Swiffer: Just for women?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIxI05Ipw1M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=9_JpYfScoHs&NR=1

Swiffer cleaning products have been around for years, along with their commercials. Swiffer commercials seem to feature women in desperate need of good cleaning supplies for their ever-dirty house. This notion caught my eye while thinking about a topic for this blog. I found two commercials specifically that I feel illustrate this idea well.

Media:

The first is a commercial featuring a young “cowgirl” who is supposed to portray dirt. The idea alone that this woman is seen as dirt should be enough for the gendered view of this commercial however, she is “picked-up” by a Swiffer product, when no one else would take her. Ironically enough, it is another woman who is doing the cleaning.

The second commercial features two women who are in what seems to be a counseling session where the client is at a loss for a good spring cleaning tool. She is reprimanding her old mop in such a way that it seems as if the mop is her only help around cleaning her house. Once she is introduced to the new Swiffer product, her life (cleaning) becomes much easier.

Cultural studies approach:

               Swiffer as a company uses the idea that women are the primary caretakers of the American home in their commercials that feature women cleaning. This marketing strategy, according to Kellner, is a way for audiences to identify with the product being marketed (p. 11). Using textual analysis, the viewer of these commercials can break them down to see that the cultural standards of women within the home are being portrayed when they are cleaning. One can also infer that the women are usually seen cleaning an empty house which can be interpreted to mean that her family, i.e. her husband and children, are not around so this leaves her the perfect opportunity to focus on cleaning rather than taking care of her family. Audience reception then plays a large role when analyzing the media because the audience is able to identify with and relate to others, like the women in the commercials, who share similar experiences (Kellner, p. 13). Also, according to Kellner, a cultural studies approach addresses the sexist ways groups of people can be portrayed, in this case women (p. 15). In the Swiffer analysis, women are always the cleaners. This is sexist because it assumes that men within the household do not contribute to cleaning or helping their wives or girlfriends. It also assumes that women have nothing better to do than clean the house, and are always looking for a better cleaning product to make their  home nicer. Kellner also suggests that a cultural studies approach should be critical in the sense that it is also multicultural (p. 16). Swiffer, in this example, uses white women in what appears to be nice houses. Knowing that most of the country does not live this way, it leaves room for the interpretation that in order to have cleaning supplies, such as Swiffer, one must live the same life or else they are going to have a dirty house.

Additional readings:

               In her piece, “Women, Representation and Culture”, Judith Mayne discusses the dichotomy seen in media where women are being portrayed as either the Madonna or the whore (p. 162). This can be clearly seen in the first of the two commercials where the “dirty cowgirl” is seen as someone undesirable and the woman cleaning is coming to save her. Also, according to Mayne, stigmas such as these are created through and reflect the culture that we live in (p. 163). Women tend to be the caretakers of the home so they are seen as being the only ones who clean in the commercials. For younger audiences viewing these commercials, it becomes instilled in them that a) if they are women themselves that it is their job to clean and b) if they are men, they do not have to clean because a woman will do it for them. This idea stems from the notion that we, as a society, turn to media to teach us what is acceptable while also reinforcing some stereotypes such as women in the home (Mayne, p. 163).

In conclusion, women in the media are, and have always been, portrayed in a highly gendered way. Swiffer specifically fits this category because of the many stereotypes used. Keeping in mind that these commercials are only about thirty seconds long, one would not think that they would have such an impact, however, with the amount of times that these commercials are played on countless numbers of television channels, we cannot simply ignore the message.