This video got forwarded by a friend on a whatsapp group and well it got my goat !
Watch it – Mercedes Advert. Hopefully it got your goat too or did you just laugh it off ? Both are normal reactions, but think for a minute – would you have laughed if this advert showed a dark haired good looking “aryan” male ? First it would be impossible to figure out if the male is “aryan” because Adolf Hitler is dead, otherwise he would have developed an app that classified men as “aryan” or otherwise by now. So the only thing you have to go with is good looks and dark hair… but no one has ever said anything about the intelligence of dark haired good looking men, so there are no pre-conceived notions, no stereotypes to influence your thinking.
BUT, you have been fed this steady diet that “blonde” women are dumb…. “moms” change diapers, “women” clean toilets at home, “short” skirts can be worn only by skinny women, if the house looks filthy the woman of the house is to be blamed, “men” don’t cry, “men” sow wild oats, “women” who sleep with many men are prostitutes or promiscuous, “men” will be “men”, that’s a “man’s” job, a “man” has to put bread on the table, a “woman” has to raise kids, “women” drivers are terrible, only white caucasian “men” can run the country, “women” are weak, “women” who cry at work are no good, you cant work for a “woman” boss, “women” don’t get maths at all, ….. and so on.
And no one questions it, right ? I read on google that this advert was banned. Thank God for that, BUT, a big BUT – it got made by the venerable much loved company, that makes the much coveted Mercedes car. There must have been atleast one “aryan” or “non-aryan” male who approved this advert… and atleast one other some-color-dumb-$@#man who made the advert …. and these two women who agreed to act in it – it didn’t occur to any of these folks that this is blatantly sexist and promotes the stereotype of the “dumb blonde” ??? Thats the problem with the steady diet of stereotypes that you are fed from the minute you are born … like feeding babies with sugar rich infant formula food. Its so easy that you never question the implications. I really want to know what happened to the “aryan” or “non-aryan” male executive who approved this advert at Daimler and the “aryan” or “non-aryan” male executive who made this advert at whichever agency. I suspect they got their promotions regularly, laughed about this advert every now and then and forgot all about it when it got banned.
Does it bother you that am stereotyping the two executives as “men” ? unfortunately, am following a stereotype that says “women can’t be that dumb” … so sleep on that and catch the next stereotype that is dumb and stop it from perpetuation.