Fed up with the sexist ads that feature during the biggest TV event of the year? There’s an app for that.
—
This post originally appeared at ThinkProgress
By Tara Culp-Ressler
On Sunday night, an estimated 110 million people will tune into the Super Bowl. About half of that group will watch the game primarily for the commercials, which have become an iconic part of the quintessentially American tradition — and which are typically served up with a healthy dose of sexist representations of women.
But this year, those Americans will have the power to call out sexism when they see it.
A new smartphone app from The Representation Project, a group that seeks to expose sexism and injustice in the media, provides the tools for Super Bowl viewers to target the companies airing offensive ads. The “Not Buying It” app allows users to upload images of sexist media and tweet critiques directly at the brands behind the ad campaigns. GPS technology keeps track of where the most engaged communities of people are located, allowing them to make connections for potential acts of protest. The app also ranks which media its users are currently finding most offensive.
The app was crowdfunded on Indiegogo last year, after The Representation Project spearheaded a successful #NotBuyingIt Twitter campaign during the 2013 Super Bowl. “We’re putting the power back in the hands of the consumer,” the crowdfunding page explained. “In a media environment where women continue to be valued primarily for their youth, beauty and sexuality, it’s time we took a collective stand.”
Last year, The Representation Project focused much of its efforts on targeting GoDaddy, which is infamous for its offensive portrayals of gender stereotypes. And the group made some progress; GoDaddy recently got in touch with The Representation Project to make sure this year’s ads aren’t as problematic. The company’s CEO has acknowledged that he’s faced widespread pressure from female business owners to tone it down this year.
Over the past several years, Twitter campaigns have been increasingly successful in pressuring big media giants to take feminist issues more seriously. Activists have convinced companies to remove sexist products from stores, forced Facebook to update its policies on content related to domestic violence, and demanded that Twitter take gender-based harassment more seriously. The #NotBuyingIt hashtag specifically has won victories against sexist Halloween costumes, Hallmark cards, and children’s books.
Imran Siddiquee, a founding member of The Representation Project who currently heads up its social media campaigns, told Forbes that this proves it’s possible to challenge sexist norms, even when they seem to be deeply ingrained in society. “It just shows that if the mainstream media isn’t representing us, we can create our own media to fight back,” she noted.
—
Photo: Screenshot of a Carl Juniors’ ad that was banned during the 2012 Super Bowl/Carl Juniors
With this app, you can manage your blog in much the same way you currently
do, but now you can do if from anywhere. If you are not able to watch for the 2012 Emmy winners and
results, be sure to tune into the live blog below
to see who takes home the awards.
So. Watched most of the Super Bowl last night, and most of the commercials with a critical eye. I can’t tell you how many cut and buff shirtless men I saw, and the GoDaddy.com commercial was lacking even Danica Patrick’s pretty but relatively small bosom. I’m gonna have to do some more critical watching of TV commercials in the near future just to see, but even though I always believed there existed a glut of sexy women selling unrelated stuff to men in the media, I’m beginning to wonder now if that argument really holds water.
So is Go Daddy suggesting that it’s less offensive because it’s featuring scantily clad men rather than women? I wonder if that will be called out by feminists, probably not.
This pic reminds me of the brain-teaser drawing where you might see the old lady or the young woman in the exact same picture. After a while, you can flip back and forth and choose which way you want to see the picture after you train your brain. With this pic I see two women: 1. An exploited female hired to sell a product with her blatant beauty and raw sexuality 2. A sexually confident woman who is comfortable with her body and ability to do and eat whatever the hell she wants and will make no apologies for making… Read more »
I wonder how many women see #2 and wish they could be more like that for them and them alone. I’m not sure. I think that a lot of women are so stuck on #1 (the exploited female you mention) that they simply refuse to even acknowledge the possibility of #2. For example during the game last night Bud Light did a two part ad where a woman offers a guy a beer on the condition that he follows through with whatever comes next. First part ends with him getting in a limo with some women and a dj (dj… Read more »
See that’s the part I don’t get. How do people draw the exploited conclusion at all from that pic? Furthermore what about sexuality has people so up in arms.
I think this app will be mostly used to police our morals and make sure we don’t see anything not approvedby whiwhomever is in charge.
I wonder if anyone will post any stats or looks at what was reported in the app tonight.
I can tell you that while I can understand the spirit of the #notbyingit tag it eventually got out of hand. For example someone said #notbuyingit because Bruno Mars performed with Red Hot Chilli Peppers instead of his sister or that they were #notbuyingit because there were no female musical performers.
I think this app is revolutionary. It will push companies to become more creative instead of leaning on gender stereotypes and demeaning, sexist tactics to attract the attention of audience members. The point of the app, in my eyes, is not to be a policing force of advertising tactics. It is a way of spreading awareness. It’s also not solely about empowering feminists to critique the sexism found in the media. I strongly believe that this effort will force a progressive change in our culture (hence, “It just shows that if the mainstream media isn’t representing us, we can create… Read more »
Nothing survives a feminist critical look.
This will be a interesting flexing of power. I wonder if it will lead to more things being banned like that pic used up top.