'Tis the season. While getting our daily Stewart/Colbert fix last night, we were definitely made aware of this by the plethora of obnoxious ads exhorting us (well, really just him) to remember that "diamonds are forever," "every kiss begins with Kay," and that if he doesn't want me to talk shit about him to all our family and friends, he'd better "go to Jarrett." For some reason these ads (along with the "give your spouse a car for Christmas" ads) seem even more obnoxious to me this year. Maybe it's the recession and the lay-offs. At any rate, fuck the jewelry industry for building ridiculous expectations and trying to make men feel shitty about themselves if they don't invest in jewelry every year. Fuck them for equating gold and diamonds with love and respect. Fuck them for teaching children that this is the way adult relationships should work. And fuck them for ignoring the social and economic implications of their trade.
OK, rant over, back to work...
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I agree. I hate these commercials. I hate the one with the woman doing the crossword puzzle; you seen it?
This year the Lexus commercials are super obnoxious (moreso than usual) too.
I don't think I've seen that one. And I hate the Lexus commercials too. And what's with putting the giant bow around the cars? That was (possibly) cute once, but now it's just tired and overdone.
My cousin's husband recently made fun of the jewelry ads by saying there's no better way to make a woman feel loved than to run out and get the same $199 special that every OTHER guy is running in there to get thanks to a TV commercial telling them what their wives like.
I've alwaus hated receiving jewelry from boyfriends. One year, one of my college boyfriends and I traded wishlists for the holidays, and I'd listed some books that I really wanted to own. He actually listened to some moron friend who said that I would rather have jewelry (nevermind I'd never even met this friend and he didn't know the first thing about me). It really killed me that he ignored everything he knew about me and bought into the idea that all women want jewelry.
Re: the car commercials, I've always thought that a family would have to be really frakin' privileged money-wise in order for one spouse to be able to make the decision to buy a car without consulting the other one, money-wise
I could have sworn that I deleted that second "money-wise" from my post, whoops.
Someone gave you jewelry instead of books?! After you had asked him for books? As a book lover this is beyond the pale. I hope you broke up with him over this transgression. :-)
I know you are being tongue-in-cheek, but indirectly I did! It was one of many, many things that made me realize he only heard himself in that relationship and I was just some sort of generic womanly "filler" for him to stand next to.
And he hated reading. Never again!
I've always thought that a family would have to be really frakin' privileged money-wise in order for one spouse to be able to make the decision to buy a car without consulting the other one
Yeah, in that situation I would be like "thanks for adding a car payment to our monthly bills without consulting me about it, idiot."
Yeah, and I'd be like "Parking sucks in this city. You can return it, right?"
My husband and I have been laughing at these kind of advertisements for more than 20 years. Yeah, they're awful, and they reinforce so many different stereotypes, so I completely relate to the f-you attitude toward them. But we are so completely immune to the ideas behind them that we just have to laugh. Our standard joking response is either "Honey, you don't love me" (from me) or "I guess I don't love you" (from him). We are smart enough to not let these dumb advertisements try to tell us what we want.
This particular woman hates diamonds and would rather spend the money on something else. And some men would like to wear diamonds. And let's not even start on all the other assumptions (heterosexual man and woman get married, have kids, buy lots of stuff) that frame the whole fantasy behind these advertisements.
Quick digression: This reminds me that my siblings and I used to always talk back to the advertisements on TV even when we were kids. I guess we got an early dose of critical thinking from somewhere?
My partner and I talk back to the TV all the time - a running critique of ads. Now my 4 y/o stepdaughter is starting to do it as well, but my 13 m/o daughter is not really interested in TV yet. It's never too early to learn some basic critical thinking skills!
Bleh, Rachel_in_WY. I enjoy jewelry and am just as offended by these vomitous ads.
Sometimes I laugh out loud and other times shriek and other times retort sarcastically at them.
Kay is obviously the worst offender (for those outside the U.S., do a YouTube search for Kay Jeweler...there MUST be some of their ads up.)
But Zales sucks quite a bit,too.
Scratch that, maybe Jared's the worst. "He went to Jaaaaaared!" VOMIT. These ads basically admit that they are trying to sell expensive jewelry to people on the sole basis of social pressure and keeping up with the JOneses. Please, those who haven't seen these ads: YouTube Jared jewelery ad.
I'm a hetero female who never had the wedding fantasy as a child or as an adult.
So it seems really odd that a woman doing a crossword would jump up and down with her friend because she is excited to wear an engagement ring.
The whole concept of getting that excited over a piece of jewelry, let alone one that claims ownership or promises monogamy, creeps me out.
I'd rather someone spend that kind of money of tools for my art.
Jewelry ads are hilariously terrible, and oh so very sexist. Apparently all women like the same four or five necklaces, rings and bracelets!
All that these jewelry commercials do is try to convince men that women are identical gingerbread girls. Likewise, they attempt to convince women that they SHOULD be identical gingerbread girls. There must be something wrong with you if you don't want that diamond tennis bracelet! I mean really, why the hell shouldn't you be thrilled to pieces over a mass-produced, over-priced piece of jewelry?
If you want a truly heinous ad, try searching youtube for D'errico jewelers, or "hearts on/of fire diamond". One of the commercials for that particular diamond has lovely "monogomy to the 100th power" text emblazoned on the screen. Diamonds don't prevent infidelity, thx, and not everyone feels that a monogamous marriage/relationship is the most awesome thing ever.
I like jewelry despite this rant, but I'd much, MUCH rather have an unusual silver piece with semi-precious gemstones than the same curvy diamond pendant as every other woman in the neighborhood. As a happy side effect of this preference, I can even afford to buy my own most of the time ;)
Just this morning, my boyfriend and I were making fun of Christmas jewelry store ads.
"Are you involved with a generic female person with no hobbies or interests? Is learning about your loved one's personality, likes and dislikes too much work? Do you view all women as carbon-copies who like sparkles? Go to Zales!"
I jump up on a soap box about these ads every year! They are so obnoxious that one can only hope it backfires and there is a backlash against this behavior. One major thing I hate about the commercials is that the jewelery in them is BORING AND UGLY. There is absolutely no character to any of the crap mass-produced pieces, and the way the women swoon over them just because they're sparkly is sickening.
It doesn't take a major recession for me to feel sickened by the Christmas Lexus ads. To somehow link a giant overpriced carbon dioxide machine to holiday family relationships in the way that do is just crossing the line. There is something about those ads that draws so much attention to classism and materialism.
The ads are disgusting, but so are some of the stores. My hubby and I went to the jeweler where we bought my wedding ring to have it serviced, which they do for free. This was around Mother's Day, and they were having a big sale because apparently mothers expect their children to buy them expensive jewelery. While my ring was being serviced, we sat at the counter while one of the employees continually badgered us to buy something. He said since they were having the sale, it was the perfect time to just wipe out gifts for everyone we know for the entire year. I was like hi, I'm Mrs. Broke College Student, and this is my husband, Mr. Broke College Student. No matter how many different ways I said that we couldn't afford anything, he kept persisting! He showed me the cheapest necklace they had for sale and told me how much my mother would like it. He left me alone after I told him my mother would kill me if I bought her jewelery because she knows we don't have the money. I couldn't believe the audacity the guy had. I won't even walk in front of the jewelery stores at the mall now because of that experience.