Noxzema Ad

My Blog #2 comes from a current advertisement for Noxzema, a popular skin cleanser for girls made by Procter & Gamble. I believe that Noxzema has been around for a long time.  I remember my mother using it when I was a little boy.  It had a distinctively strong smell that lingered in the bathroom after she washed her face with it.  That is probably why I remember it.

As for this advertisement, it brings out several areas that could be considered sexist, dangerous, disempowering, unrealistic and negative. The words, “Noxzema. Pretty. Smart.” are geared toward women.  Of course, women want to be pretty and smart.  So if they purchase Noxzema and wash their faces with it, this is the smart way to have pretty skin and get noticed.  First of all, it depicts a young woman being harassed on the street by construction workers.  This ad makes the assumption that male construction workers are sexist and gives a negative stereotype of them.  I am sure that there are many male construction workers who are like this, but not all act this way.  The text which says, “Pretend to be annoyed” makes the viewer feel that “no” really means “yes” and that women do or should enjoy being harassed on the street by men.  This way of thinking encourages violence toward women.  It also reinforces the feeling of women as the surveyed, or the surveyor within.  It makes women feel they need external substantiation from men in order to feel beautiful themselves. It can also lead to low self-esteem in women and allow them to feel that it is okay to be treated badly by men, or sexually abused. Since women look at themselves as males look at them, they are taught to look at themselves as violent targets. As for the shape of the girl in this ad, it is extremely unrealistic of what a woman is actually shaped like.  It depicts her in a very short skirt, extremely thin and with very skinny legs; it is absurdly inaccurate in its proportions.  It also makes her appear African-American which can lead the viewer to believe that she is worthy of sexual harassment, which is definitely a racist depiction.  Women of color are still being depicted as exuberant and excessive in sexuality. All in all, this ad gives viewers the assumption that women like men to notice them and will continue to do what it takes to be pretty so men will continue to view them as objects of desire.

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