adroog’s blog

Kelly Ripa’s Electrolux Commercial

March 22, 2010

Kelly Ripa portrays the typical “super mom” in the Electrolux commercial. When I first saw this commercial I immediately thought of my American Culture Studies class where we discussed the classic housewife of the 1950s; a stay-at-home mom taking care of the children and the chores around the house. Although in this commercial Kelly Ripa does show part of her career, it directly goes into what a typical mother is “supposed” to act like; get the groceries, cook dinner, take care of the children and all of this with help of those great kitchen appliances, hence the little caption at the bottom that says “our daily Ripa”.

What is interesting, however, is that it does not show a husband or father figure at any point in the commercial. This makes Kelly Ripa look like she is responsible for all the daily chores that also include going to work, host parties, and look under the bed for monsters before the kids go to sleep, doing all of this with a smile on her face throughout the entire day. Because it leaves the male out completely, it makes it seem like the husband can come home whenever is good for him because he knows the wife is taking care of the household which is exactly what Kelly Ripa illustrates.

I do think it is interesting how they showed Kelly’s job to the audience in the first 3 seconds of the commercial making her look less vulnerable and more like the dominant person in the family. The fact that the commercial is about Electrolux appliances it does make it look like Kelly Ripa would not be able to finish all of the chores in one day if it wasn’t for all those great electronic devices she has in her house.

As I mentioned before, we have watched several commercials from the 1950s that are very similar to this commercial. However, the commercials from the 1950s make the female look more vulnerable than Kelly Ripa. Both however show that those devices will make their lives easier as a housewife.
Kelly Ripa shows that even though she does not have the typical 8-5 workday, a woman’s life can be just as busy. She proves that it is possible to be a hard working woman who can get things done such as going to work, cook dinner, host a party and a sleepover party, take care of the dog, and check under the beds for monsters; all of this without the help of a male OR her children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDBMHz1Dthw

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