#NotBuyingIt
Super Bowl XLVIII Kit
#NotBuyingIt Challenging Sexism in Super Bowl Commercials This Super Bowl Sunday we’re using #NotBuyingIt on Twitter - and through our brand new app - to call out brands which use sexism in their Super Bowl commercials. We’re empowering people to use their consumer power to fight misrepresentations of gender in the media during the most watched television event of the year. Thank you for being a part of this nationwide social media conversation - our goal is to engage over 1 million people in talking about sexism in the media on Sunday. This is not only an opportunity to challenge advertisers and brands to do better, but an opportunity to educate the masses on gender media literacy - and why it matters. Here’s how you can participate: 1. Get the new app, expand the conversation:
DOWNLOAD the #NotbuyingIt App 2. Tweet, A lot All it takes to change the world, to quote Margaret Mead, is a small group of thoughtful committed citizens. Don’t hold back, post to the app and tweet whenever you see sexism during the game - let the world know that you’re #NotBuyingIt! (To make sure they hear you, remember to include the handle of the offending brand).
Tweet #NotBuyingIt 3. Change your Facebook pic! To help spread the word, change your Facebook profile pic and share a link to the official Facebook event!
DOWNLOAD profile picture 4. Write a blog or record a vlog! Before or after Sunday, share why you’re participating in #NotBuyingIt during the Super Bowl, and/or how the experience impacts you personally. EX: #NotBuyingIt: Super Bowl Sexism by Melissa Fabello (2013)
#NotBuyingIt A quick guide to spotting sexism in commercials: Audiences are bombarded with so many images during the Super Bowl that it can be hard to separate the harmless from the harmful. What you’ll be looking for this Super Bowl Sunday are commercials that sexually objectify women and/or present limiting or harmful representations of gender.
What is Sexual Objectification? Sexual objectification is when a person is treated not as an individual, but as an instrument of sexual pleasure. Usually, the person’s personality, feelings, and intelligence is ignored and their worth is reduced to something that will bring the viewer pleasure. We suggest using Caroline Heldman’s “Sex Object Test” to help you figure out if sexual objectification is present in the image/commerical you’re watching. Here are a few examples:
The ad presents a sexualized person as a stand-in for an object:
Fiat’s 2012 Super Bowl commercial compares a woman to a car
The ad shows a sexualized person as a commodity (something that can be bought and sold):
Purchasing women from a vending machine is presented as a male “fantasy”
The ad shows a sexualized person as interchangeable:
Toyota’s 2012 Super Bowl commercial presents women as interchangeable parts of an inanimate couch
#NotBuyingIt What are Limited or Harmful Representations of Gender? People don’t need to be hypersexualized in order for a representation to be sexist and harmful. Examples include: gender stereotyping, dismissing the opinions/voice of women, or marginalizing a woman (depicting her as subservient to men, weaker, less important, less valuable). These types of ads typically feature limiting portrayals of men as well, conveying the sense that they are sex-crazed brutes, unfeeling or unintelligent beings incapable of understanding women. Some examples: BIC for Her, Clorox 2
Dr. Pepper’s ad campaign implies women are weaker than men
Got Milk? perpetuates gender stereotypes about women and men
Another campaign to keep an eye on: #3PercentSB What do women who make ads for a living think about the $4 million Super Bowl spots? Find out on February 2nd when female Advertising Creative Directors and Creatives will gather on both coats -- at Hill Holliday in Boston and The Hive in San Francisco -- to watch the big game and live tweet their opinions of the commercials. Dozens more female Creatives and CDs across the country will add their voices to the mix by live tweeting – using the hashtag #3percentsb!
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