers may not expect women to hop in the car with these desperate losers, yet the idea is still present. Men can also partly identify with the poor schmuck (as I would if the roles were reversed) and share a bonding snicker about him.
Then there's the popular "why don't you lighten up" comment. My answer is that I cannot. As a woman who enjoys watching sporting events, I am forced to sit through chauvinist commercials each time I watch a ballgame. However, this is the first commercial that has insulted me to the point where I have complained to the company. It reminds me of an incident of years ago.
My family was looking for houses. We all fell in love with this one house. The salesman came over and started telling my father about how wonderful the house was. The salesman did not look at my mother once. My father soon interrupted the salesman with a curt good-bye, and we left. This salesman, much like Paseo's advertisers, saw nothing wrong with what he was doing. Like Toyota, he left 50 percent of his audience feeling neglected, and eventually lost business.
Several women question the disclaimer in my blitz. (It said "For all you anti-feminists out there, this has nothing to do with feminism. It is about being treated equally in a situation where equality should not even be in question.") I have been accused of being "anti-feminist." I am not. "Feminist" is the type of word that is so vague it's exceedingly difficult to disagree with all the ideas it represents. I want equality for women. I do not want it at the expense of men. If this is feminism, then yes, I am a feminist.
The group of women I originally blitzed included feminists and anti-feminists. My intention in writing the article was not to champion women's causes, but to get this specific ad off the air. If I get more people to call Toyota because they consider what they are doing "right" and not "feminist," then my goal is accomplished.
Whether this commercial is chauvinist, anti-male or neither, it is an insulting advertisement and I feel it should be taken off the air.
