Real Men's Cars Are Mean


The last line says, "Then we engineered in a mean streak a mile wide." Can you imagine such a marketing campaign for a Honda Civic or a VW Passat? This is a man's car--it takes up more space, and it's mean--characteristics we allow (some) men, but not women, to have.

Note: I like the commenters' points that this intersects with class more (as well?)--see the comments. They did a better job with the analysis on this one than me.

Posted by Gwen Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 6:32 AM Labels: ,  

3 comments:

  Anonymous

April 9, 2008 at 10:27 AM

I see this as more animalistic than male. Sure, meanness is a characteristic we allow some men but not the rest of us, but the ad copy elicits more thoughts of wild animals than men. And yes, animalism is not something I'd ascribe to Civics or Passats. Maybe a better question is the need to connect some technology or objects to nature or wildness, to make them more appealing.

  Anonymous

April 9, 2008 at 12:31 PM

gomi got good point-- also I'd think of this as a class thing more than a gender thing. Anybody who's working in a competitive corporate environment is "allowed" to be mean.

  Gwen

April 9, 2008 at 4:46 PM

I think those are excellent points! The idea of the competitive "animal" in the board room...Although that image is usually implicitly male.

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