Volkswagen’s “Stop Dreaming, Start Driving Event: Pinch Me” ad campaign is in heavy rotation on Hulu, so I’ve been seeing the same ads over and over again, and eventually it sunk in: there’s a pretty sexist difference between the two ads in this campaign.
The Jetta ad features a female driver and auto rep. The driver is so excited by the Jetta’s performance she asks the auto rep to pinch her. The rep responds, “No, not while you’re driving.”
In the Passat ad, the male driver also asks to be pinched—the performance is just unbelievable. But this time, the (male) auto rep says “Okay” and pinches the driver.
It seems that, unlike men, women can’t be trusted to control a car while being pinched.
For more on sexism in advertising…
Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel – Jean Kilbourne
Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising – Anthony Cortese
And of course there’s this…
Filed under: Advertising, Fail, sexism, television
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