This clever advertisement for Snickers plays on the gender dynamic of street harassment and seems to have a positive message at first. Construction workers, who are notorious for catcalling as a display of hyper-masculinity, shout at women passing by. Instead of saying degrading things, they say feminist things:
"You wanna hear a filthy word? Gender bias!"
"I'd like to show you the respect you deserve!"
"You know what I'd like to see? I society in which the objectification of women makes way for gender neutral interactions free from assumptions and expectations!"
"What do we want? EQUALITY! What don't we want? MISOGYNY!"
This seems like a great message and a step towards acknowledging the uncomfortable street harassment that women experience from construction workers. However, at the end of the ad, the text reads, "You're not you when you're hungry before showing a Snickers bar." The ad ends by telling the viewer that the construction workers are only saying feminist things because they are hungry, and therefore not acting like their usual misogynistic selves. This is problematic because it implies that construction workers harassing and catcalling women in public is normal. It does not end up tackling the real issue that women are made to feel unsafe on their daily walks to work. I feel that this ad also stereotypes construction workers as uneducated and sexist, which perpetuates the hyper-masculine narrative that these men may feel like they must uphold.
"You wanna hear a filthy word? Gender bias!"
"I'd like to show you the respect you deserve!"
"You know what I'd like to see? I society in which the objectification of women makes way for gender neutral interactions free from assumptions and expectations!"
"What do we want? EQUALITY! What don't we want? MISOGYNY!"
This seems like a great message and a step towards acknowledging the uncomfortable street harassment that women experience from construction workers. However, at the end of the ad, the text reads, "You're not you when you're hungry before showing a Snickers bar." The ad ends by telling the viewer that the construction workers are only saying feminist things because they are hungry, and therefore not acting like their usual misogynistic selves. This is problematic because it implies that construction workers harassing and catcalling women in public is normal. It does not end up tackling the real issue that women are made to feel unsafe on their daily walks to work. I feel that this ad also stereotypes construction workers as uneducated and sexist, which perpetuates the hyper-masculine narrative that these men may feel like they must uphold.