Weeds is a show about a housewife named Nancy Botwin, whose husband dies, shattering her perfect world resulting in her having to get a job but rather than going to typical office job she realizes her beauty can be much more utilized in the marijuana business. 

          Nancy Botwin is potrayed as the stereotypical suburb mom with the slight difference of dealing pot. In the show, Nancy is always seen his her cup of iced coffee, she serves on her kid's school PTSA, loves driving her Range Rover, and attends her kid's sporting events. She was basically the spokeswoman for all suburb moms around the world. 

          Throughout the show Nancy has many lovers and husbands. One that stood above the others was Esteban Reyes the mayor of Tijuana, Mexico. Esteban was being ethnically stereotyped by the show creating into a character who was also a drug lord, ran female trafficking,  distant from his children, obsessed with power, and sole leader of the household. 

          

          

      Can you even count the times that you may have said a racist joke for the pure enjoyment of making others laugh? Many advertising try to do the same thing make a funny enough light racist joke for the sole laughter of their audience. But is this right? I believe that since advertisements are played to a wider audience with different backgrounds that the ad agency or companies should steer clear from any race card that they might play in advertisements. 

    There are also times when an ad agency or company might not even notice the racial conflict that they have created in an advertisement. For example, Playstation's new portable gaming device now comes in white and this is the ad that the company decides to put out. 

In today's society we would think that the battle between black and white was over. But the makers of this ad seemed to not notice the thin line they were walking on while creating this ad. A black women dressed in all black is having her cheeks pushed together by a white women dresses in all white treating her like an animal or dehumanizing her. To think that this was only a few years ago. 

Fast Food joints have been around for quite some time and have all stereotyped among genders throughout the years. For instance, when Jack in the Box first began commercials they followed the bandwagon by bringing in THE BOY BAND.

When this commercial first came in the 90s the hot topic was boy bands, you could not go one day without hearing a hot new Backstreet Boys song. So in order to join the bandwagon, Jack in the Box created their own stereotypical boy band called "The Meaty Cheesy Boys" the members of this band where the spitting image of N'Sync. But just as the boy band fandom faded away so did The Meaty Cheesy Boys. But during the 2013 Super Bowl, Carl's Jr decided to stereotype women by using the Holy Kate Upton. 

In 2013, Kate Upton was on most guys minds so Carl's Jr was able to utilize her to help sell there burgers. Who knew eating a burger could look so good. This commercial got a lot of backlash stating that it was too sexual. I believe that Gender stereotyping is an okay tactic in advertising because both men and women have stereotyped each other and it has increased in today's society. 

Print Ad:

Denotation: In the print ad we have a cartoon fox that is bleeding from the head down with the phrase "Fur Has No Happy Endings". The cartoon fox also had Xs for eyes and seems to be on a stage with a spotlight.

Connotation: This ad was made by PETA, also known as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is an animal rights campaign. The cartoon fox is Tod from the classic Disney movie "Fox and the Hound" who has been skinned which resulted in Tod being covered in blood and ultimately dying. Disney movies always end with a happy ending but unfortunately Tod did not have such a happy ending. 

Television Ad:

Denotation: The commercial begins with a song playing and a view of an empty street with pedestrians walking by. Then a guy on a skateboard comes in a rides down the street and performs a trick on his skateboard. The commercial is very simple and straight to the point. 

Connotation: Huf is a skateboarding retail store, so the ad is showing an everyday skateboarder at work. So the consumer can see themselves perform the same trick and riding down the same street. So since the consumer can do everything the skateboarder in the commercial is doing then they must also have the same clothes as the skateboarder which would be HUF.

Outdoor Ad:

Denotation: For the outdoor ad we have some moss that spells out the phrase "Kids climbing the walls? Help them bloom" and underneath the moss continues spelling out "npower Climate Cops". Along with the phrase the moss also creates two small hand prints. The ad is again very simple.

Connotation: Npower is among the leading suppliers for gas and electricity to UK houses and businesses. Since the use of gas and electricity do not quite help the environment the outdoor ad uses environmentally friendly ways to advertise. The handprints represent kids hands as if though they are climbing the wall and npower is asking the consumer to help the children bloom which Npower is doing because they provide the gas and electricity to the children. 

Alcoa Aluminum

           In the Ad there is the saying “You mean a woman can open it?” with a young women with a her eyes wide open, lips making an “O” shape and lifted eyebrows implementing that the women is shocked. Her hands are not physically touching the cap to the bottle but instead it is making it know that she will be opening the bottle, which plays into the feminine touch strategy.  So with all these tactics going into play it is stating that this fragile woman can open the cap of the bottle, which is made out of Alcoa aluminum. In order to rework the commercial to break the negative stereotypes they would need to include a man into the ad and change the phrase “You mean a woman can open it?” to something that includes that everyone can open the bottle cap.

Hasbro’s Rose Petal Cottage

             In the commercial there is music playing in the background throughout the whole commercial which seems as if though the little white girls in the commercial are the singers of the song which gives the commercial a feminine feeling throughout the whole commercial. Even the lyrics in the song state “Come into my home, a place of my very own.” With the little girls being the actors in the commercial it is stating that it is the little girls home and that in today’s society women run the house.  The cottage itself is painted a light pastel pink with hearts on the door. In order for this commercial to break down gender stereotypes the company would have to create a more gender-neutral cottage and in the commercial have the jingle include boys voices and have little boys playing with the cottage.

Diet Coke Gardener

           In the commercial we have a group of 5 young women all fit, dressed well, happy, and all drinking diet coke. Then we have 1 young man cutting the grass of the park.  The commercial plays along with the long going battle of men vs. women. The women toss down a diet coke to the hard working masculine gardener, who then opens the can insinuating that it is socially acceptable for a man to drink a diet coke as well. The can wets the guy as soon as he opens it which results in him taking off his shirt showing that he is physically fit, which changes the facial expressions of the women from laughing to complete awe over the guy. This can show that the guy is getting the last laugh in the fight between men vs. women as well as the sexual desire that the diet coke can implement between a man and women. By reversing the roles we would have a group of good looking men sitting around drinking diet coke while they spot a good looking women cutting the grass. As well as after the women’s top gets wet she would take it off showing her fit body. This commercial would not be socially acceptable due to the fact that women are not suppose to be working in landscape as well as the group of men sitting at the park gossiping.

     

          When one thinks about the leading innovative technology company, the first that comes to mind is Apple. I mean how could it not. Apple has been able to be the first to provide cutting edge technology to its consumers. Throughout the years Apple has been able to innovate major areas of entertainment such as cellular, music, and now making its way to television. But out of all the products that Apple creates the product that reigns among them all is the Iphone. The Iphone has been leading among smartphones since the day it was introduced.  Apple's commercials play along with their image of being simple, innovative, and fun. Apple has been able to create a product that consumers feel puts them in a certain class or improves their social status.

        But no company can be sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. Like every company Apple has its competitors or fighters who are next in line as a leader but can not seem to pass the Boss. In this case the fighter to Apple would be Samsung. Samsung does not try to follow in Apple's footsteps but instead takes the other path opposite of Apple. This can be seen through their commercials specifically aimed at Iphone consumers.

          72andSunny is a advertising agency with offices in Los Angeles and Amsterdam who has recently been named "Agency of the Year" by Advertising Age.  The agency has an array of many different types of clients such as ESPN, Google, and Carl's Jr. Like many advertising agencies there are internship opportunities at 72andSunny which is known as 72U. The 72U program is 12 weeks long, the internship is located in Los Angeles and the company provides housing for any of the interns that live outside of Los Angeles. If any of my readers have any questions or are interested in the internship you can contact the company at 72U@72ANDSUNNY.COM

          One of my favorite works from 72andSunny was there UNEMPLOYEE ad campaign they did for United Colors of Benetton which was able to bring up a powerful movement but at the same time still sell their clothes. I really hope you take the time to watch the video it has a lot to do with college students and graduates looking for jobs.