BADVERTS: CONFUSED.COM
I saw a
documentary a few years ago about Max Fleischer, the creator of Betty Boop who
confirmed that he had used subliminal nudity in some Betty Boop cartoons.
Having watched the Confused.com adverts it has made me wonder if the creators
of this campaign took inspiration from him. The first thing I noticed is that
as the singer bobs up and down so do her boobs. So I looked around the screen
and, yep, the women in the background also have bouncing boobies! For goodness
sake! This is an advert for an insurance comparison site featuring cartoon
characters. Is it necessary to make it so graphic? In the most recent advert a
rather large lady flashes her pink knickers several times just to relieve us of
the boredom of boob overload. I dread to think of what they have planned for
future adverts.
So what is
the purpose behind this? What do they think that they will gain? I can’t believe it is an accident. It also seems
unlikely that it is done for “realism”, because it isn’t necessary to have that
level of realism in a cartoon about a comparison site. Is it an in-joke by the “graphic”
artists? Perhaps their brief was along the lines of: “We want to hold the attention
of male viewers so put the women in hooped shirts and have them jump up and
down a lot bouncing their bits and bobs”. On a more sinister note, perhaps it
is a chauvinistic attempt to demean women through visual and unconscious means
to lure potential male customers to their site.
Titillation
aside, the aim of the ad seems to be to convince viewers that sitting at their
PC searching through lists of providers of insurance is fun. I don’t know about
anyone else but I have a lot better things to do with my time. I did a sum the
other day. I was offered insurance for my washing machine after the one year
free guarantee runs out. It would cost fifteen pounds a week, which is £180 a
year. The machine cost £220. Thirty years of purchasing washing machines has
taught me two things: if they go wrong it is often in the first year and is due
to a faulty part. The second thing I have learned is that we get at least three
years life out of a washing machine. That means that I would pay £360 for two
years insurance: more than the price of a new machine. Wouldn’t I be better off
by putting £15 a week in a savings account? Then if it is two years before I
need another not only do I have the money for a new one I have also earned
interest. Of course if it breaks down in thirteen months I lose out, but it’s a
risk I am willing to take.
Maybe confused.com
thinks that if a lot of other men think like I do they had better appeal to us on a base, unconscious level and
invite us into their fun filled boob watching world where we can spend hours
trying to save ourselves money that we needn’t spend in the first place.
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