Friday, March 6, 2009

Shamwow: I'll be saying "wow" everytime this commercial shows a traditional gender role



This week, I decided to critique a commercial most of us have seen and like to joke. I am of course talking about the Shamwow commercial, second in ridicule only to Billy Mays. The Shamwow commercial is mostly directed toward women because it is a cleaning material. This can be seen by how many more women appear in the commercial than men do. Also, whenever, women are shown in the commercial, they are seen in a traditional gender role. Women are seen cleaning the kitchen floor and counter, dishes, clothes, and the shower walls. Women are traditionally viewed as the homemaker that completes all of these tasks. In addition, when Vince mentions that you can clean it in the washer, a woman is seen placing the shammy in a washing machine, reinforcing the thought that it is women's job to clean clothes. Whenever men are shown in the commercial, they are either cleaning vehicles outside or testifying that the Shamwow is perfect for such activities. The rest of the testimonials on behalf of Shamwow were made by women, showing that either more women use them or that the male testimonials were cut to focus on the maker's intended audience. Amongst all of this, the person advertising this fine product is a male, showing that males have dominance over females, as was read in Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast, and that women will listen to him and buy the Shamwow. In short, there is not even the slightest snippet of this commercial that strays from traditional gender roles, and the gender ideological ideas that accompany them.

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