Whos the Man
I challenge you to find a current TV advert where the male character is not a buffoon, inept, hen-pecked, wrong or the butt of a joke.

PC has made being male, wrong.

I realise this is not entirely in the spirit of this QOTW, but i just had to let off steam.

/ends rant.
//Gets wife to get a cup of tea after she has finished the ironing.
( BadBadman saw an incorrect comma placement on, Tue 27 Nov 2007, 21:26, 19 replies)

It's been like that for a long time.
Man comes off worse, woman looks smug. Except from a car advert where they race to a fountain to see who can have the car, but the bloke turns back halfway and jumps in the car whilst the woman does a victory dance in the fountain.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Tue 27 Nov 2007, 21:30, closed)

Yes.
Because advertising never typecasts women into obsessive-compulsive housewives or sex kittens, does it.
(seanfish, Tue 27 Nov 2007, 21:57, closed)

THIS
I fucking hate it.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Tue 27 Nov 2007, 21:58, closed)

That one for Flash kitchen cleaner
...where the bloke and his son are watching the footie and trick his stupid trout of a wife into thinking they have done all the housework.

Have I won?
( Scaryduck LIKES EGG, Tue 27 Nov 2007, 22:20, closed)

sorry scaryduck
You do not win as the assumption in the flash ad is that watching football is somehow 'forbidden' and that they have chores to do...the wife comes home smug and superior...not a win I am afraid
( BadBadman saw an incorrect comma placement on, Tue 27 Nov 2007, 22:49, closed)

However
Charlie Brooker's reasoning is that men in adverts are all twats. Witness:
youtube.com/watch?v=wiwmYjk9ARA
(jizzools, Tue 27 Nov 2007, 23:05, closed)

It's taken this long
for me to find a post to hit approve to.
Well done sir.
*And* it's like that on "The Archers" as well.
( I_Was_Mordred, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 1:25, closed)

I noticed this years ago
I suppose that's how to make women buy stuff. Just like you make men buy stuff by pretending it's got stealth technology in it.

I feel better knowing I'm not the only one who's noticed.

edit: obviously the arsehole in the picture loans ad is the exception.
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 1:34, closed)

I accept your challenge good sir,
The new advert for SMA, where, *shock horror* the dads are actually taking care of their babies.
(ToysForBigBoys would spread her legs for Nick Clegg., Wed 28 Nov 2007, 8:09, closed)

talk to most married women
and they'll tell you most men ARE weak-minded and pathetic morons. And it's these women who are the target audience of those ads. Behold - the trickery of advertising!
(frankspencer, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 9:22, closed)

BANG!!!!
surely Barry Scott can't be regarded as a buffoon, inept, hen-pecked, wrong or the butt of a joke!

all he is there for is to tell us how hardcore the product is.

and he's right dagnammit
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 9:26, closed)

ToysforBoys wins
so that's one ad out of 10 gazillion. You win Google.

Sorry Vipros - Barry Scott is an android and therefore doesn't count.

Thanks for all your comments. Glad I'm not alone.
( BadBadman saw an incorrect comma placement on, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 9:47, closed)

.
ToysForBigBoys: Listened to the voiceover on that ad recently?

Vipros: The latest ad, informing us that cillit bang is now twice as powerful, features a diluted Barry Scott. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at that meeting..
(misanthrope is so adjective he's verbing nouns!, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 9:48, closed)

?
What about the gay sailors that squirt on the posh aftershave? Or the chiselled go-getters in the car ads?
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 10:44, closed)

some analysis:
Men are traditionally assumed to have the dominant position in society.

Mocking the dominant is generally seen to be a very different (and less threatening) thing compared to mocking the less dominant, who are less able to protect themselves or answer the mockery.
(haberman is singing in the changes, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 10:52, closed)

.
Thats true, and perhaps the next big thing in advertising?
A city trader tips an old lady out of a wheelchair, turns to the camera and says "The new Audi RS-OL. Better than tipping an old lady out of a wheelchair".
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 11:04, closed)

Dear Haber
While that may be correct, it has gone too far.

Can you imagine the Diet Coke Break Ad with the gender roles reversed? Would it get aired?

I doubt it.
( BadBadman saw an incorrect comma placement on, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 11:10, closed)

Hello Boys!
Yeah of course it would get aired!!!

What about the wonderbra ad? Or any of the Lynx ads?
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 11:47, closed)

@badbad
"Can you imagine the Diet Coke Break Ad with the gender roles reversed? Would it get aired?"

Probably not -- because while women-ogling-bloke still has (just barely) a sense of novelty about it; blokes-ogling-woman is neither novel nor interesting. Because of this, it wouldn't work as an ad (unless done with superhuman cleverness) well enough to offset the negative responses it would generate.

Personally, I find the "idiot bloke" ads quite irritating too, albiet less so than "white coated einstein-alike scientist" ones. Nevertheless, these things are not without context, and so it's worth thinking about that occasionally.

Edit: silly browser! wonderbra ads are not aimed at men, and Lynx ads cannot be taken seriously. Selling to men using a group of men ogling a pretty woman is rather different. To get into the light-hearted territory of a Lynx ad the woman would have to be unattractive or wearing a great deal of clothing (or similar).
(haberman is singing in the changes, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 11:48, closed)