This advertisement for the BMW i3 presented two (assumably) well-known newscasters from 1994 describing their thoughts on the Internet or more so, how little they know about the Internet are they needed to call Allison (I’m also assuming) their assistant to ask questions. Jump forward to 21 years later the two newscasters are sitting in the BMW I three together discussing how the vehicle works if there’s supposedly “nothing under the hood” meaning its electric using wind to run the car. The woman once again calls Allison to ask what i3 means. It’s interesting to see how people communicate through the challenges of learning new technology and how far technology has grown in a short number of years. While this advertisement presented two opposite gender lead roles, I found it interesting how the creators of the advertisement wrote the script in connection with their show back in the 1990s but then added an implied gender roles stereotype. The woman continues to dance at the end of the commercial, to the music playing into the car, telling her co-anchor to loosen up and dance. He replies can you twerk? She stops to think a little bit and then says maybe in response. This unneeded scene for this commercial sexualizes the woman presented through innocent small talk and dance. To ask a woman if she can twerk is not only a bit inappropriate but also an activity that all humans can do but it’s only connected to women. There had been little stereotypical gender roles that were out of the ordinary until the riders added the last scene of the few sentences were guarding inappropriate dance. However, there is something to be said saying that the man was the driver of the vehicle and in both scenes appear to lead the conversation where they both could have equally contributed to. This gives the message that the man is in control of the show, the conversation and the car. Whereas the woman in both past and present scenes had to ask her phone for a clearer understanding of both the Internet and what i3 means. I would say that these are very subtle indications of misunderstood gender roles but actions do speak louder than words in most media.
Shared by: Ashley Evans
Image Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f46Eqd3jyIk