One Klondike Bar with a side of sexism please!

 
Who doesn’t love a deliciously refreshing chocolate ice cream bar on a sweltering summer day? And nothing says ice cream like some offensive sexism, am I right? Although the latest commercial for Klondike Bar’s has been airing for the past few weeks every time I see it I am still left with the same uneasy, aggravated, and offended reaction I had the first time I saw it. Wait--are they serious? Someone actually ‘okayed’ this commercial to air on public television in 2012? Watching this commercial has the consistent effect of wrenching me out of the passive state of vegetation I often fall into while watching mindless television after a long day into an alert state of anger. I am truly baffled by Klondike’s decision to market their product in such an overtly sexist way.

The commercial features the “5 Seconds to Glory” in which the man is challenged to listen to his wife (gasp!) speak for a full 5 seconds in order to receive a Klondike Bar. As the timer starts the husband is shown in agony as he desperately tries to speak to his oblivious wife as she talks about what color to paint their entrance foyer. After five seconds is up the man is rewarded with a Klondike Bar that women wearing suggestive tight dresses present to him while balloons and confetti fall from the ceiling. 

A majority of the studies we have read for class have found that the media can have enormous influence about viewers’ attitudes and understanding of sex and sexual relationships. The media can be especially influential for adolescents who have consistently cited the mass media as a key source of sexual information. If this is the case then this commercial seems to be promoting and reinforcing sexist stereotypes and gender roles, where women are the nagging housewives that care about decorating and men are husbands expected to be nearly incapable of listening to their wives and are more interested in parties, young fun women, and food. Perhaps as a female viewer I am particularly offended by this commercial but allow me to elaborate on Klondike’s marketing strategy with their second “5 Seconds to Glory” and perhaps you will jump on my band wagon.
This commercial features two motorcyclists who are challenged to hold hands…yes hold hands for five whole seconds in order to receive Klondike Bars. The men cringe in agony as they hold hands communicating that it is nearly impossible and disgusting to hold another man’s hand for five seconds. When five seconds elapses, dancing models enter the shot with the ice cream accompanied by balloons and confetti. 

Klondike Hand Hold 

This challenge in itself is overtly homophobic, however, it’s the dancing girls that really drive the offensive nature of this commercial home for me. It seems as if to balance out the homosexual act of holding another man’s hand these women dressed in revealing dresses function as proof that these men are in fact heterosexual and this was merely a challenge meant to represent the great lengths that men will go to in order to eat a Klondike Bar.

 After having taken a class entirely focused on LGBT representation in the media and learning about the pivotal role the media plays in the lives of LGBT identifying individuals I find it so disheartening that commercials with such blatant homophobic messages are still being produced.  After reading the Bond et al.'s study the potential of this commercial being harmful to adolescents seems particularly strong. Bond et al.'s study confirmed that the media was used more frequently than any other interpersonal relationship as a source of information throughout the coming-out process. It therefore seems that if a LGBT identifying individual in the process of coming out was exposed to this commercial they may acquire an understanding or sense that holding someone’s hand of the same sex is unnatural, should be challenging, uncomfortable, and wrong. Ultimately, I think looking at this commercial within the context of the studies we have read an interesting dilemma is reached. On one hand, this commercial functions as a means to help sell a product by targeting a specific demographic (presumably heterosexual males). On the other hand, while the intention of this commercial may not be to promote sexist or homophobic stereotypes but to merely sell ice cream, I still find it difficult to shrug these commercials off as selling angles after reading how influential the media can be in adolescents attitudes and expectations regarding sexuality. I can identify that perhaps I am particularly sensitive to these ads because I am a woman and have just taken a LGBT focused course. How do you feel? Is my reaction out of line? How accountable should we hold companies to for promoting potentially offensive messages?