Gay Vague

It's amazing how much advertising around us goes unnoticed. It's part of our world, yet we don't always recognize the placement: schools, movies, down the street, a T-shirt, and of course on TV and in magazines/newspapers. When we don't even pay attention to what is right in front of our face, it doen't surprise me that there are underlying messages such as the gay vague idea.
I think gay vague advertising is brilliant. A certain demographic sees one thing and another sees something completely different. This is amazing to me. Our brains see the same exact thing, but process it entirely different. It does saden me that the gay aspect has to be hidden for the more mainstream audience to accept it. Gay people are now a demographic, whereas years back they wouldn't even be considered. This is a step in the right direction, if only a small one.

Hypocrites

I couldn't believe when it was brought up in class that Dove and Axe are the same company.
Dove's "campaign for beauty" was really inspiring, showing what real women look like and that you should be comfortable in your skin. When the campaign began I remember some of the model's on Oprah, and it seemed like such a big step in the right direction. Dove made me naively believe that they might be sympathetic with the feminist cause. I was sad to find out how wrong I was.
Axe commercials are on the whole are usually more funny than sexy, but at the price of degrading women. I don't disagree with Axe's advertising tactic. The product is aimed at young men, and of course most of these men want women to find them attractive, if not irresistible. The commercials do what they're supposed to and making men smell better in the process. I think it's sad that women are objectified and seen as something to obtain, but these women did choose to do the commercial and we can choose not to support it. I for one don't support it, but I really don't count since I'm not their demographic.
Apart, the products aren't anything to really get upset about. However when you look at the entire picture, you see that the company feeding you "love how you are" is also telling you curvaceous horny women will love you if you use their product. It's sickening. This was an eye opener and I will definitely be a more contentious consumer in the future.

When Gender Doesn't Matter

I was upset lately reading an article in the New York Times. A woman was kicked out of a women's restroom at a New York restaurant because someone had mistaken her for a man. A male bouncer came into the restroom and told her to leave. When she tried to show him her identification, he refused to look at it and proceeded to throw her and her companions out of the restaurant altogether. She is suing the restaurant, thank god.
The whole situation is unsettling. Even if she were a man, she wasn't causing any problems using the restroom. The male bouncer made more of a problem barging into the restroom than someone using it. The fact that he would not even glance at her id shows that even if it had said female, he wouldn't of cared or possibly even believed it. The problem didn't stop there. He followed her back to her table and made a scene so that her table left. This prejudice or snap judgment may have been from just one person, and not the restaurant, but I'm glad that this story is getting the publicity it deserves. No one should be treated this way regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, dress, status, you name it.

Minority doesn't equal Maid

In many television shows and movies, minorities are depicted in helping roles. I was watching Weeds the other day and realized that the only Hispanic characters were maids and the only black characters were drug dealers, although the main character is a white drug dealer. So many times in the media we are given the Mexican housekeeper who teaches the children Spanish and talks behind the employer's back. Of course, not all Hispanic people are maids and not all maids are Hispanic but I believe it's detrimental to only show that race only in subservient positions.