Women of different races, religions and social standing are increasingly becoming more vocal about their right to be treated equally in all aspects of life, without being discriminated on the basis of their gender.
Despite this awareness about the power of the individual as opposed to the power of gender, there is still however, work to be done when it comes to the representation of women in commercials.
Owned by chocolate bar company Mars Incorporated, Snickers has earned the unfavourable reputation of being one of the most successful yet sexist chocolate brands in the industry for consistently portraying women as inferior to men.
Sexism in commercials
The Snickers “You’re not yourself when you’re hungry” campaign is a case in point.
The various versions of the commercials that aired in Singapore, India and Malaysia have a common theme – the women in each are portrayed as either irrational or weak, or downright mean-spirited and aggressive when they’re hungry.
However, the brand took it too far when it showed these very same women “magically transformed” into calm, capable and rational “men”, the moment they took a bite off a Snickers’ bar.
Coming under heavy fire from the general public, the comments section of the Malaysian Snickers commercial posted on YouTube was disabled, and the commercial pulled from their Facebook page.
But if you thought only Snickers Singapore, India and Malaysia had a lot to learn about respecting women, you’ll be shocked with what the Australians did.
In a 2014 Snickers commercial using the same theme “You’re not you when you’re hungry”, construction workers are seen heckling women.
Only this time around, they are yelling positive statements at the women passing by on the street below – strongly suggesting that when male construction workers are hungry, they behave unusually – in this case, polite and respectful of women.
Just like the offending commercial featuring women, this commercial suggests that after just one bite of a Snickers bar, these men are transformed back into the vile creatures that male construction workers are often made out to be – at least according to Snickers Australia.
Not surprisingly, this advertisement was criticised even by men, who found it profoundly sexist as it placed them in a bad light, suggesting that the very idea of respecting a woman was seen as “not being yourself”.
They also took issue with the stereotyping of construction workers in general as sexist brutes.
Snickers aside, commercials for other products are equally sexist in their representation of women.
The usage of women to market home appliances, toiletries and cleaning products characterise the expected roles society has for women versus men.
Should the traditional family roles of men and women be blamed? After all, gender somehow concludes that women should stay home caring for the kids and doing the housework while their men go out to work in smart suits.
The entertainment industry is no stranger to sexism either with Hollywood being notorious for harassing women to sleep with industry bosses for a movie role or forced into accepting lower wages than their male counterparts.
While Forbes listed highest paid actor Mark Wahlberg as earning US$68 million in 2017, the highest paid actress Emma Stone earned US$26 million in comparison.
Across the world, women in top corporate positions remain alarmingly low as well as those in politics, Malaysia being no exception.
It is clear that despite all that men and women have achieved through the years, the idea of gender equality is still not taken seriously by individuals, governments and giant corporations, not only in countries in the East but even in supposedly liberated ones in the West. It’s doubly regretful that Malaysia is among them.
Megan Lee Zhi Jean is an intern at Free Malaysia Today.
Snickers Malaysia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXguIe3eONo
Snickers Australia
Snickers India
Snickers Singapore