This commercial screams child conditioning. It features two little girls who have a play cottage in their room. The entire cottage is in soft and light colors, geared toward a young female audience. The name "Rose Petal Cottage" suggest exclusively a girl vibe.
The ad features many accessories for purchase including the sink to wash dishes, the oven to bake, and a washer to do laundry. Throughout history, women have been plagued with the domestic duties of the home. It wasn't much of a question because the concept had been so deeply rooted through society and advertising. The ad is blunt in showing that they hold no responsibility in breaking the stereotypes. The little girl who "owns" the play cottage has one friend with her, another girl. There are no males present in the entire ad. The only element this ad is missing, to finish off its blatant use of gender imbalance, is to have a little boy come into the scene at the end with a little briefcase and tie and sit down to rest on the "chair accessory."
Another piece of the ad shows a baby and crib accessory complete with a changing table and rocking chair. True that a real life baby would require all of these "accessories," but why in the commercial is the little girl shown doing everything herself? Aside from the cooking, serving, dish washing she does, she also changes and rocks the baby to sleep. The lyrics of the upbeat and bouncy song sing "taking care of my home is a dream dream dream." The entire commercial shows the little girl with a smile, showing you how happy she is to do all these house duties. The ad is conditioning young girls to get them ready for their "duties" should and would be as adults. Children are innocent and naive so an ad like this is easily accepted and absorbed, which advertisers of course know.
Advertisers have a responsibility to break the gender role imbalances in advertising. The commercial can be reworked by adding a young boy into the scene as well. The cottage can feature more neutral colors and a name change. It would be doable to leave the "accessories" they show, but also tie in some masculine elements as well. They could do role reversal where the boy is cooking and the girl is fixing something with play tools. They could also show the boy and girl doing the house work together instead of individually. A good change would be to place the cottage in an outside setting rather than indoors, this would help to subside the "domestic" feel.
Advertising has such a huge impact on society views themselves and each other. In a sense, gender roles are perpetuated from what they show us, especially if its repetitious. A step in the right direction for society as a whole, could stem from what advertisers produce. Be creative enough to not reply on gender stereotyping to sell the product.
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