Comments on: Selling Products With Sexism

By: Body Image and Materialism « The Situationist

Body Image and Materialism « The Situationist — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 05:02:24 +0000

[...] Selling Products With Sexism [...]

By: Psihobrlog preporučuje 17/03/2011 « PsihoBrlog

Psihobrlog preporučuje 17/03/2011 « PsihoBrlog — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:13:15 +0000

[...] Seksizam u reklamama. [...]

By: Tamara Piety

Tamara Piety — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:00:54 +0000

Doesn’t seem like a huge stretch to me. I agree that it is ambiguous. On its face it could be intended to mean exactly what it seems to mean which is simply that the Jenny Craig program works for men as well. And yet the folks who put the ad together and who greenlighted it cannot have been oblivious to the more subtle undertone as well – the juxtaposition of a female name with “works for men” is metaphorically “down” and “under” to use Lakoff & Johnson’s terminology. Theoretically this could make it appealing to at least some men on two levels: one the literal effectiveness level (although presumably men of even moderate intelligence know that there is isn’t likely to be a big gender difference with respect to the effectiveness of diets so that a “woman’s diet” will be less effective for men; if anything the reverse is likely to be true because of men’s generally higher metabolisms). The second level, and I think what Adam picks up on in this post, is an appeal to male dominance imagery. Whether the folks that made the ad or Jenny Craig intended for the ad to have this effect may be open to question. Perhaps it was entirely innocent. But in a time when millions are watching the sexism of the recent past reenacted for us in shows like “Mad Men” I don’t think it is that much of a stretch.

By: JD

JD — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 16:36:34 +0000

It seems pretty obvious that “Jen Works For Men” means “this program will help men succeed in losing weight, just like it does for women.” They’re advertising that it’s not a program designed exclusively for women. Smart move on their part since I’m sure many people assume Jenny Craig is specifically targeted for women. Your interpretation seems like a huge stretch to me.