All Men Want is Sex and a Sandwich

March 12, 2012 in Film & TV, Gender, Society

Are men nought but bumbling idiots? Unable to complete the simplest tasks, unable to read situations, do things accurately or be normal functioning members of society?

If advertising is to be believed, yes.

I understand that traditionally women are the ones within the household who make majority the purchasing decisions; however when did appealing to women become about man-bashing? My husband once commented to me after watching one of these ads:

The primary difference with how men and women view each other is that men think women are complicated and women think men aren’t.

That’s kind of it, isn’t it? I’ve heard this idea that men are simple so many times. All men want is sex and a sandwich. Women, on the other hand, are these incredibly complicated intelligent beings who understand how the world works and will simply look at their husbands with a withering look, shake their heads and say “men”.

When did this happen? When did feminism become about man-bashing? Has this always been the case? It is standing out to me more and more in advertising and it makes me really angry. I don’t understand why companies seem to believe that by making the man look like an idiot I will want to buy their product. Oh ha ha, he’s so stupid he doesn’t know she’s talking about yoghurt.

How about respecting my intelligence enough to know I don’t want to view men that way? How about not having an idiot in the ad at all? I’d like to be able to suggest that sometimes the woman could be made to look like the idiot, but I know if that happened people everywhere would cry “sexist!” and jump up and down about it.

To the advertisers of the world, a message from me to you: It’s still sexist if it’s making fun of men.

Not convinced? Have a look at these. If you’re pressed for time, watch the Dairy Queen one. Warning: your blood may boil.

Yoplait Light – same ad is aired in Australia for Yoplait Forme

St George

Cave Man/Woman Commercial – I don’t even know what this is advertising.

Domino’s 28 Minutes

Viva “Fast Clean” shower wipes

Knock on Wood – Again, I have no idea what this is even advertising.

First For Women – Insurance for women only.

Dairy Queen – Must watch

Author Info

Tamsin Howse has written 177 posts.
Tamsin is a wife, stepmother and blogger with a passion for people and relationships, fashion and beauty, and an inability to successfully complete household tasks. Co-founder and Editor-in-chief of KiKi & Tea.
Follow on twitter: @TamsinHowse
Website: http://kikiandtea.com

9 Comments »

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http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James

You know what I really think about all of this?…well, I think…OOOOOH! A SANDWICH!!!
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  It’s the pic of the sandwich, isn’t it?
  
  I had to upload that pic when I read out the title of this post to a bunch of men and it started a discussion on what sandwich was the best sandwich in the world.
  
  This one (The Shooter’s Sandwich) won.
  - http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James
    
    To be serious for a moment, I do think Men can give the impression of being less complex than women, but I think that is simply an artefact of our inherent privilege in society…we just have less to worry about, less things to dwell on…
    
    …but to portray us as moronic in advertising is just lazy…
Mandi Aylmore

As much as I hate to say this, I know more women who are that stupid than I do men. Having said that though, I know many men who play dumb, so that the women in their lives do what needs to be done. They get away with murder. They try it out while they are at work, and it’s the younger generation of women (from around my age and younger) who won’t tolerate being manipulated into doing stuff by men playing dumb.

Am I even making sense this morning? Should I have had another cup of coffee?
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  I know many women who like to play dumb too. Who do the bimbo act as a get out of jail free card.
  
  Always have another cup of coffee. Always (but it did make sense).
Melissa Savage

The thing is, denigrating men isn’t about feminism and none of these ads got made because of ‘feminism gone too far’. Feminism is about the idea that roles are not determined by gender. All of these ads are sexist because they portray men as stupid, obviously, but also because they reinforce gender roles, namely that men are too stupid to be trusted with the running of the household or the emotional and nurturing work. Inequality hurts all genders.
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  You’re right. You’re so right. It’s so much more than portraying them as stupid, and it isn’t so much feminism as just advertisers. They think we’ve got the buying power and to appeal to us means putting down men. That’s just not true.
  
  I now have absolutely no intention of buying Viva Glass Wipes or Forme yoghurt.
fender4eva

I’ll take sex over a sandwich, any time. I can always go to Subway, afterwards……
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