Gender equality ft. advertising ft. Zorra
August 18, 2007 2:49 am
Yesterday ZORRA, a Belgian media watcher known for it’s yearly award award for the the most womanfriendly and/or role bending advertisement, opened the ‘Gender & Advertising’ exhibition in Second Life. The exhibition brings together 10 years of advertising conserning gender, stereoptypes and role bending - good example ads, bad example ads, funny ads and controversial ads - of which this one from Mercator Insurances is still my personal favorite.
When asked about why doing this overview in Second Life and not on a webpage, Adalace Jewel said ZORRA prefers SL for the ‘face to face’ discussion, or at least the crazy feeling of social interaction by using an avatar. Because that is exactly what ZORRA is seeking, that after looking at the ad exhibition, avatars sit down at the Gender Square and start to talk about the advertisements they have just seen, especially those who have never had in their first life the chance or the time to reflect on the topic of (in)equality in the representation of men and woman in advertising.
As the exhibition also features a huge sign saying ’stereotypes, consume them with reason’, I wondered how that matched with Miss Jewel’s avatar being one full of stereotypes: a beautiful skin, nice shape and a short coctail dress.
Adalace Jewell: ‘Well, personally I do not mind stereotypes. Just don’t consume them without thinking’.
If you want to check out the exhibition - featuring advertisements from Fortis, Ché, Feeling, … - you can do so by looking for ‘Gender Square’ in Search - include mature results - or by using this SLurl to the Gender Square. If you want a guided tour, IM Adalace Jewel or Zebo Spitteler.
4 Responses to “Gender equality ft. advertising ft. Zorra”
Apart from the topic, I like their vision on using SL instead of a classic webpage..
The discussions CAN be more spontaneous and interactive then on a classic forum.
Big disadvantage is of course.. there is no registration of what has been said before. So, if one isnt there at the right moment, you are even not aware of interesting opinions that you can back-up or fight against..
So the experiment will stand or fall based on the amount of avs visiting the SIM simultaneously..
I am curious though….
ps: why the Mercator one Vint? Had one like that?? :-) They do excist, you know…
-> all you men: go and check your mirror images there.. lol
Well, I replied to you about the mercator one already, but the mail did not get through. Even before posting this. RL owner’s drama class nostalgia. =d
I love your advice to the men though. *grins* (So, this is positive stereotypes, aiwght?)
What strikes me a bit after (re)viewing these advertisements presented on the Zorra sim is: the clash between what they (Zorra) stand for, and the daily reality on SL.
Because they claim to be mainly seeking discussion about the topic, but by putting the ads in catagories, the good the bad and the ugly, they kind of take a stance, even judge.
And if you take a look on the forum connected to their website, most comments on eg the Che ads (a magazine for men) are rather negative.
On the other hand, if you take a look at the average female avatar on SL, what do we see? Hawt clothes, many of us even wouldnt consider wearing them in RL streets, body curves to frustrate even the most skilled plastic surgeon..
(Stereotypes Over The Top)Square, quoi..
Not forced upon us by a marketing campaign, but chosen by ourselves.. free will. In SL you can be what you want, remember?
Seems most of us do like these cliches. Even consider it fun. Equality without excesses is considered to grey.
So, my question is: do the people from Zorra only want to make us reflect on our unholy behavior?? Or do they want to convert us to nice, dull girls? ;p
Now, of course I know that there are girls that meet all the requirements to be considered as stereotypical, just because they are there to please the men (e.g. escorts), or they are even born inside a mans mind (that isnt a contradiction, is it?)
But I think not all of us fall in those categories..
or….??? Help! are we alone here ??
Nah. I don’t think we are alone here. And when I inquired after her ’stereotypical’ look in SL, the lady indeed gave not that a bad answer. Stereotypes are a daily reality, some I like, some I dislike. Most of them are awesome for ‘humor reasons’.
I - unconsciously, I think - stayed a way from stereoptypes in Second Life, although I dress short and have long legs and botox lips too. As the lady said, stereoptypes are part of ‘mankind’, but don’t consume them without thinking. Especially not when it’s about kick ass models with perfect (PS’ed) skin on fashion ads and such. :p
Care to comment?