Question

How many of the readers of the Tyee would have been exposed to these ads if this story had not been written? I know I would likely have not seen them otherwise.

The author may have inadvertently given Toshiba more exposure than they would have had she just ignored the issue.

Tacky and stupid.

I'm not sure what that headline refers to -- the ad campaign or some of the men's-rights ijjits in this comment thread.

This is a stupid ad, and sadly, there is a lot of sexism remaining in tech marketing. Go to a tech show, and you will see tons of "booth babes."

Toshiba deserves to be called out on this.

I'm sorry

but in a universe of bad advertising this one isn't hideous enough to register.

Some good points but sexism isn't relegated just to men

Rupp does have an argument, even if it is watered down by a pinch of puritanism and an overextended use of the victimization trope. People are by nature sexist; we just learn to keep it tucked deep inside. Too many men see women as sexual objects. Too many women see men as dim dogs who need to be trained. Rupp could have included the HBO series "Girls" in this article, where all men are sleazy, clumsy and self-involved.

There is far more than meets the eye in sexploitation - in the man's case, it is visual. In the case of women, it is too often implied through verbal put downs. Not to say there is equivalence here; just that a more balanced and nuanced approach is needed when discussing such a complex issue as sexism.

Retro Ad

This ad reminds me of the car ads in the sixties, when I came to Canada. All hype and no information whats however about the product. From my point of view, this company is trying to cover up the inferiority of a product and make it look good. This is a good ad for the actress, I hope it furthers her career.

The return of T&A marketing

Well said, all of it. And very much needed.

More Shannon Rupp, please!

If I am in the market for Tablet-type devices.....

....I doubt that a little T&A is going to persuade me which one to get.

BTW, I already leave "love notes" on cars with offensive drivers.....

You Want to See Some REAL Sexism

and exploitation of women? Just watch Real Housewives of Vancouver. This show is absolutely terrible and I think that Ms Rupp would find more agreement criticizing this TV program than Tosiba advertising. And, a lot more people see the TV program.

By the end of that advertisement...

... if you haven't caught on that it's made with tongue very, very firmly in cheek, you need to educate your own sense of humour, before you start in schooling other people about gender issues awareness.

toshiba tablet ad

First of all if anyone has bought a Toshiba you have my sympathy. We have had 2 laptops, both of which were absolute crap ~ rather like the moronic ad.

Tits and Apps

Get over yourself. With the world, country and provincial economies going to hell in a handbasket, this is your biggest worry?

Cop Out

Marketing through body parts is a mere cop out because it is just too easy to capture attention.

Profanity, sex, and insults in ads appeal to base instincts and therefore are the lowest forms of advertising.

Perhaps there just aren't enough people smart enough to understand any smarter ads than this; maybe this is all people expect and want. That's what a lot of the comments above seem to be reflecting.

I, for one, would like to use my brain to be enticed to buy a product. Remember the PC vs. Apple commercials? Those were fun and SMART on so many levels.

On a sad note, however, I lived in Japan where women are objectified on all levels throughout society - on billboards, on TV shows, in offices, on the streets, you name it. This ad campaign must be reflecting a "Japanese" executive's big picture. It's accepted and acceptable there, on a much bigger level than in Canada.

@ edward01ca

@ edward01ca writes
>You Want to See Some REAL Sexism and exploitation of >women? Just watch Real Housewives of Vancouver. This >show is absolutely terrible and I think that Ms Rupp would >find more agreement criticizing this TV program than >Tosiba advertising. And, a lot more people see the TV >program.

One small problem with this thesis. All the participants on the RHoV are adults who freely choose to participate in the program.

If some women are willing to humiliate and objectify themselves on a trashy TV show hoping they can join "sleb culture" or at least get their 15 minutes and (dubious) bragging rights...well, good luck to them.

Only the very naive or someone with a misguided ideological axe to grind would portray these willing participants as exploited victims of sexist culture.

Who buys Toshiba?

Like a model draped over a car, the boobie show is supposed to divert your focus from their crappy product. You'd have to pay me to buy a Toshiba tablet.

Nothing to do with the sixties.

These videos are selling computers to boys who have spent the last 15 years using them to ogle women.

Toshiba's imaginary target audience have been conditioned to wonder what their co-workers look like doing yoga, and to expect any woman on a screen to coyly make eye contact while dipping her cleavage for the camera.

I choose to believe that Toshiba have underestimated the sophistication of the computer geeks they think they are selling to.

Any purchaser with a degree in computer science will have worked with a dozen asian women who weren't there to be sharked or leered at.

Computer purchasers aren't the sexist, racist, under sexed / over porned geeks Toshiba seems to think they are.

If anything, this add reveals what the children of the sixties think of the children of the nineties.

Picking your battles (Part 1)

There are three different things to comment on here:

First, the ads. Which I had not come across previously, but have now watched three of. I found them funny depictions of a confident woman who clearly has no time for either crappy electronics or guys who think her body-hugging yoga wear is an invitation to anything. If anyone watching the ads starts sniggering Beavis and Butthead-style, I would expect the spraypaint-toting, chopstick-snapping final taglines would jolt them out of it. Biggest complaint about the ads is that they are totally uninformative about the product.

Second, the article. There are two aspects of Ms. Rupp's critique that confuse me. Her sensitivity to a humerous depiction of a confident, sexy woman in an advertisement is perplexing when there are so many much worse examples to choose from -- of women used in advertising as pure decoration, of women presented as a product as much as a consumer, the free-with-purchase bonus gift that will flock to the man who buys a particular electronic device, car, or brand of alcohol. (Nevermind all the ads that focus on a whole different female stereotype, the one who's always cooking and cleaning and looking after the man in her life.)

Equally confusing is the connection to Mad Men. I'm not really sure whether Rupp is suggesting that this is the sort of ad the Mad Men characters would come up with, or if this ad is supposed to represent a similar approach to female empowerment as the show itself. If the former, I disagree. The level of humour in the Toshiba ad, the way they even celebrate female bitchiness, is something that I cannot imagine in a 1960s setting. If the connection is to the show itself, perhaps you have a point, but I do not understand the criticism: the show is known for depicting women who use their sexuality to gain an edge in the business world, but who are much more than pretty faces or male accessories. That seems to be the character the ad execs were trying to create, but I don't see that as a negative portrayal.

Picking your battles (Part 2)

Third, the comments. I've already agreed with those who say the article over-reacts to the ads, but using that as a jumping-off point to accuse Shannon Rupp of hating men, or to use it as the basis for a critique of all western feminism, is an equal over-reaction. What it clearly demonstrates is how sensitive the topic is. On both sides, I think people need to pick their battles, to ask whether the person you are criticizing has actually expressed any of the opinions for which you are deriding them. But perhaps "picking your battles" is the wrong metaphor -- part of the problem is that the issue of gender stereotypes had become so contentious that people seem to treat it as a "with us or against us" battle.

Hakuin, thanks for the link to the "Science: It's a Girl Thing" ads. That is definitely something that disturbs me much more than the Toshiba ads discussed here (all the more so because it was created with the intent of female empowerment).

What makes an ad sexist, in my mind, isn't whether or not it shows tits & ass, but whether it depicts women and girls as simple, soft, and secondary to men, obsessed with image and fulfilled by pleasing others.

@Amelia

Well put.

That bit at the end with the woman shaking-up the can of spray-paint, is a very broad wink -- an acknowledgement that this is a parody of the stereotypical ads, and also a not-so-subtle wake-up to any male jerks who fell for it.

You might say, that was the punch-line to the whole joke.

Flopping boobs are not sexy

Well I admit I just had to go check out who “Joanne Thomas Yaccato” is, this so called marketing whiz. The first accolade on her company’s home page is from…wait for it…Gordon Campbell, former BC premier. That is some good marketing. Hilarious.
Thomas Yaccato goes on to say "Yoga is not sexy. No one's boobs are flopping around. It's hard work,". It is nice to see a woman out there that really knows what men find sexy or not.
Geesh, I hope Lulu Lemon doesn’t use her company, winter would get unsexy really fast but I digress as we all know women’s tight fitting apparel is worn for comfort not to turn heads and market themselves for attention. Right(the men made me do it).
If I hadn’t read this article I would have never known that the only gender interested in sex are men. Thanks for clearing this up.
It was nice to see however that article brings up the 80 percent. We can only hold our breath and wait to see when these 80 percent take ownership of the ill they mostly create. Things like pollution, child labour and all the other great stuff consumerism generates. When will they step up to the plate?
All and all this article is a sad, knee jerk, ill informed piece of entertainment. The editor should be embarrassed but hey anything to bring the numbers up (what better than gender bashing, now that’s good marketing).

Porn on the Rise: No Question

Ms. Rupp, keep on publishing!

It remains extraordinary how the smallest of criticism of our chauvinistic, misogynistic MSM (mainstream media) triggers a tirade of over-reaction. One can always tell when a bully is threatened. Their reaction is typically out of proportion to the comment.

This applies whether one is critiquing the oil industry, the fishfarm industry, the military, or chauvinists. This reaction is so reliable it can be used to tell whether or not an industry or group is rational or ruled by irrational ideology. Rational groups don't lash out.

The great US author Thomas Frank has been studying the rise of sexism in media for several decades, starting with the seminal One Market Under God, and ending with The Wrecking Crew. Ever since the 1970's, Western media has consistently promoted a return to the "good old days" of 1950's gender role models. Dad was important and got to run the world. He could drink, fight, kill and blow stuff up. He might look ok, or he might be big, fat and ugly. That didn't really matter.

Mom was of course the 'gentler sex'. Her life was simple, if she only understood that she wasn't a man. She was to look perfect at all times. Smiling, patient and loving, she was the perfect companion, bedmate, homemaker, and babymaker. Little boys got to grow up to be dads, and little girls would be mums. How cool is that?

For anyone who doesn't understand the deeply powerful effects of advertising and media, re-read Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique. It is as current today as it was in 1963.

The Toshiba ad is no worse than many, many sexist ads filling hours of TV programming. But it is very emblematic. And that is Ms. Rupp's point.

These cloying ads are why we cancelled our cable TV over ten years ago. This has brought many unexpected benefits. Highly recommended.

Great writing from BC's best publications. Right on Tyee!

Wow, just wow

More from the puritan elite eh?

It is a bit of T&A to sell crap, nothing else. Frankly they should make another one with half naked guys, to sell their products to the gentler sex as well.

People who allow them selves to get upset over this kind of thing, really have to much time on their hands.

For the love of God, you will see worse in a shopping mall, or a high school. Some people, really need to get a life, get out of the house and do something with their time, instead of trying to be the Morality Police for the rest of us.

If you don't like the ad, don't buy Toshiba's products, simple. Instead, go buy a kite, or a puppy, or go on vacation. Do something other then sitting around complaining about how the rest of the world should fit how you think it should be, to suit you.

Dan

neither puritan nor censoring nor gender-bashing nor man-hating

Rupp's column is not puritanical (anti-sexuality), it is anti-objectification. Objectification (of anyone) is not sexy!

Pointing out that some comments targeting an author violate the guidelines for this site are not "censorship" : it is simply a call for minimum courtesy (which we all agreed to by signing the terms of use, BTW). These ridiculous personal attacks on an author say far more about those commenters' insecurities than about any substantive issue.

This ad is sexist (as well as objectifying) because it meets the criteria Amelia cites, above: in particular, it depicts a woman as existing to fulfil the male gaze. This observation is not man-hating or gender-bashing: it is about the sexist depiction, not about men as a gender.

Parodic, tongue in cheek? Maybe when the objectification of women no longer bolsters generalized male entitlement that enables and justifies violence against women and girls in our communities, we can all one day laugh about the inanities of early 21st century cultures. In the meantime, ads and media which play into and support male violence just aren't funny, really. The fact that there are worse examples out there is hardly a reason to give Toshiba a pass here.

Rupp is to be commended for this piece -- I will be following her work and the Tyee more often as a result.

@DavidJH

Ummm... No..

This ad is *anti-sexist*. It holds that very objectification you're complaining about, up to ridicule.

It even suggests that those with exhibiting such a sense of "generalized male entitlement" will suffer actual consequences. Just to make sure the viewer "gets" the subversive tone, the chosen instrument of retribution is a can of Spray Paint.

One doesn't exactly need an English degree to see this -- they aren't trying to be subtle.

Hypocritical feminism

I am over 65 and retired. My wife is 9 years younger. She, like most women, gets herself 'ready' to go out in public and when she comes home she tells me how many heads she turned. She jokes about the number of middle aged men that look at her, but 20 years ago it was the 30 something crowd. Same dif.

She wants to be attractive to men for no other reason than it is a validation of her feminine nature. All of the women I know take time to make themselves attractive and being sexual is a part of the makeup, and they are dissappointed if they do not attract attention.

Marketing people know that the human brain has 3 main components. It is the oldest (reptilian brain) that is only concerned with 3 things:
1.) Can I eat it?;
2.) Can I have sex with it?;
3.) Will it kill me?

Marketing people also know that the middle brain (emotional brain) makes most of our decisions and so the emotions are played to. After all, logic (new brain) is very boring. A little from all 3 can be quite successful at marketing.

Oh, and what about the Old Spice commercials with Isaiah Mustafa naked to the waste and talking manly?

I think it would be a sad thing to discourage sexuality in communication. We may as well all be androids in that case. Long live sexuality.

anti-sex idiots.

If I walk in any mall I will see far more breast than this and LOTS of bare naked thigh--some of it pretty high.

I am not about to buy a loptop from any company because a model displays some skin. Actually I'm not going to buy ANYTHING because of skin displays. I enjoy looking at female parts--it is a biological imperative. Is skin flashes all I want from a woman--get serious what sexist nonsense. I get really tired of idiots suggesting that the only reason a man would value a woman is because of skinflashes--now that is SEXIST. YES some women, like Shannon the rupp are sexist toward men. Grow Up!

Thanks to Shannon

The role of the modern citizen is to deconstruct and interrogate propaganda, and you have enabled us to re-examine advertising. That there are so many outrageous accusations of your intentions, suggests to me, there is transformative learning here. Imagine if we all learned how humanity has been objectified to serve the interests of centralized power?

Thanks for a fun article Shannon

Your critique is well-taken and, moreover, if you're willing to put up with the sh#t and abuse in the comments, then I gotta say the comment thread is at least as much entertainment as your well-crafted critique. The added bonus is that the reactionary and (if you'll excuse the term) hysterical objections to your phantom-argument help me to keep tabs on who to ignore in serious discussion and who to look for when I'm interested in smugly laughing at some anony-mouse.

Keep it up. Your insightful writing is a pleasure to read and also important.

cheers
g

This ad operates on more levels than one...

Superficially, it's a sexist ad with a hot Asian chick. Right.

It's also a big finger pointed at the socio-economic class to which she belongs.

She's cast as a serene yoga instructor but she's full of latent rage and engages in violence by vandalizing cars. She supposedly practices the Eastern notions of asceticism and freedom from desire, but look at her clothes, her tattoos, her tits and her lush surroundings... and she's selling a tablet!

This ad is a dog whistle to its yuppie demographic but, when they attend, the message they're given is, "you're all a bunch of phony hypocrites. We know what you *really* want!"

They won't hear the message, of course, they'll either buy in, or they'll react the way our author has. In either case the marketers win, and they get to have their little inside joke, too.

Of course, the most interesting thing about this article (which wasn't fabulous) is the comments. Many of you have your misogynist heads buried up the arse of history.

Oops...

That's not a tattoo, it's a... thing.

Anyway, the rest of my comment stands.

adding an unrelated joke doesn't change sexist objectification

A brief gag about vandalizing cars (which is gender-irrelevant , because the same spray-can crack could've been made by a person of any gender) in no way transforms the overall objectifying portrayal of most of the ad into something liberating. That portrayal diminishes and endangers women, regardless of what follows. For those who can get their heads out of their bodily orifices long enough, try imagining an extended racist stereotype with a knock-knock joke tacked on the end: the initial racism remains just as objectionable.

Sex may be a biological imperative, but sexism is not. Rupp's analysis is about sexism, not sex -- insisting on conflating the two only shows the shallow defensiveness of some commenters.

Generally

I don't comment on my own pieces unless I have something new to add. My thinking is that I've had my say; readers are entitled to have theirs.

But further to Gnam's considerate thought about whether it bothers me to be called names in print: Nah, for journos of all stripes it goes with the territory. Although many of us have observed that women's critics usually fire sexist insults...

Case in point: Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau just called CP's terrific Hill reporter Jennifer Ditchburn a bitch on Twitter. Really. Her crime? She reported, accurately, that the upper chamber's youngest senator is also its most absent.

"while u smile Jen, others suffer. Change the D to a B in your last name and we're even! Don't mean it but needs saying."

Yeah, our tax dollars at work.

Ditchburn has already updated her story to include @TheBrazman's fine tweeting style. And last I saw many a Tweep was having a say about it over in the Twitterverse. You can follow her @jenditchburn, where she's a great source on breaking news out of Ottawa.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/the-youngest-senator-has-worst-attendance-record-of-upper-chamber-160411605.html

Thanks for the lively discussion.