I love pointing out the sexism in commercials, because it is important that we recognize them. I did a paper on this a while back and I wrote about how commercials are presented on a subliminal level and the messages they send can creep into our subconscious whether we know it or not.
Here's another one that's been annoying me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kty9w4eW1s

Use paper plates (fill the landfills!) so you can spend less time washing dishes and more time with your kids. It's certainly not about your own convenience or your own time, because as a mom, you cease to exist as a person with any life outside of feeding your family. Like Sarah Haskins said!

Grr. This makes me so mad. It goes along with all the commercials with women using various cleaning products. Subliminal message: women, only you can do housework....

Grr. This makes me so mad. It goes along with all the commercials with women using various cleaning products. Subliminal message: women, only you can do housework....

Oh God! I was totally talking to my mom about this, well not the pink cottage but cleaning commercial. I was telling her how all the commercials feature some idiot man who doesn’t know how to clean and then the woman steps in with some amazing cleaning product. My mom said she found it ironic that Mr.Clean is male, but she then said that was typical because of course men invent cleaning products women just use them. I really wish they would stop doing that shit. And why the fuck does everything have to be pink? Like what the hell?

I was just wondering if they also include “play” divorce papers the little girls sign after doing their laundry and making the cup cakes? Just wondering…

I pretty much agree with all, except one: 10. Safe Sex. I remember seeing this commercial when it first leaked into the internet, and I couldn't stop laughing. I understand the blogger's perspective, however, I don't see it as a "every time a father looks at his child, he sees a condom he wishes he'd bought" message. That kid is having a pretty nasty tantrum, I don't think that's enjoyable on any level. I'm pretty sure that there have been moments where most parents have said to themselves "I should have used a condom." I'm pretty sure my own folks have thought it once or twice, and I was a relatively OK kid.

There's a wealth of awful commercials out there. Heartless Doll has a similar roundup:

http://www.heartlessdoll.com/2008/07/the_top_10_worst_commercials_for_and_about_women.php

Ive thought this for a long time, teaching young girls that baking, cleaning, having babies and keeping house is your destiny while boys (lets not forget this works on two levels here!) can only do construction work and go to war. I have a younger sister (Shes 36 now) and I can remember her recieving a toy tool set for christmas from some uncle or another and she played with it for years! I never had a doll no matter how many times I asked.......

I had never seen the commericial before. It nly came out a year ago? Thats pretty sad. I remember I inherited a kitchen set from my old sister. I remember also turning the refrigerator into a boat.

I think it's fine to have kitchen/cleaning/housekeeping toys, as long as they're marketed to all kids and not just girls. It helps kids learn familiar & necessary household routines... everyone needs to know how to take care of themselves. All sorts of toys should be marketed to all kids... then the kids themselves will find their preference. If a girl chooses to play with kitchens and dolls after being given multiple options, it's much better than if she was just forced to play with that stuff.

I wrote about the other, non-song version of this commercial for an article on sexist commercials in a zine I made for my Sociology of Women class. I distinctly remember my jaw dropping open in horror the first time I saw it on TV, and yelling "DID YOU JUST SEE THAT?!" to my brother. Therefore, I'd also have to call this one my "favorite" as well. Unreal.

I agree with L-K on number 10, to an extent. That could just have easily been a woman thinking "why did I forget my bc that day?" "why didn't I insist on a condom?" "why didn't I get an abortion?" My boyfriend and I certainly talk about how we both really like kids, until they start screaming. That's when they go back to their parents. And we're not having kids until we know we're ready to deal with that. I think the inherent sexism in this commercial is how its okay for a guy to wish he had never had that kid. It's even funny to know that he's thinking that. If it were a woman, it would seem cruel and she would be fending off accusations of not loving her son. This kind of sentiment is seen everywhere. I can think of a great example of this in the moving "Knocked Up." What's his face is talking about how he wished he could go back to that moment and tell himself to use a condom. Katherine Heigl has a stony look on her face, and I can easily predict why. I spent the whole time thinking "you don't think she's worried about how she's going to handle having the kid? You don't think she's freaked out and has wished she made you use a condom? Don't you fucking act like you're the only one dealing with this." It's like when MRAs complain about how they get stuck with child support cause some chick "tricks" them into getting her pregnant. They get to fucking live a normal life, only disrupted by a monthly check. It's the woman who's life goes all topsy turvy. Women are taught from an early age that they have to take responsibility for having kids, and they generally do. Guys get the hero worship if they stay in the kid's life, and, so long as they pay their child support every month, don't get any sort of social repercussions if they don't stay in the kid's life.

So that commercial does portray societies inherent sexism based on the fact that if it were a woman in that situation, it wouldn't be funny.

So yeah, I don't think it belongs in the top 10 though.

I am so glad I read this while I was at my parents house. I went straight to my mom and hugged her for buying us a toy kitchen AND a tool bench when we were kids. I spent many a day drilling through plastic pancakes...

I remember the baby doll, the toy vacuum, the doll house set,the pink bathrobe, and the fluffy bunnies and teddy bears my parents gave me. Now this was back in the early 90s. I don't necessarily blame them- my parents are loving and just simply thought that little girls like to play with "little girl" toys. Of course it is not a big leap for any child to take those toys and use imagination:

Me for instance, I put all of those stuffed animals on our living room couch, borrowed my brother's computer game joystick, and pretended I was a commercial airline pilot. Or there was the time I experimented with the plastic dolls from the toy house to see how long it would take one of them to melt in the microwave. Or there was another time I dressed up as Lawrence of Arabia in my pink bathrobe (have a pic of that). Or another time where I used my toy vacuum as a bass guitar (have a pic of that too) ...

This is so over the top it almost scans like parody.

Taking care of my home is a dream dream dream? Yeah, sure it is.

Also prepubescent pregnancy isn't cool.

Last year for christmas my sister bought her 2 yo son a toy broom. It sings a little diddy while your sweeping about how much fun it is to sweep sweep sweep. Seriously, it's the cutest toy and Tucker absolutely loves it! He carries it everywhere with him and one of his favorite games to play is sweep the kitchen. And, he's really good at it.

One of my good friends bought her 4 yo son a toy kitchen set last year because he loves to hang out in the kitchen with his daddy while he is cooking. She was pretty bummed out, because everywhere they went all of the kitchen sets were pink. Not that she was against buying a pink set (which she eventually did) just that it's so ridiculous how "gendered" all of the toys are.

Anybody every tried to buy gender neutral baby clothing for their pregnant feminist friends? Quite possibly one of the hardest things I have ever done.

My brother rocks, not only is he the principle care-giver, but when my now 8 yo nephew asked fro a doll's house, he and my sister in law got him a functional one with family of wooden peg dolls. He spends hours playing with the dolls telling the most intricate stories. They also enrolled him in dance lessons where he is very popular with the ladies! His little brother would rather play ball!

I remember one of my younger cousins had a similar playhouse, which was also made by Mattel I believe, which was essentially a drive-thru McDonald's. They had numerous plastic fast-foods such as burgers, fries, cola, because it is never too early to indoctrinate your child with the idea that deep-fried food, high-fructose corn syrup, capitalism, and sub-standard minimum wages are fun! but more importantly, normal.

My brother rocks, not only is he the principle care-giver, but when my now 8 yo nephew asked fro a doll's house, he and my sister in law got him a functional one with family of wooden peg dolls. He spends hours playing with the dolls telling the most intricate stories. They also enrolled him in dance lessons where he is very popular with the ladies! His little brother would rather play ball!

Oh my gosh! I should have had this as a little girl- maybe it would have better prepared me for the ACTUALity of my 20's: A teeny tiny apartment with intermittent water service where I took care of my infant as a single mother! Although, at least the little girl in this commercial had her own washer/dryer. I had to drag my ass to the laundry mat. And my cupcakes are like leather too.

I remember seeing that commercial and my jaw dropped. I mean I am constantly amazed that everyone buys the sexist pink v. blue commercials and biased toy b.s., however this cottage commercial takes it one step further. Little girl playing house,yes, it's been done, but to have a little girl playing house...doing laundry, dishes, caring for a child...by herself...and then calling it her dream?! That's disturbing. Is it bad enough that the toy exists and that there are no boys in the commercial? Yes, but this goes beyond and is disgustingly blatant sexism. STOP LITTLE GIRLS! YOU ARE TOO CLOSE TO BECOMING WHATEVER YOU WANT TO BE! GO HOME! DO NOT PASS GO! DO NOT COLLECT $200! CLEAN HOUSE! THAT IS YOUR NEW DREAM!!!

I remember seeing that commercial and my jaw dropped. I mean I am constantly amazed that everyone buys the sexist pink v. blue commercials and biased toy b.s., however this cottage commercial takes it one step further. Little girl playing house,yes, it's been done, but to have a little girl playing house...doing laundry, dishes, caring for a child...by herself...and then calling it her dream?! That's disturbing. Is it bad enough that the toy exists and that there are no boys in the commercial? Yes, but this goes beyond and is disgustingly blatant sexism. STOP LITTLE GIRLS! YOU ARE TOO CLOSE TO BECOMING WHATEVER YOU WANT TO BE! GO HOME! DO NOT PASS GO! DO NOT COLLECT $200! CLEAN HOUSE! THAT IS YOUR NEW DREAM!!!

I notice the "optional accessories" didn't include a play bookshelf full of feminist literature.

Or why not a toy bottle of valium? REALLY tell them what the feminine mystique is all about!

Welcome back to the 50s girls... However, even more dangerous than these obviously sexist ads are the ones which give us a nice cosy message, but are not exactly honest. I refer, in particular, to the "Dove" campaign, which encourages us women to accept ourselves in all our varying shapes and sizes, runs self-esteem workshops for girls and contributes to charities aimed at raising the status of girls and women. This all sounds FANTASTIC until you are made aware that the Dove brand is owned by mega-giant corporation, Unilever, which runs highly sexist ads for other cosmetic brands it owns. It has come under particular criticism for its ads for a shower gel product called "Axe". For a take on the current Dove ad, and to see the Axe ad,including banned versions, go to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwDEF-w4rJk
I love the way they change the slogan from "Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does" to "Talk to your daughter before Unilever does".

Is it Axe that does that commercial where the guy in the bathroom has hundreds of tiny women wearing jet packs shooting up to his nose from out of the body spray bottle? They all look like they're having orgasms while competing to get to his nostril first. I actually thought someone had dosed me with acid when I saw that one...

I do hate color-coding children (pink=girls, blue=boys). I have never liked pink; I think it is a God-awful color...on me. Looks great on others though.

But I think what gets me more (about girls toys in general) is their lack of diverse functionality. As a kid my mom bought me the ORIGINAL Tonka Toy Construction Trucks (the bright yellow ones with lead in them...probably). Not only could I haul sand in my sandbox, ride them down the street, use them to pick up my toys, they were monster trucks to my Lego cities, and the envy of every little boy on my street. Besides all that, they served as great locks to my bedroom (even mom can't break through a row of metal trucks, all lined up against the door and me bed).

Stereotypical "girls" toys have nowhere near this level of functionality. I say this based on the fact that having been a daycare teacher for 3 years. I never once saw the "girls" toys being used beyond their obvious purpose (kitchen=cook me dinner, doll=baby, little boy=daddy who goes to work, little girl=mommy/sister who stays at home and takes care of home and family). That kitchen could have been the science lab of the evil mad scientist, that doll a creature terrorizing Lego cities, and the children could have been anyone/anything beyond their socially designated roles.

Though I have sworn off having children (daycare work does that to you), lets speak hypothetically: IF I have kids, and IF I have a little girl, I'm going to buy all her toys at really old toy stores where the toys aren't painted and are far more creative and (IMO) far more functional. :-)

To add to my earlier comment about Unilever, they also market a product called "Slim Fast". It's on their web page, Unilever.com, if you want to see. Yeah girls, accept who you are in whatever shape and form you come like the "Dove" campaign says, but if you do happen to get a tad on the heavy side, our Slim Fast product will help you back to within acceptable proportions.

To adminassistant: The Axe product is not available in the country I live in (yet!) so the ads I have seen for it are on the youtube link I have included in my post above. In the one featured, a guy in a gym having a shower falls through the floor, naked, into a women's aerobics class. All of the women are beautiful in the usual stereotypical way. He is at the front of the class covering himself, but then begins to join in throwing all modesty to the wind. The ad concludes with him leaving the class and "bumping into" a very attractive woman in a very sexually provocative manner. All this happens from using a shower gel!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, this is from the same company which brings you "Dove".

I don't know about others, but it makes me feel angry to have my supposed insecurities as a woman exploited by a company in a very clever and subtle advertising campaign like "Dove", while the company that owns the brand remains hellbent in continuing the very sexism it claims to be fighting, in advertising other products it owns.

bwahahaha, those silly bastards. they indoctrined me with their play houses and toy kitchens, but instead of becoming a housewife (not that making an informed choice to be a housewife is at all wrong) i want to study industrial design and design furniture and appliances, and build furniture too! with tools! power tools!

When I worked in marketing research I got to see some of the early Axe commercials. To my knowledge "Supermarket" never made it past the animatic stage: it had a Standard-Issue Sexy Female in a grocery store, asking the demonstrater (voiced by a pre-stroke Dick Clark) in a breathy, seductive voice, "Is it true that Axe makes women do ... strange things?" He explains to her that it's just a "deodorant body spray", and demonstrates on a cardboard standup figure that's it's sprayed "under the arms and across the chest". He then asks if there's anything else she wants; in the same breathy, aching-with-lust voice she moans, "Yes ... do you have any ... bananas?"

As far as sexually polarized toys: in a catalogue of brainy-and-creative toys for brainy-and-creative kids of brainy-and-creative parents, I saw a two-page spread of chemistry sets. Fully half a page was devoted to girls' chemistry sets. Yes, girls do like chemistry. At least, the sort of chemistry that involves adding scents to pre-made creams and lotions and bath gels. This is girls' "chemistry", I guess, in the sexually-polarized-toy world.

I think the problem is that there are so many parents who either like this idea of separating boys and girls' interests, or who just don't care about sexism. The amount of parents out there who actually are worried about their sons and daughters being plugged into society's molds for men and women are few and far between. So the media plays towards those people who want their kids to fit those molds, knowing that most people either encourage it or don't give a crap one way or another.