The atrocity of advertisements.

 Let's have a talk. 

Last night, my dad and I were watching TV. We were watching YouTube and I'm sure everyone can sympathize with me when I say the unskippable ADs are the most frustrating things ever made. We were watching one such AD for an anti-dandruff shampoo. Now, when I say this AD pissed us off so much, I mean it. Not because it was unskippable, but because the way the AD was written. And thinking about it, I realized this is a similar pattern I have witnessed in a lot of ADs. So, with my coffee's companionship, I sat down to break it down and analyze.

Now, This shampoo AD starts off with a guy asking the girl what's for lunch. As she takes out her lunch box, he exclaims, "AGAIN?!". Her immediate reaction to this is he noticed my dandruff. He continues, "the same lunch again?". Now this might seem like a perfectly normal AD but my concern is, why is this girl worried about her looks and dandruff when that guy says again? Do these AD directors really think people go around noticing who has dandruff? Also, I can't be the only one who sees a pattern in these kinds of ADs. Products which are marketed masculine has a woman to appreciate the man or do some other nonsense. The shaving blade ad, for example, has a woman unnecessarily coming in at the end to just brush his shaven chin. WHY? Can a man not appreciate his freshly shaven chin on his own? Men's perfume ADs has a number of women roaming around the man and women's soap ADs has a man mesmerized by the woman's duty and is shocked to learn she is a mom.  

Do you see a pattern or is it just me? OK, I'll be more clear. Why do ADs have to take this weird romantic or sexual angle for every single product they advertise for? What is romantic in being clean-shaved? What is sexual about a perfume? How much more faulty can advertisements get? And don't even get me started on the women's products. It always focuses on female insecurities. The world (as in, men with a superiority complex) expects a woman to never age physically. She should not have bodily hair. Are advertisements for these products are focusing on their insecurities or is it the advertisements that sow the seeds to these insecurities? And another note, when will we stop sexualizing women just for clout? As much as I would love to say that is not happening, 90% of ADs exist to prove me wrong. There are ADs which just focus on sexualizing women to get the appeal of the product. People who have watched a particular "Lungi" AD will know what I mean. 

You see, we talk about feminism and all, but some things are so deep rooted in our society that we genuinely cannot find a problem with the problematic things. Advertisements like these are basically still objectifying women, which we are actively fighting against. Taking women empowering movies are not the only solution to the media side of the problem. We should, as a society, really think about the way women (and men in a few ADs) are being sexualized and objectified for popularity of a product. Is this the marketing strategy that people are learning? If it is, then the problem is more deep-rooted than I initially thought. So, let's discuss. What is an AD that made you feel uncomfortable?

(P.S: I've written out what I felt watching these ADs for years now. I'm fed up to the point where one more ad with their weird and quirky songs and unnecessary visualization of things that are not remotely related to the product, I might just smash my TV. I'm done with this. Thank you.)