Like some of the other posters on this blog, to me one of the most interestingly obvious contrasts between the attitudes of Brits and Americans as a whole towards certain media is the reception of suggestive content. Overt sexuality and profanity still isn't accepted as a cultural norm (unlike Amsterdam, where I spent a weekend getting unintentionally exposed to LOTS of things I had never seen floating around unassumingly in broad daylight), but it seems like the use of "subtle" innuendos is a lot less subtle and a lot less controlled than it would be back in the States.
On one daytrip into London, I happened to look out the window as a double decker bus drove by. A seemingly innocuous ad for some type of ice cream was plastered across the side... at least it seemed innocuous until I read the huge text emblazoned underneath the brand name. I'm not 100 percent sure what the promotion with the ice cream itself was (I think they were calling attention to a new chocolate cone or something along those lines) but I definitely remember the tagline- "On top is still great, but now the bottom is even better". Obviously they were making comments about the normal part of the ice cream and the new type of cone, but there were definitely identifiable provocative undertones. When I looked it up later it was apparently part of Wall's Ice Cream's "Goodbye Serious" ad campaign.
On another trip, I saw a set of billboards with matching car advertisements for Toyota in different colors. The design was really cute and simplistic, which ended up contrastingly greatly with the way I first read the tagline. On second glance I realized that the signs said "go fun yourself" instead of what I originally read, but it was kind of shocking to me how nearly explicit and how direct of a reference it was. There was no question as to what thought the wordplay was meant to elicit, and I couldn't obvious and visible the ads were to the public.
The content displayed to the masses here in Britain, especially that I've seen in advertising, seems to be the kind that would cause huge amounts of controversy in the US, especially with parents. Here, however, it's mere presence makes it seem as if it's to be taken as nothing but good-natured humor. Maybe adults assume the references will go over the heads of children, or maybe they're less protective in the ways that American adults are. Either way, although they may have made my mouth drop, I won't be forgetting these ads anytime soon, so I guess they've done their jobs.
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person who was shocked by the sexual references in ads, which are EVERYWHERE. The first few times I saw these sorts of ads, I felt like such a prude for being embarrassed. Once I got over my initial shock, and I started to consider how parents could be okay with this sort of advertising being so prevalent, I came to a similar conclusion as you. I think that they really do just assume the sexual references will go over kids' heads. I'm not sure I would have picked up on most of the underlying meanings of the ads I've seen here as a kid. I'm not saying I think the practice is okay, but I suppose I also do not see the harm, if it is in fact the case that kids just don't realize what's being shown. Like you said - they've done their jobs. I certainly won't be forgetting some of the ads I've seen here.
ReplyDeleteI actually disagree with both you and Sara. I do not find the ads here to have any more or any less sexual references in them than those in the states have. I remember shortly before we left that everywhere I looked I felt like I was reading a sexual innuendo or seeing an unnecessarily sexed-up girl present an ad for something completely unrelated.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel one other countries I have been to (Netherlands and France) that their ads were more sexualized than those I found here and in the states. On ad in france for a dark comedy featured a man on a horse that was - er - mounted by another horse. I was so taken back by this image that was literally EVERYWHERE, so maybe I just haven't been seeing the right ads because I do not feel that the ads here are anymore sexualized than the ones at home.
I think it's interesting that a lot of the ads mentioned really don't have the presence of a male or female sexualized being anywhere in them.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the "Go Fun Yourself" ads on telly as well as on buses and they always gave me this almost incredulous little chuckle about how they were getting away with it. But the difference I think lies in the fact that the sexual references are not usually associated with humans (at least in the ads we have mentioned so far) and that they simply rely on wordplay and association in order for YOU to think that what they're saying is dirty so you should be the one embarrassed, not them. It's easier to see where an American might get the sexual connotations from if they're being given the message by a scantily-clad woman who makes a remark like the ones we've talked about.
It's hard to say which one I find more racy but I think it definitely surprises me what kind of language they are able to get away with in some of the ads over here.