Questionable Advertising Monday: Gender Status Quo

Ah, advertising. It permeates every part of almost every society, from food to politics. We can't get away from it. It also happens to be one of the greatest perpetrators of racism and sexism. Unfortunately even in the twenty-first century still many a good advertising company has created one or two questionable ads.

This week’s ad is “Growing Up Is...” for Nesquik and it comes from the McCann Erickson agency in Portugal.

It’s a rather banal ad for the Nestlé product, but it's…

Well, see for yourself.






There is nothing obviously offensive about the ad, which makes sense as it is aimed at parents, but then there's nothing contemporary about it either. At best it is a lazy attempt to portray male and female children. At worst it is another reinforcement of the same old gender roles. Not only is the imagery sexist, but in the bottom corner of each ad is a list of what “Growing Up Is…” for each sex. Girls get the usual princessy type stuff: caring for animals, kissing, and cake while boys get the usual manly type stuff: space ships, aliens, and …eating dog food? So according to this ad girls are princesses and boys are “special.”

I find it exasperating that this agency couldn’t move beyond breaking children down into their pre-assigned gender roles. Maybe they would have been better off sticking with the bunny.