doctoral candidate in rhetoric and scientific and technical communication
is this *really* ok?
You don’t have to understand the language in order to get the drift of this video (someone does translate it roughly on YouTube but I’m not going to post that here in case it’s not correct).
I’m wondering, though — is it just me or is this EXTREMELY creepy? It was like a kick in the stomach while watching it.
Why is it still ok to treat women with such disrespect? Why is it ok to use that disrespect to sell goods?
How long will the struggle go on until we are treated with the same respect and consideration that men require (and deserve)?
These kinds of things wear me out. Really.
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I haven’t encountered that in my family here or there. My wife and I get along great, so again, I can’t relate. I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying that’s what goes on there.
You have to remember, Eastern Europe is about 50 years behind the US on these things, thanks to the fact that it was abandoned to the Russians after WWII. Communism played a big part in this by shutting out almost all contact with the West. But things are getting better now, at an accelerated rate. I don’t hear of these sorts of situations with young couples from Romania, which is where I’m from. That’s why I said the choice of subjects was questionable. The situation made sense. The age did not.
I can just imagine the liquor execs behind the ad. Older guys, don’t quite grasp the present. Thought the ad would fit in better with the younger generation by using young actors. Unfortunately, all they did was to appeal to the stupid youth of today, not to the sensible couples that make up the majority of the people.
These sorts of things will die out with time. It’s bound to happen. There’s a lot more interest in communication and compatibility these days. Just 10 or 15 years ago, marriages in parts of Eastern Europe still took place out of convenience or desperation with not finding someone rather than love, trust and understanding. I don’t see that happening so much these days. That’s encouraging.
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I too see images like this in Western Culture. While this particular ad deals with the Eastern European stereotype of the nagging wife (and the misogyny behind it), it’s also part of a structural system across most European and American cultures about women as objects. Gender ads.com has a selection of American ads that actually deal with nagging women. While some of the ads are older, they’re still around today.
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Yeah, it’s wrong, but it’s a cultural, Eastern-European thing. What I mean by that is that some of the older spouses are constant naggers. It drives their husbands crazy. Sometimes you do wish you could just let out all of that hot air and get some peace and quiet, although perhaps not in the way they portray it here.
The unfortunate choice in this ad was to pick young, attractive subjects. If they had picked a fat, balding man past middle age and an old nag, nobody would have complained.
Culture has a big role to play in that sort of scenario. Traditionally speaking, there isn’t much communication between spouses. The men are quiet while the women turn to nagging since they can’t have normal conversations. The situation gets exacerbated with age, till the men turn to subterfuge and find all sorts of ways to get away from their wives or ignore them, while they nag even more out of sheer exasperation. Not a healthy thing, but I hope it helps you understand the background for the ad.