Picture Perfect Double Meaning

I stumbled across this advertisement for a Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot camera the other day, and as soon as I saw it the first thing that came to mind, besides the obvious fact that this woman is seemingly unnecessarily standing in a bra with the product centimeters away from "them" (the easiest draw in of all, BOOBS!), was a key point that I heard in Jean Kilbourne's Killing Us Softly 4.  That key point was the concept of women being dismembered at certain points of the ad.  Clearly, in this ad there is a beautiful woman in lacy underwear holding a camera, but the ad not only focuses mainly on the "camera" area but actually goes as far to cut the woman's eyes out of the advertisement completely.  As they say, the eyes are the window to the soul of a human being, so cutting the eyes out of this advertisement dehumanizes the woman, and she becomes whoever or whatever you want to imagine is standing here.  Jean Kilbourne also mentions that through advertisements, women are told that they are "acceptable only if they are young, thin, white-or at least light-skinned...".  Well I guess it is a good thing that this advertisement clearly proves that statement wrong because this woman is obviously not thin or white....oh no wait a minute.
        As well as noticing aspects of this ad that correlated with key points from Jean Kilbourne's Killing Us Softly 4, I also noticed parts of this ad that correlated with Erving Goffman's The Codes of Gender.  In this presentation, the differences between the body language of men and women are compared and contrasted.  Goffman notes that almost always women will be portrayed cradling or barely holding the product conveying that they are never in control of it.  You can see that in this ad as well because the model is gently grasping the camera between only two fingers, and I don't know about you but in real life, I am not holding an expensive ass camera with only two fingers.  Goffman also notes in The Codes of Gender that women are often portrayed as holding themselves protectively as if "the world around them is too much to handle", and this is clear in the ad for the Sony Ericsson camera because this woman has her arms wrapped around herself as if she is worried.  But, maybe she is just cold because she is in some room wearing nothing but a bra.....but you know who knows.
       And lastly, I would just like to point out the delightful little double entendre that this advertisement leaves with its audience.  The bottom of the ad states, "The Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot--stunning picture quality, whatever the size".  Now considering that phrase and the fact that the camera is centimeters away from this chick's boobs, which just happen to be pretty much the main focus of the entire advertisement,  I find that double meaning hilarious.



Enjoy Killing Us Softly 4 and The Codes of Gender here:

Flo From Progressive Has Insured Her Place In My Heart

She looks crazy...crazy adorable

As soon as I was asked what my favorite ad campaign at the moment was, there was only one bright eyed, red lipstick wearing lady that immediately came to my mind.  That lady is Progressive's finest insurance saleswoman known only as "Flo".

So, why do I love her so much?  I've mulled it over on several different occasions, and I always come up with the same reason first.  For me, that first reason for liking her that comes to mind is that Flo looks and acts like my sister-in-law, Rochelle.  When I say acts like, I mean when Flo says something funny, quirky, or weird, it is usually not hard imagining Rochelle saying something very similar.  I would consider Rochelle to be my best friend, hell, most of the time I drop the "in-law" part of "sister-in-law" when introducing her to others.  So when I see Flo, I am reminded of Rochelle, and in that way this ad campaign will always, first and foremost, be able to play off of my familiarity with that character.

As for the general public, I think the formula as to why it works breaks down into two simple reasons.  The first reason is the fact that, YES, to most of us, Flo is very funny, adorably quirky, and maybe sometimes a little bit weird.  These few simple character aspects actually prove to be successful in a couple of different ways.  The fact that this character is funny and quirky immediately catches the audience's attention as well as making the commercial more entertaining.  Also, these character traits make the character more relatable and therefore more trustworthy.  Finally, when the company sends out a commercial that is funny, it sends out the message that the company must also, obviously, have a sense of humor and everyone loves a good sense of humor, right?

Another reason why these commercials work so well is that along with Flo being portrayed as funny, quirky, weird, and charismatic, she is also frequently depicted in the commercials as being friendly and loyal to each customer individually.  Meanwhile, the "other" insurance company guys cannot even remember those customer's names.

Now, in "real" life, Flo is portrayed by actress Stephanie Courtney, who has done other stints on T.V. in shows like Mad Men and in movies such as The Heartbreak Kid starring Ben Stiller.  However, the commercials are done so well, and the actress' performance is so good, that it doesn't matter that I know who it is, my first thought when I see these commercials is never "Oh there's good ole Stephanie Courtney" but usually "Damnit, Flo, stop being so adorable".

(This makes me sound like I am in love with Flo, but I am not in love with Flo........maybe a little.)