Sara N emailed me this and asked if i would post it:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/10/13/a-side-of-hypocrisy-burger-king-ads-make-fun-of-jessica-simpson/?icid=main|aim|dl6|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyfinance.com%2F2009%2F10%2F13%2Fa-side-of-hypocrisy-burger-king-ads-make-fun-of-jessica-simpson%2F
Here is a link to the video.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w5w51kzvUs
The video in the original link doesn't work.
Anyway onto my thoughts: I thought this was actually a really good example of men's relationships. The jokes that they made at Jessica’s expense I so did not get. These jokes revolved around sports, around this idea that Jessica as a woman should be feminine and delicate. My problem with the article is that Burger King is not at all hypocrites. They as most American companies support strict gender ideals. These triple patty burgers that they sell are not marketed towards women, but to men. Just like Hungry Man frozen dinners, and Hillshire Farm meats. Woman may be seen in their ads but they are always in the background, skinny and beautiful. I would accept the argument that they would be hypocrites if in fact they marketed these beefy burgers to women and then criticize their weight. However they are a horrible company that does support specific gender roles for men and women. Take for example the ad for Burger King mini burgers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqdTHqf08jM
Here in this commercial men are seen as using their tiny burgers as "wing men" to get chicks who by the way never commented on how tasty the burger would be or how "meaty" it should taste. Instead they fulfilled the stereotypical view of women, that anything miniature will be ooh and ahh’d over. Anyway my whole point is that Burger King should not be penalized for just making fun of Jessica Simpson’s weight but for perpetuating the idea that Real Men eat huge hamburgers.
Also now I should touch on the men’s relationship factor. Tony Romo was made fun of constantly in the media because of his relationship with Jessica. Tons of times TMZ, yes I do watch that, stated that Tony was doing poorly in his games because Jessica was there, that she was a bad luck charm. He also received tons of crap when Jessica told a magazine that they would pray together. I know nothing about sports and in fact never heard of this Tony character until he started dating Jessica, however I think it would be safe to say that most people knew he was religious. The shocking factor is that people actually called him weak for praying with his girlfriend that she was turning him soft and therefore not a hard go get um football player.