Sex roles in advertising

¶ … Jewelry

Bridgestone Commercial

In the commercial, Mr. Potato was driving while Mrs. Potato was on the side complaining about him driving too fast and that he was endangering their lives. Mr. Potato stayed silent throughout the whole ride and ignored Mrs. Potato's complaints on his driving. After a turn, they saw a herd of sheep and Mr. Potato drifted his car to avoid hitting the sheep. Due to his drifting, Mrs. Potato's mouth fell off and dropped down into the mountain and was buried beneath piles of rocks. Mr. Potato had a smirk on his face while Mrs. Potato changed her eyes into "angry eyes" because she wasn't able to speak anymore. Mr. Potato drove away in a fast pace in confidence.

This scenario pokes fun at the cliche moments that many couples deals with in their daily lives. Many times men had to listen to women's chatty conversations and ramblings while all they wanted is to be in peace. Their wants for respect and power are constantly stripped away due to women's insensitivity, which Mrs. Potato has taken away from her husband in this commercial. Bridgestone used this concept of gender stereotype and portrayed it; Mr. Potato's power was ultimately given by Bridgestone's tires, after Mrs. Potato lost her chance to speak and he could drive freely. It delivers the message of how Birdgestone's tires not only give strength to the automobiles but also to the drivers.

If the roles were switched, it would provide a completely different effect. The goal of this commercial is to show the fine quality and toughness of Bridgestone's tires, which ultimately gives power to both the car and the driver. It is rare to relate power to women, or at least the way stereotypes portray it as. Power plays a larger role in males because it is a symbol of masculinity, which works hand-in-hand with automobiles and tools. However, gender stereotypes nowadays has evolved a lot, there are many women with have higher status and more power than men. With the roles switched, the target audience for Bridgestone's tires would appear to be women instead of men. Women would watch the advertisement and feel good about Bridgestone giving women the power they want, while men would find it offensive losing their chance to speak up. This could be effective if target audience were women, however, if not, it would only lose its loyal customers.