Current event I.
Unilever is the company that makes deodorants, in UK and Australia they are recognized under name Lynx, in the rest of the world including Czech Republic as Axe. This campaign has been launched in November 2005 in australia, and looked like if it was advertising for a new airline called LynxJet. The theme of whole campaign was based on idea that sex sells. TV spots were introducing a board crew which was compound of bunch of really sexy girls that were willing to do for their customers almost everything. This campaign used also telemarketing strategy. Very sexy voice was leaving messages on answer machines of young man and boys all around the Australia, and results were, that very few of them did not call back. Lynx/Axe is well known all around the world as a company that uses a strategy of sex selling products all the time. They are making web pages were people post their own videos which are supposed to look like ones done by professionals. They created some sort of buzz marketing around their products. Internet in contrast to other media is almost no regulated at all, so there were no barriers in putting this sort of commercials on-line. In my opinion LynxJet campaign was at right time at right place.
In my opinion, as a television viewer, the Internet user, and a female, the Lynx’ advertisements, or at least some of them, should be banned, because of their portrayal of women as sexual objects. In these commercials girls are shown as males’ servants, whose task is to please men, meet their wishes and desires. This can create a wrong image of women, how they should behave and look, in men’s eyes. Moreover, the way the female characters in these advertisements look, can make an illusion for women that this is how a perfect woman, who is loved by men, should look, that is being similar to Barbie doll, thin, tall, with lots of cosmetics, wearing sexy outfit. As a consequence, after watching such videos, some women become dissatisfied with their bodies, start using all possible methods, even life threatening, to lose weight, undergo plastic surgeries, which may further lead to various mental and physical illnesses.
In my opinion, as a television viewer, the Internet user, and a female, the commercials by Unilever Company should be banned, because of their portrayal of women as sexual objects, whose task is to please men, meet their wishes and desires. This can create a wrong image in men’s eyes of how a woman should look and behave. Moreover, these advertisements can make an illusion for women that an ideal woman, who is loved by men, should be similar to a Barbie doll, thin, tall, with lots of cosmetics, wearing sexy outfit. As a consequence, many women may become dissatisfied with their bodies, start using all possible methods, even life threatening, to reach the ‘ideal’.