“Men wear the pants!” According to Urban Dictionary, wearing the pants is being the more dominate person in a relationship, many times implying that they have complete control over the other person. This commercial,and the entire Dockers’ ad campaign, is degrading to both men and women. First of all, the message that is being sent to men is that they need to always be tough and in charge. Walking through life without “wearing the pants” is something a man should be embarrassed about. Not just that, but look what has happened since men haven’t been wearing the pants. Cities are crumbling, children are misbehaving and old ladies can’t cross the road. The advise from the advertisement is for men to “put down the plastic fork, step away from the salad bar…get your hands dirty” and stop drinking foamy non- fat lattes.
Not only does this list generalize and make assumptions about gender preferences but, it also insinuates that women can’t survive on their own without men. But, as this article brings up, there may be an improvement to this advertisement in contrast to the Burger King, “don’t eat quiche” advertisement. In contrast to the advertising campaign by Burger King which instructs men to be more “manly” and destructive, Dockers is encouraging men to bring back the chivalry. Pulling out the chair for women and opening doors and being respectful to the elderly. While this point may be true, the overall message that the world is crumbling without men “putting the pants on” overshadows any positive light that could be shown on the commercial.
In addition to putting extreme pressure on men to be in charge and fix the problems of society, women are also being exceedingly degraded in this ad. The blame for everything that is going wrong in the world, the “cities crumbling” are all because women have been on their own running society. They only way to fix all the problems is to hand back over the pants to men, give them the power and control again. In the past women were required to wear skirts and dresses. Wearing pants was extremely un-lady like. As women began to fight for more power and say they were also, indirectly, fighting for their right to wear pants. It showed the authority women had obtained. It started to put women on the same level and equal playing field as men. And now, once again, we start moving in the wrong direction. “Men, Wear the Pants!” is saying “women, nice try but give the pants back to the men.”
It is ad campaigns like this that can’t simply be overlooked and allowed to influence society; especially the younger generations. Little boys don’t need the message engraved in their heads that they always need to be the most powerful and can’t ever let a woman be at the same level as them or even have power over them. Little girls don’t need to be told that men should always be a charge because they won’t be able to do a sufficient job. These are ridiculous messages that need to be addressed and argued against with the truth. Women are powerful, men are powerful and no one gender needs to “wear the pants.”
“Men wear the pants!” According to Urban Dictionary, wearing the pants is being the more dominate person in a relationship, many times implying that they have complete control over the other person. This commercial,and the entire Dockers’ ad campaign, is degrading to both men and women.
Not only does this list generalize and make assumptions about gender preferences but, it also insinuates that women can’t survive on their own without men. But, as this article brings up, there may be an improvement to this advertisement in contrast to the Burger King, “don’t eat quiche” advertisement. In contrast to the advertising campaign by Burger King which instructs men to be more “manly” and destructive, Dockers is encouraging men to bring back the chivalry. Pulling out the chair for women and opening doors and being respectful to the elderly. While this point may be true, the overall message that the world is crumbling without men “putting the pants on” overshadows any positive light that could be shown on the commercial.
In addition to putting extreme pressure on men to be in charge and fix the problems of society, women are also being exceedingly degraded in this ad. The blame for everything that is going wrong in the world, the “cities crumbling” are all because women have been on their own running society. They only way to fix all the problems is to hand back over the pants to men, give them the power and control again. In the past women were required to wear skirts and dresses. Wearing pants was extremely un-lady like. As women began to fight for more power and say they were also, indirectly, fighting for their right to wear pants. It showed the authority women had obtained. It started to put women on the same level and equal playing field as men. And now, once again, we start moving in the wrong direction. “Men, Wear the Pants!” is saying “women, nice try but give the pants back to the men.”
It is ad campaigns like this that can’t simply be overlooked and allowed to influence society; especially the younger generations. Little boys don’t need the message engraved in their heads that they always need to be the most powerful and can’t ever let a woman be at the same level as them or even have power over them. Little girls don’t need to be told that men should always be a charge because they won’t be able to do a sufficient job. These are ridiculous messages that need to be addressed and argued against with the truth. Women are powerful, men are powerful and no one gender needs to “wear the pants.”