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Are Toshiba’s New Device Commercials Unnecessarily Sexist?

Sex sells. If you’ve been around any commercials that are shown during sporting events, this is readily apparent. Whether it’s Budweiser girls in swim wear or Miller Lite girls wrestling i...
Are Toshiba’s New Device Commercials Unnecessarily Sexist?
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  • Sex sells. If you’ve been around any commercials that are shown during sporting events, this is readily apparent. Whether it’s Budweiser girls in swim wear or Miller Lite girls wrestling it out to see what catchphrase best applies to the beer, the use of titillation in mass advertising is nothing new. However, when these advertising methods leave the world of beer-drinking and move to the tech industry, the level of outrage exponentially rises.

    Take the latest commercials from Toshiba, for instance. In an effort to better compete in a mobile computing industry dominated by Apple and Android, Toshiba decided they would take things up a notch by using an attractive spokeswoman doing yoga to help pitch the products. The idea is to cut down on stress in the fast-paced business world by buying reliable technology, but the final product come across as more of an advertisement for the attractive woman doing yoga (and her boobs) as much as it does for Toshiba’s devices.

    I mean, what else is the following freeze-frame trying to advertise?

    (image)

    The actress’ chest or the tablet beneath it?

    (image)

    What’s being sold here? The actress’ ass or the copier she’s apparently staring longingly at?

    Is Toshiba being light-hearted or overtly sexist? Or are they making fun of the sexism used in commercials be featuring some of their very own, done in a over-the-top manner? Take a look at all the commercials for this campaign and you decide:

    There’s even version for those who speak French:

    So, do these work or is Toshiba’s self-awareness approach miss the target and offer only sexist content? Are the “My Toshiba’s getting hot” responses to these commercials the kind of reaction Toshiba was hoping for?

    [Via Buzzfeed]

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