This is an ad from 2000 for a women’s Gillette Venus razor ad.
Sex Role Perspective
The ad shows women on a tropical beach/island, all in the same position (laying on the sand with their legs crossed and in the air) and wearing white swimsuits. The ad reinforces feminine stereotypes, as it shows the women looking sexy with smooth, tan, hairless legs.
The ad suggests that women are all to look the same, by having each woman wear similar white bikinis and have pretty much the same skin tone.
The narrator calls women goddesses, but says that the razor gives them smoother legs for a longer period of time, which is “something that every goddess is entitled to”. This shows women that to be a goddess means having smooth and shaved legs.
Gaze Theory
This ad 100% objectifies women and targets the male gaze. The women’s faces in the ad are never shown. The women are seen as robots, in the way that they are all evenly spaced out, and moving their leg all at the same time in the same way. This shows that women are only used for the pleasure of males – having smooth legs.
The song Venus uses in the background says “I’m your Venus, I’m your fire, your desire. This in itself demonstrates that women are used for others (presumably men).
In recent ads, however, Venus changed the lyrics to “I’m my Venus, I’m my fire, my desire”.
Shared by: Megan Jasen
Image Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOToMeTI6eY&ab_channel=OldTVSpots