I'm not sure when this commercial first appeared, but I caught it for the first time this weekend. The little girl is super cute, and it's pretty funny. Take a look...
I use commercials a lot in my English classes, because they are short and offer a variety of interesting messages. Any course that studies communication can analyze rhetoric easily this way. When I watch this clip, however, I come away with a tough question: what if the genders in the commercial were reversed?
Imagine if this ad featured a little boy approached by his mom, and he told her that dad was the boss. And when she said that actually men and women should work together as parental equals, the boy reiterated that "Nope, dad's the boss." And mom reluctantly agreed.
Would that commercial ever see the light of day? Take a minute to consider what message is overtly transmitted in this ad, but also what is not explicitly stated. This isn't just a promo for yogurt. Is it possible that women often times get some pretty special treatment--dare I say, privilege--in the media?
Imagine if this ad featured a little boy approached by his mom, and he told her that dad was the boss. And when she said that actually men and women should work together as parental equals, the boy reiterated that "Nope, dad's the boss." And mom reluctantly agreed.
Would that commercial ever see the light of day? Take a minute to consider what message is overtly transmitted in this ad, but also what is not explicitly stated. This isn't just a promo for yogurt. Is it possible that women often times get some pretty special treatment--dare I say, privilege--in the media?