Stereotypes: Gender

       

Google Nexus 7

      The topic of gender stereotyping in advertisement has been alive since the start. Advertisers have been known to target a group of individuals with similar characteristics and predetermined roles in order to send there message. As we discussed in class, women have been portrayed in a number of ways since the dawn of advertisements and none so more than the housewife/mother. 

      This ad campaign for Google's new 7 inch tablet demonstrates that this stereotype is alive and well. It portrays a mother and her daughter doing the following:

1.Mother reading a book from the tablet to her child
2.Mother using a recipe from the tablet while she "cooks".
3.Staying at home with her kid
4.Little girl having a tea party
      It is obvious that the company is trying to reach a wider audience with this ad and all of these activities portray a stereotypical stay at home mom/daughter. 

       In addition to the stay at home mom, another ad for the same product portrays a father and son exploring the wild frontier with a little help from their Nexus 7. This version of the ad is much more masculine and 'dirty' and portrays the following:

1.Father and Son backpacking in the forest
2.Father and Son catching frogs
2.Little boy and dinosaurs 
3.Father/Son eating simple hot dog on a stick type of meal
4.Kid getting a bruise on knee

     This ad does confuse me because I thought the whole point of going camping was to get away from all the technology that we use everyday. In my opinion, we should let the wilderness be one of the few places where we can think without a computer helping us.

     However, this ad does have a slight twist in the end as the camera pans out and we find out that they are actually right in their backyard next to their house. Which shows us the lack of 3g/4g connectivity in the product which pretty much eliminates the idea of using this product to the fullest without being next to a wi-fi hotspot. In an article about Google's influence on our lives, one reporter said "we don't think about the technology behind Google's products. We think about how we use it to connect to loved ones, or create special moments. And that's because the advertisements show the technology used in a realistic, albeit corny, way."

    In conclusion, the women are portrayed as clean and stay in doors, as opposed to the men who get dirty and explore the world. I think that this ad campaign has been successful because it does a good job of showing off its products as well as incorporating and involving a large audience (Mother/Daughter/Father/Son). I interpreted this ad campaign in a couple different ways, the Nexus 7 can be used as the ultimate Swiss army knife for the outdoors as well as a culinary tool full of books and information.