Nov
2
2009

Sex Sells Shoes?

posted by Joe Cajindos at 3:14 pm.

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So on Sunday afternoon as I was watching the Bears game on TV, I saw a commercial for Reebok’s new “EasyTone” shoes. According to the commercial, these shoes help improve the look of your butt, calves, and thighs. The commercial features a young attractive woman giving information about the shoes…but rather than focusing on the woman’s face as she speaks, the camera is constantly zooming in on the woman’s butt.

Apparently this is Reebok’s first major TV ad campaign in two years. While the commercial may seem like it is targeting a male audience, the product being sold is a women’s running shoe. So is the ad trying to say that women who wear this shoe will improve the look of her butt and thus attract more attention from men? Perhaps I am reading too far into this (or this is just the Media Studies student in me speaking)…but this commercial seems to be the epitome of advertisements that objectify women to attract an audience.

What do you guys think of Reebok’s latest ad campaign? Is it just another harmless, playful way of attracting an audience, or do you think it’s a cheap sexist tactic of using sex appeal to sell their product?

Joe Cajindos: Hermit the Blog here. Bringing you features on movies, TV, music, pop culture, etc. I will be posting the latest entertainment news, movies reviews, music videos, Top 10 lists, and more.

Comments

Amy Harwath (Amy Harwath) says:
(Posted November 3rd, 2009 at 4:26 pm)

I am definitely in agreement that this is the use of sex appeal to sell shoes. It implies that the use of the running shoes will attract attention to the woman’s legs and butt, because they will be so damn fine!
…
Wow, that’s great, just ANOTHER example of women being addressed through media as gullible, vain creatures whose main concern is to have a “perfect” or “hot” body that will attract the attention of (presumably) males.
It also seems really sketchy that a shoe can give you exercise, just because of “balance ball inspired technology.” Really?
This is just an awful commercial. Stupid AND sexist.

I think a lot of people would see this as just being playful, and that women won’t be offended by the prospect of looking great with the help of a shoe. But isn’t seeing it as playful just an indication of how deeply ingrained sexism is in our society, and how accepted these sexualized depictions of women and women’s clothing/shoes are? Ads like these, which tell women that striving for good looks is important, are so common that we don’t even question what the content actually says and reflects about societal/stereotypical views of women.

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