In this ad there is an image of an asian woman holding a Bk seven incher. If the image was as simple as that it wouldn’t be so bad but it’s her not-so-innocent expression that gives it a negative impression. Her eyes are focused on the sandwich with her mouth slightly open showing her obvious excitement. Not only that, the sandwich also happens to have white substance-I’m assuming mayo- oozing out. The message blow one and swallow only adds to the sexual innuendo. It’s in large black font making it impossible to miss with the words blow one in a special font to make out stand out more. in the bottom right corner is a descriptions thats says ‘fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled with the NEW BK SUPER SEVEN INCHER.’ That sentence sets the picture for the audience. With the visuals, bold words and provocative description it’s hard to interpret this as anything other than a woman giving oral sex. The fact that she looks so delighted to do so makes it very condescending to women and sexist. Though it may be geared towards men trying to play on the idea that this sandwich is just as amazing as what the woman is about to do the negative implications prevent it from being successful. The inappropriateness of this ad also gives parents a bad vibe for fear of causing negative thoughts in hormonal teengares and innocent childern. Overall this ad relied too heavily on the sexual appeals that it failed to do its job of promoting what could have been a very delicious sandwich.
I agree with everything you said in this post. This add was, in a way, gross. I can understand Burger Kings Intentions but their follow through was not good, it failed. While this add may get male attention in mot so sure how much positive attention it will get from women. Most likely it will be negative coming from females.
ReplyDeleteWow this ad was not selling its sandwich very well. Where did you find this? The provocative sex appeal image Burger King used to sell its product only did the opposite. I like how you went so far as to talk about the gooey white substance oozing out which relates even more to the portrayed image of oral sex. One thing that I noticed is that you brought up that the ad is geared toward men and then you go on to talk about parents and children, maybe you should elaborate more on the men.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Apparently I missed this advertising campaign. Your analysis is thoughtful and on-point, Karen. You focus on both the image and text in detail, which is excellent. It might be worth making a quick connection to Bordo--it seems to fit right in with her theory about food and sex and women. I don't know if it's worth talking about race, but the white shirt of the woman makes me think of all of the unfortunate exploitation-of-Asian-women-immigrants scandals in Darien of late--the nail saloons and massage parlors that employee Asian immigrant women--and those businesses double as houses of prostitution. Maybe just a coincidence, but it's interesting.
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