In last week’s BCM class, we discussed on Feminism and what it meant to each of us individually. So today, I thought I’d share my thoughts with you guys over here!
In our discussion, my group and I had come to a common consensus that we believe feminism is combating the stereotypes forced upon us and standing up against objectification. For many years, women have advertised and put on display to promote products such as chicken, cigarettes and even common soft drinks. Not only that, we have been victims of degrading slurs to make us look like nothing but an inanimate object when we sure as hell are more.
My group looked into one advertisement in particular that was done by a very well-known restaurant around the world, Nandos. Nandos, India, developed a series of ads, yes, A SERIES, not just ONE ad, but a series of ads that objectified women so disgustingly.
Revolting isn’t it?
So, this week, my team and I decided to combat this ad, with an even BETTER ad. We developed an advertisement that showcased that women were more than just ‘hot chicks’. But hey, that’s not denying that we are very hot chicks!
In our ad, we used women like Angelina Jolie, who was a humanitarian and Lady Gaga, who is an extraordinary artist. These women are known to be huge advocates for women empowerment and are big figures in their respective job. We cut out their pictures and we pasted their glorious titles around them and covered them with a pull away picture of a chicken. Why? Like I said, yes, we are hot chicks on the outside, but we’re also strong, independent, caring and extraordinary women.
In the previous week, we also talked about public spheres in Singapore and is there even one? Well first off, to simply put, a public sphere is an area where people can come together to speak about societal problems and hopefully influence a change.
One very popular controversial advertisement that had the whole world talking was Dove’s campaign back in 2017. The advertisement showed a black woman changing into a white woman and caused a widespread of anger among people of color. Since the advertisement was released, it brought up the issue about racism in America.
This issue was discussed everywhere especially online and was even talked about by people with a following. One example, was makeup artist, Naomi Blake who tweeted, “the tone deafness in these companies makes no sense”.
Keith Boykin also tweeted, “Okay, Dove…
One racist ad makes you suspect.
Two racist ads makes you kinda guilty.”
Due to this, the issue on racism in America was more agitated than ever. News outlets from all over the world picked up on the story and reported it. Even our locals news, Straits Times picked up the story and published it.
People were angry not only because this was Dove’s second racist ad, but also because it was already in 2017 and they should have known better than to be so careless. It was brought about in multiple public spheres and people were demanding to be heard.
Now, does Singapore have a public sphere? I don’t think so to be exact. Not one as well done as the ones in countries like Australia that’s for sure. However, I do feel like because we’re lacking our very own public sphere, we seek to use different platforms to help us like Facebook. With that being said, I believe that we should start opening up and allowing Singaporeans to speak their minds publicly.
chelsea evangeline smith 
Hey Chelsea!
I was not aware that Nandos had such a shallow advertisement to advertise their brand and I like how your team provided with a creative comeback to tackle the atrocious advertisement with the ‘chicken curtain’ to reveal a few out of many women in our society that represents being a woman is more than just being an object for marketing strategy!
Now that you’ve mentioned it, I realized that women are used in a lot of advertisements around us to promote the products. Do you remember when being a ‘car girl’ was quite common back in the day? I wonder what was the point of having girls dressed in skimpy outfit loitering by the showcased cars. It turns out, it was actually to attract more customers. Some said that it is to appeal to the female consumers but … there seems to be another reason for that.
Speaking about public spheres in Singapore, I think it would be a fresh idea to have such in Singapore to allow citizens to discuss the current social issues we have in our country. I believe that our input as citizens might be helpful for the government to take in as consideration to improve our society holistically.
Look forward to your next post! 🙂
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Hey Chelsea! Really enjoyed reading your blog post! It really is disconcerting how so many ads try to appease towards the male gaze. This is super prevalent in the video game scene like how female characters tend to be designed with more revealing clothes compared to male characters and that’s a pretty big turn off for me. That’s why games like “Arknights” where most of its female cast is actually designed with functional clothes, that’s not one movement away from a wardrobe malfunction, is a huge breath of fresh air!
Your Nandos and Dove ad examples really help to illustrate your points! Those really are some tone-deaf ads. Sure, India isn’t the most progressive country but to be that obvious with your sexism is just yikes. I’m glad people can have their voices heard in the public spheres and let these companies know that discrimination is not okay. Good luck with your next blog post! Just one more and we’re free from blog post hell!
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