SCS 100 Project 1 Comparison Template

1) Ad 1: VW 814 miles per tank commercial 2) Ad 2: Schlage Ex- Girlfriend 3) Ad 3: Carlsberg fitting rooms Ad 4: Waterproof Makeup 1. Question(s) related to how individuals are represented in the ads Why are the kids shown as misbehaving? Why is the mother shown as clueless? Why is the woman portrayed as “crazy”? Why is the man shown to be the “sane” one? Why is the woman the one shopping? Why is the man so tired? Why does the ad focus on specific women in the group? 2. Questions related to how groups and group behavior are represented in the ad Why is it only adult females? Why are the women the ones taking care of the children? Why are the men at the hardware store? Why are the women all shown serving the men? Why are the men all lounging around? Why are women shown crying? Why are women the ones getting their makeup done? 3. Questions related to how cultures and cultural identity are represented (or not represented) in the ad Why are the little boys so badly behaved? Why is everyone white? Why is everyone white? Why is everyone white? Why are the men all represented as having a good time? Why are women portrayed as more emotional than men? 4. How do the ads compare to each other? All of the ads seem to group people into societies pre conceived thoughts of the roles those individuals should be in. Women are shown as more emotional. Children are shown as rowdy and that they like to misbehave. Men are shown as cool headed and just wanting to relax. The ads seem to compare in the ways in which they represent the different genders. They all focus only on white and light skinned people. 5. What overall observations might a social scientist be interested in studying in relation to the themes present in these advertisements? What larger questions about human interactions might they ask? I believe a social scientist would like to study the way men and women are portrayed in the ads. Women in these ads were shown to be emotional and it would be interesting to swap roles and see how the men would react. Questions the social scientist might ask:  Are men better at controlling their emotions than women?  Why are Men portrayed reacting to something the woman is doing? Shopping, post breakup, etc  Would a man have better control of the children?