Pop Culture Romance Blog

Usernames: “Molly”, “Sushi Warrior”, “Ace55kg”, “B-Bloggin”, and “Bakerella”

Jennifer Roth

Wome 2113

November 15^th, 2011

Pop Culture: Romance in Food and/or Restaurant Advertisement

     Food and restaurant advertising have a tendency to incorporate male/female relationships into their advertising as to keep ideals of romance in mind.  The advertisements use women’s sexuality, which attracts the male gaze in turn putting women “in their place.”  Most of the advertisements perpetuate women as being the “nurturer” and the men being the “receiver,” while at the same time sexually objectifying women in order to sell their product.   Through our groups analysis of these advertisements, it was determined that many of the ads were geared to capture the attention of the male gaze and promote their product to men, and not so much to women. Through our groups analysis of these advertisements, it was determined that many of the ads were geared to capture the attention of the male gaze and promote their product to men, and not so much to women. 

     The ideas that are embedded in our culture today regarding romance started long ago. This Pepsi ad seems innocent when it is first viewed but with further analysis the constant theme of girls steals boy plays into view. Hollows states, “First, romance is treated as a monolithic and unchanging ideology” (Hollows, 73). Despite the fact that there are many ways and ideas of romance, society still treats romance as one unchanged socially constructed ideology. In this ad the romantic tropes that are played out are boy meets girl but girl with Pepsi catches boys eye. Yet, the girl with the Pepsi is serving the man and trying to win him over. This puts women in a passive role as the man is choosing his prize and women just stand (or in this case dance) and hope for the best.

      The commercial perpetuates a stereotypical family: mother, father and child, the commercial reinforces the stereotypical romantic roles. Mother makes dinner, serves it to husband, it shows her place is in the kitchen and her job is catering to the men in her life. The company uses romance as a selling technique by showing the man is happy with his wife’s cooking skills (and choice of cheese) and so he starts speaking to her romantically and kissing her hand. At the beginning of the commercial the wife is acting ‘normal’ and as soon as her husband starts paying romantic attention to her, she becomes very shy, bashful and submissive. After being put in her place in the relationship (nurturer, caregiver) she is put in her place romantically; showing her submissiveness. Hollows states, “First, love becomes a woman’s vocation, diverting her energies from other pursuits. Second, a woman’s sense of identity and self-esteem depends on a man’s valuation of her as worthy of being loved. Third, romantic love makes women economically dependent on men….”(Hollows, 73). This tells us that like the woman in the advertisement, women need to stay in their place (home and kitchen) please their men (cook, clean and sexual satisfaction) and look good doing it in order to keep their men happy to keep a stable relationship, security and maintain self-worth and esteem.

     We chose this commercial to demonstrate the power struggles within romance settings with a particular analysis at how it ‘keeps women in their place’ in regards to age and race. It has been discussed time and time again the realities surrounding women being hindered by struggles of attempting to persevere through these romance relationship binaries and ideals that have been embedded in us. Cultural depictions like such do not just happen, they are strategic and they are powerful. The power comes within the producer attempting to blindside the audience with underlying social rules and regulations. This is usually demonstrated using an older age group however, for this particular visual portrayal it uses young, easily impressionable, vulnerable children. Hit the target hard at a young enough age so these gendered romance binaries are instilled because any chance of question, or more importantly resistance is unacceptable and socially ridiculed. Aloo Tikki is an East Indian food and some of the actors chosen are of this cultural descent which suggests also that these reoccurring romance standards and morals are not just Western understandings and views but are shared across cultural and religious rifts. Hollows’ writes about women’s obsession with romance literature and describes and links this to some form of an addiction (Hollows, 70). However, I would object that it is not an addictive nature we hold but is something learned and continuously practiced. Proof of this comes from commercials like the Aloo Tikki one, using young, vulnerable minds as their subjects. Hollows also mentioned that these are “claims which are commonly made about women generally” (Hollows, 71), and basically disregards men completely. 

     The idea of romance and sexuality is extremely evident in all advertising in today’s society.  Food and Restaurant advertisements are a critical response to typical gender norms and romantic ideals of our time.  This form of advertising is very common because society has adapted to these ideals, although these advertisements are exaggerated, they are embedded in cultural norms.   Food and Restaurant advertisements have a way of letting women know what is expected of them from society, and they also give men a false perception of how women should act.  These advertisements sexualize women and assimilate into the idea that in order to gain acceptance from the male view they must adhere to certain societal values.  Hallows stated, “In the dialectic of sex, Firestone claims romantic love is pathological she argued: it is love corrupted by the unequal relationship between the sexes and is used to reproduce patriarchy” (Hallows, 73), the combination of these ideals leaves a romantic power imbalance that leaves men more empowered than women.

Works Cited
“Aloo Tikki Nanak Foods”.  www.youtube.com.  May 4 2011.  Nov 15 2011.

Hollows, Joanne. Feminism, femininity and popular culture. Machester: Manchester University.
     Press, 2000. Print

“Kraft 4 Cheese Italiano”.  www.youtube.com.  June 30 2011.  Nov 15 2011.

“Retromercial: Pepsi (1965)” www.youtube.com. 1965. Sat 5 Nov. 2011

Jigsaw Blog Group 1

Pop Culture: Romance in Food and/or Restaurant Advertisement

Usernames: “Molly”, “Sushi Warrior”, “Ace55kg”, “B-Bloggin”, and “Bakerella”

Jennifer Roth

Wome 2113

November 15, 2011

      Food and restaurant advertising have a tendency to incorporate male/female relationships into their advertising as to 

keep ideals of romance in mind.  The advertisements use women’s sexuality, which attracts the male gaze in turn putting  

women “in their place.”  Most of the advertisements perpetuate women as being the “nurturer” and the men being the 

“receiver,” while at the same time sexually objectifying women in order to sell their product.   Through our groups analysis 

of these advertisements, it was determined that many of the ads were geared to capture the attention of the male gaze and 

promote their product to men, and not so much to women. 

      

     Through our groups analysis of these advertisements, it was determined that many of the ads were geared to capture the 

attention of the male gaze and promote their product to men, and not so much to women. 

     The ideas that are embedded in our culture today regarding romance started long ago. This Pepsi ad seems innocent 

when it is first viewed but with further analysis the constant theme of girls steals boy plays into view. Hollows states, 

“First, romance is treated as a monolithic and unchanging ideology” (Hollows, 73). Despite the fact that there are many 

ways and ideas of romance, society still treats romance as one unchanged socially constructed ideology. In this ad the 

romantic tropes that are played out are boy meets girl but girl with Pepsi catches boys eye. Yet, the girl with the Pepsi is 

serving the man and trying to win him over. This puts women in a passive role as the man is choosing his prize and women 

just stand (or in this case dance) and hope for the best.

      The commercial perpetuates a stereotypical family: mother, father and child, the commercial reinforces the stereotypical 

romantic roles. Mother makes dinner, serves it to husband, it shows her place is in the kitchen and her job is catering to the 

men in her life. The company uses romance as a selling technique by showing the man is happy with his wife’s cooking 

skills (and choice of cheese) and so he starts speaking to her romantically and kissing her hand. At the beginning of the 

commercial the wife is acting ‘normal’ and as soon as her husband starts paying romantic attention to her, she becomes 

very shy, bashful and submissive. After being put in her place in the relationship (nurturer, caregiver) she is put in her place 

romantically; showing her submissiveness. Hollows states, “First, love becomes a woman’s vocation, diverting her energies 

from other pursuits. Second, a woman’s sense of identity and self-esteem depends on a man’s valuation of her as worthy of 

being loved. Third, romantic love makes women economically dependent on men….” (Hollows, 73). This tells us that like the 

woman in the advertisement, women need to stay in their place (home and kitchen) please their men (cook, clean and sexual 

satisfaction) and look good doing it in order to keep their men happy to keep a stable relationship, security and maintain 

self-worth and esteem.

     We chose this commercial to demonstrate the power struggles within romance settings with a particular analysis at how it 

‘keeps women in their place’ in regards to age and race. It has been discussed time and time again the realities surrounding 

women being hindered by struggles of attempting to persevere through these romance relationship binaries and ideals that 

have been embedded in us. Cultural depictions like such do not just happen, they are strategic and they are powerful. The 

power comes within the producer attempting to blindside the audience with underlying social rules and regulations. This is 

usually demonstrated using an older age group however, for this particular visual portrayal it uses young, easily 

impressionable, vulnerable children. Hit the target hard at a young enough age so these gendered romance binaries are 

instilled because any chance of question, or more importantly resistance. Aloo Tikki is an East Indian food and some of the 

actors chosen are of this cultural descent which suggests also that these reoccurring romance standards and morals are not 

just Western understandings and views but are shared across cultural and religious rifts. Hollows’ writes about women’s 

obsession with romance literature and describes and links this to some form of an addiction (Hollows, 70). However, I would 

object that it is not an addictive nature we hold but is something learned and continuously practiced. Proof of this comes 

from commercials like the Aloo Tikki one, using young, vulnerable minds as their subjects. Hollows also mentioned that 

these are “claims which are commonly made about women generally” (Hollows, 71), and basically disregards men 

completely. 

     The idea of romance and sexuality is extremely evident in all advertising in today’s society.  Food and Restaurant 

advertisements are a critical response to typical gender norms and romantic ideals of our time.  This form of advertising is 

very common because society has adapted to these ideals, although these advertisements are exaggerated, they are 

embedded in cultural norms.   Food and Restaurant advertisements have a way of letting women know what is expected of 

them from society, and they also give men a false perception of how women should act.  These advertisements sexualize 

women and assimilate into the idea that in order to gain acceptance from the male view they must adhere to certain societal 

values.  Hallow’s stated, “In the dialectic of sex, Firestone claims romantic love is pathological she argued: it is love 

corrupted by the unequal relationship between the sexes and is used to reproduce patriarchy”  (Hallows, 73), the 

combination of these ideals leaves a romantic power imbalance that leaves men more empowered than women.

Works Cited

Hollows, Joanne. Feminism, femininity and popular culture. Manchester:

Manchester University.  Press, 2000. Print.

“Aloo Tikki Nanak Foods”.  www.youtube.com.  May 4 2011.  Nov 15 2011.

“Kraft 4 Cheese Italiano”.  www.youtube.com.  June 30 2011.  Nov 15 2011.

“Retromercial: Pepsi (1965)” www.youtube.com. 1965. Sat 5 Nov. 2011.

Counter Culture: Romance in Household Product Advertisements

Usernames: “Goldilocks", "Meryle Girl", "Regina Filanji" "The Veiled Interpreter", "-tm- blogger"
Jennifer Roth
WOME 2113
November 15, 2011
                                 Romance in Household Product Advertisements
            Household product advertisements commonly use romance as a sales technique to promote their products to women. Through this use of romance, many advertisements reinforce stereotypical ideologies of women and strengthen the socially constructed idea that women belong in a home environment.  Advertising companies embed romance in their ads to remind women of 'their place' in terms of sexuality, race, age, ability, and gender.
            Our group has analyzed several ads and it has become obvious that many advertising companies use sexuality to remind women how to act in the home. They have used romance as a technique to let women know they need to act a certain way when doing her domestic chores. Looking at our example of the whirlpool washing machine ad, we see a woman being portrayed as sexy and having a romantic relationship with the machine (created through use of close ups, lighting, and body language). The whirlpool advertisement makes the woman a sexual object and we watch her create a sort of 'sexual attraction' to the washing machine. She gracefully runs over to the machine like it s her partner. Thanks to these companies, women are expected to live up to these socially constructed standards and act the same way in their home.                                         

                   
                                              http://jimmymingshum.blogspot.com/
        Sexuality is also obvious in the Canon camera ad, where there is a woman lying down on the bed looking sexually into the camera while a man touches her. This romance technique tells women several things. First that they belong in the home, second that they will not be as happy unless they remain in charge of the house, and third that they must look beautiful and sexy while working in the home. Commercials convey this often by having the women wear revealing clothes or making sexy facial expressions while doing the house work. Women are expected to please the men in their lives because romance has taught women they need to be the perfect housewife (good looking, sexual, and put together) in order to be happy. Companies use this to their advantage and remind women they need to buy these products to buy their fantasy life. The use of romance in household product advertisements reminds women of their "rightful place" in the home and that they need to incorporate sexuality into their daily chores to be that 'perfect women'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jiZlwaOkVI

          The image of women that is promoted through these household product advertisements is an image that will increase sales for the producers of the products. It's part of the social location that these advertisers are thrying to achieve, by putting up a typical and ideal social location so that consumers will buy into it. Race is included in this construction because the type of women these advertisers tend to use. Women that you see in ads are usually ones that fit the western mould (UNPAC). Light skinned women are usually the ones that you will see because they are trying to target and reach out to other light skinned women. These moulds that are uses are stereotypical and are also usually racist (UNPAC)- by seeing women not being able to do anything more then just housework and taking care of their families. Seeing women doing these tasks and not being paid or recognized belittles the value of their place in society (UNPAC). Romance is placed onto this by showing the ideal family where white female mothers are the perfect housewife and takes care of the family- two beautiful children and her white husband who always comes home from work to a clean house. You rarely see this family structure with other racial backgrounds. Race also goes along with other features, and types that are included in the ideal image that is portrayed through advertisments.
        Advertisements also use ‘age’ as another strategic technique to target women. In the majority of these household good ads, they portray women who are young, anywhere from their mid twenties to early thirties: the “housewife” age. The idea behind this strategy being that young women are an easy demographic to attack; they become familiar and comfortable with the concept of being in charge of the domestic sphere at a very early age. It is through the use of romantic tropes in the media that these women are introduced or ‘mislead’ rather into the significant oppression present within patriarchal society. It can be viewed as almost a "brainwashing" attempt to establish young women in their place, and keep them there.Through the variety of video/advertisement posts on our blog the use of romance continuously puts women in their place in terms of ability in the home. These advertisements embed the idea that women are only good for household duties such as cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, etc. They do all of these tasks with a smile on their face and sense of accomplishment especially after finding the “perfect” product. Almost all of these women in the advertisements we found are portrayed as the perfect housewife, with such an extreme attachment to their cleaning products. In the post “A difficult Marriage”, we can see that the Swiffer commercial uses this ideology of romance to reinforce this idea of woman and cleaning product that they portray the relationship between the two as that of a marriage. Women are seen by corporate consumer culture as the superhero of cleaning up messes, removing stains, dusting, and other everyday cleaning rituals, as long as they have the ideal product to accomplish these tasks to the best of their “only” ability.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_JpYfScoHs

          Advertising companies have socially constructed gender roles for women through household product ads. They have reinforced the ideal that 'women belong in the home' and they must be 'the perfect housewife'. When your born a 'girl' our patriarchal society has predetermined your place in life; the home. When critically analyzing the 'tide on gender' video and blog, we see that society is not comfortable with little girls 'dressing and playing like little boys'. The mother in the advertisement is rather embarrassed and ashamed that her little girl is not taking on the romantic fantasy that is encouraged in our society. Romance is a tool used to remind women that in order to be happy and make others proud you must buy the products that will allow you to achieve the romantic fantasy that is taught at an early age. According to corporate consumer culture, being a women means your destined to do the laundry and other domestic chores. Companies will direct their ads at women because they know women are supposed to go after the 'fantasy life' created by romantic fiction. With the reinforcement from both the fiction genres and the advertisements, women find it hard to imagine themselves playing a different role (for example 'the breadwinner').

                                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUpZmXPYjZw
             When taking into account all of the factors, it can be seen as completely understandable why women are essentially caught and trapped by these romantic advertisements. Not only do advertising companies cleverly target women by age, race and so forth, but they also use romance in order to specifically target the female psyche (also the male but we will focus on the female). As Hollows points out, romance is seen as an "escape" element for many women; women seek romance to fulfill "their psychological needs, needs which are produced by patriarchy but aren't satisfied within patriarchal institutions" (Hollows 81). Romance serves as a fantasy that some women need in order to be released from the oppression they feel existing within a patriarchal world. Therefore the ideal romance offers a woman the opportunity to feel nurtured, and to allow for the integration of her inner self. Advertising companies feed off these understandings in order to sell products directly to women.       

                                
            http://wheresmyjetpack.blogspot.com/2008/02/furnture-ad-stimulates-lingerie-sales.html
           Take into account this furniture advertisement above that showcases a young white woman gracefully resting on a couch. One can see how the media creates a fairytale-like idea that women can be relieved from patriarchal oppression by finding a loving and nurturing ‘man’; or in this case the perfect piece of furniture. Romance sells the idea that women will not be complete unless they are united with mass amounts of consumer items that will fulfill their lives. However this "relief from patriarchy" does not necessarily exist in reality itself, thus women are exploited through tropes of romance, and continually oppressed. It can be understood that romance itself is a tool for patriarchal domination.
              The fantasy of 'romance' plays a huge role in women's lives. Throughout time, corporate consumer culture has taught women to believe in a specific happy ending. It comes from fulfilling the fantasy of pleasing a man by taking the role of a domestic housewife. Chick flicks, soap operas and romance novels all contribute to the up-keep of this role or fantasy. Women have been pressured to fulfill this ideology and if it is unachieved they are "less of a women". Advertising companies are aware that women want to attain this fantasy and know women are easy targets. Companies purposely embed romance in their advertisements to remind women of their place in the home and that they must purchase the products that supposedly make their "ideal romantic fantasies" easier to attain. The technique of using romance to put women 'in their place' is incorporated in the ads in terms of sexuality, race, age, ability, and gender, and has successfully created an ideal woman in a patriarchal society for all women to uphold to.

Works Cited

Hollows, Joanne. Feminism, femininity and popular culture. Manchester: Manchester University

          Press, 2000. Print.

Jimmy Ming Shum: "New York Canon Camera Advertistment". Blogger.com. 16 Sept 2010.

            Web. 8 Nov 2011. <http://jimmymingshum.blogspot.com/>. Web.

"My Tide Detergent TV Commercial - Hoodies & Cargo Shorts (Long Version)." YouTube.com.

            YouTube, 7 Sept 2011. Web. 7 Nov 2011.

"Spot Lavadora Whirpool." YouTube.com. YouTube, 19 Jan 2009. Web. 2 Nov 2011.

“Stephanie Steams Swiffer Commercial”. YouTube.com YouTube.com, 1 Aprial 2007. Web.  Nov 2011.

UNPAC. "Women & The Economy." March 2003. Women & The Economy: A Project of UNPAC. 13 November 2011 <http://www.unpac.ca/economy/consumers.html>. Web.

Where's My Jetpack?: "Furniture Ad Stimulates Lingerie Sales". Blogger.com. 12 Feb 2008.

Web. 11 Nov 2011. http://wheresmyjetpack.blogspot.com/2008/02/furnture-ad-stimulates-lingerie-sales.html