I don't know if people have seen this commercial before (it's a bit old), but I thought it worth posting. It is a take off on the Mac versus PC commercials. This commercial is Wii versus Playstation 3 with each product represented by a woman. It reinforces the "smart but plain, angry, and humorless" and "dumb but hot and fun" stereotypes as though a woman cannot be both smart and beautiful. And of course it panders to the patriarchal view of a "fun" woman who is sexually available without any of that annoying thinking involved. Whatever the pros and cons of the actual products themselves, the commercial is a bust.
Highlights of the commercial: bodyshots of Wii running her hands over herself; Wii saying, "I'm cheap...*and* fun"; and Wii slapping her own ass *twice*.
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This is a fake ad from G4's Attack of the Show in August 2007.
So get angry at Tech TV, not at Nintendo!
http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/videos/12487/PS3-vs-Wii-Commercial.html
Thank you for posting this! The ad is still awful, but it's not Nintendo sanctioned. This ad was created by men who live in the bubble of video games where hot women are objects and ugly women are well...non existent and therefore awful.
I want to rephrase the last line and replace "ugly" with "conventionally unattractive"
I just realized how incredibly awful that sounded...
Good. I was really going to be sad if Nintendo actually put out this commercial, since I own a Wii.
Ah. I'm glad to know it's not endorsed by Nintendo, even if it's still gross. Thanks for that.
While Nintendo may not itself have sanctioned this particular commercial, it still isn't necessarily the most pristine company regarding women. I run a website on heterosexism, racism, and plain-old sexism in the gaming industry: RIOTgamer.org.
I don't personally own a Wii but I've had people tell me about Wii Fit. It lets you know, for instance, when you've gained weight and then inquires as to why. Among complaints I've heard is that the choices that it gives don't include things such as bloating/water weight.
As far as advertising, gaming mags in general are a rich source of pixellated white buxom babes designed for straight white male consumption...
It's not even well-made. It's just awkward.
Well, it's a silly fan video. Not a commercial.
I used to think "guys say they want a girl with brains but they lie". Now I know it's "the vocal minority of guys who are jerks say they want a girl with brains but they lie. The rest are ok".
I hate it when people remind me that my culture is as laden with misogyny as anything else, and possibly more. Plus, my male friends would find this funny. Gag. Thankfully the boyfriend at least has learned to know better. Plus I've got female friends to talk about how ridiculous this stuff is.
It's hardly as bad as this, but lately my biggest pet peeve has been the turtle bus driver in Animal Crossing....he always tells me how pretty I am or how I smell nice, or how girls are born shoppers and boys look at lasses.... It's quite annoying, and I'm lucky I can just skip through what he says. Who actually thought girls who were playing animal crossing wanted to hear a fake turtle hit on the, every time they rode the bus to the city?
My pick: the Xbox 360.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TakeAThirdOption
I can't help myself. I giggled.
It's hilarious (and my girl is hotter than that blond and smarter than I), but not as funny as the idea that it's a genuine commercial.