On the current affairs Today Show (9/11/05, Channel 9) the complaint from female air stewards of sexist advertising by Lynx Deodorants was discussed.
The TV ad shows the women virtually acting as prostitutes towards male airline passengers - what does that has to do with deodorant? Dr Sarah Maddison, from Women's Electoral Lobby, spoke very well in support of the air stewards. However the interview was timed at 6.55am!! This suggests that the programmers judged the complaint a low priority, or perhaps they wanted to catch women's interest before they went to work while ignoring the fact that, at that time anyone watching would be organizing children and breakfast. Perhaps the programmers need to rethink their priorities.
Men as well as women suffer from sexist advertising. Advertisements that show men as useless in the house or bathroom are not clever. They are usually demeaning and in many cases are offensive. Men now should have a better understanding of how women feel about demeaning advertising.
Women draped over cars really miss the point that most women buy cars these days—it’s not just a boy’s market. We wonder if the young people who make these advertisements really understand the community they serve.
WEL encourages any reader to send examples of sexist advertising to us by email. We will contact the manager of the goods being advertised to ask their opinion of this type of advertising of their products.