Source
r/TwoXChromosomes•
AnnaRKey

Ladies, what *do* you want to see on television?

After all this talk about advertising lately, I asked myself this question. I know what I don't want to see, but what do I want to see?

Real people, using products how we actually use them, and being realistic about expectations, while still being humorous? Maybe, it makes sense. It'd certainly be nice to see a couple standing in a kitchen, that's actually messy, cooking dinner in normal chaos, and having a spill occur. And maybe they both reach for the paper towel and bonk heads or something. That sounds pretty typical to me. Instead of mom baking cookies, and cleaning up the mess her kids left. Some how my scene seems more true to what happens in modern life, and isn't based on old ideals.

Any ways, your turn. I thought it would be nice to see some positivity on the topic.

Edit: Ugh, maybe I should have made the title "What do you want to see advertised on TV?" oh well.

Posted Mar 19, 2010, 12:40 AM UTC

1164
InfinitelyThirsting•

Funny commercials. Who gives a goddamn about the products, we know everything about them by now. Make them funny.

I'm on a horse.

27
SourCherry86•

Thank you! I couldn't agree more. :-)

6
EgregiousWeasel•

I agree! The funniest commercial I can remember is the one for Vonage, with the guy in the giant lobster suit trying and failing to go through a revolving door. I don't use their service, but I will always remember their name. That's something, isn't it?

2
_Kita_•

I'd also like to see a drastic reduction in the "doofy overweight guy has a superhot wife" sort of sitcom.

We see a few men of size, but very, very few women of size. I'd like to see more of both.

23
AnnaRKeyOP•

Yea, Roseanne use to be a good show for the fact that it was somewhat realistic in a lot of ways. I wasn't big on the actual characters though.

10
abbeycrombie•

roseanna, seriously?

-5
AnnaRKeyOP•

Haha. Atleast dad AND mom were fat. And their lives seemed less glamorous than the typical sit-com family we see on TV today.

8
AtotheJ•

Rosanne was the closest a TV sitcom has come to depicting my life. I still love that show.

2
whynottry•

I would like to see a drastic reduction in "women has nothing to offer but being hot and guy has nothing to offer but being sweet and funny"

8
AtotheJ•

Lube and condoms during sex scenes.

20
AtotheJ•

Oh, and it would also be nice to see who lights the hundreds of candles that magically appear.

5
[deleted]•

That would ruin the suspension of disbelief for me. We watch movies to see an ideal world in which such things aren't necessary.

1
temp9876•

Firefly. Honest to goodness, I want them to pickup the series as if the movie didn't happen. I want to see Book's backstory, I want to know who the blue hand guys are!

I love scifi, but even with satellite good shows are few and far between. There have been new shows that I like (V, Fringe, BSG) and I want more while seeing proportionately less reality shows. Reality shows focus far too much on people being horrible to each other or watching people fail for my taste.

Edit (for your edit): I want a law requiring clothing, (especially lingerie) models to reflect the national average size!

17
AnnaRKeyOP•

I'd love to see Firefly back on tv.

4
[deleted]•

Reality shows mostly have dumb people on them.

2
temp9876•

There are lots of shows like American Idol and Dragons Den that seem to really relish the people that do poorly, most of the audition shows are about mocking people who don't get in! I can't watch that, it hurts my heart.

3
[deleted]•

Yeah. :-/ What's Dragons Den? I haven't heard of it.

1
temp9876•

It is a show where entrepreneurs pitch their business plans to the 'Dragons' (potential investors). I have seen stuff on the show that I would love to buy but the 'Dragons' say it is stupid and no one would ever pay for it and what a moron you are to think otherwise etc.

1
EvilGamerKitty•

Charts. Data. Graphs.

Oh, so your paper towel absorbs twice as much as "the leading competitor"? Cough up the peer-reviewed study, bitch.

16
neoumlaut•

Maybe if their goal was to sell as few products as possible.....

1
EvilGamerKitty•

Hey, that's what I want to see. I make no claims about anyone else's desires.

3
whyihatepink•

In general I don't think of myself as a "woman" when I watch TV, but I'll bite. I'd love to see curvy women in underwear ads, and more realism (I don't wear stilettos and undies on a helicopter, do you?). And I could go the rest of my life without seeing someone pour blue liquid onto a pad.

14
AnnaRKeyOP•

In general I don't think of myself as a "woman" when I watch TV

I'm with you on that one. It just seems like a lot of people complain about sexist commercials, and how unrealistic things are, and what they don't want to see. But no one ever talks about what they do want to see.

4
[deleted]•

Realism is often for fun though - if everything was super realistic it might get boring. Like if I was actually on a helicopter, I'd have to dress boringly. But on TV, the character can dress nicely because it's not real! :D I've never seen anyone on a helicopter wear undies though. o.o

edit: By curvy do you mean average sized women? Lingerie models are pretty curvy in the true sense of the word; they have nice, shapely boobs and butts.

3
whyihatepink•

Haha I mostly meant in lingerie commercials. I like it when it's true to form, or way over the top- a parody of itself.

And yes, I meant average women. Heck, even the mannequins have ribs now. WTF is up with that?

1
[deleted]•

A little bit of bone definition is normal on a healthy, slender woman, but I wasn't aware of ribs being on mannequins nowadays. Weird.

1
[deleted]•

I'd like to see more men featured in household commercials...so many of them feature a stressed-out mother or have a woman's hand holding the product. Men can do laundry, pick up things at Target, help prepare for a child's birthday (I'm looking at you, Kelly Ripa), and they can make Pop-Tarts!

8
temp9876•

I give Ripa the stink eye too. I can't stand her Electrolux adds, its a like a time warp.

5
[deleted]•

I especially hate the one where they're making a birthday cake for the dog. I mean, okay, if it's the dad's birthday, of course he's not going to make his own cake, but the dog? C'mon!

2
ShinyRatFace•

Same here. Apparently in commercial land only women wash dishes, do laundry, cook, care for small children and wipe up messes. The only time you see a man in that type of commercial is if his wife is stepping in to tell him how he is doing it wrong and should be using product X.

4
marshmallowhug•

Anyone remember the commercial with a guy trying to open up a pickle jar? The one where his female significant other walks up in the end and easily opens it? Thoughts?

3
TheLeaderIsGood•

Even worse when there's a male voice-over or male hero (Mr Muscle) informing/teaching/saving the poor little woman.

There's a new ad here in the UK for some oven cleaning thing that's "so simple even a man can use it". FFS, more sexism is not the right direction to go.

1
JeanHarlow•

Music videos. I want to see some freaking music videos. I grew up in the 80s. I miss videos.

I don't care if people are realistic or not. I don't really care to see normal life on TV actually. I have normal life in normal life. I want to see people dancing in large groups to songs.

5
EgregiousWeasel•

I know! I quit watching Mtv when they started showing more shows than videos. Shortly after that, I quit watching TV altogether.

3
JeanHarlow•

Me too. I haven't watched it in years. I was all excited when they started MTV2 years ago, because they were promising music videos but now that's all programming too.

And that is why I spend more time watching youtube than TV.

1
julirocks•

REAL LESBIANS. I can tell it's sweeps week when there's a lesbian kiss/tryst/ or half-hour plot line on TV.

And if there are lesbians on tv, I don't want them trying to get pregnant. I'm looking at you CASHMERE MAFIA.

5
miparasito•

I want to see commercials telling people that their life is perfect just the way it is, with no catch, no need to buy anything fancy or new. :-)

I would also love to see some anti-shopping commercials where women come out and say UGH isn't shopping a PAIN?

4
AnnaRKeyOP•

Haha. "Shopping is so sad and depressing. Let's have an intellectual conversation at some funky, small-time cafe!"

So terrible, but that was my first thought when I read your comment.

3
miparasito•

Hahaha well that's what it would end up being of course. "Yeah, let's go to a REAL place. Somewhere cozy and friendly. The opposite of a mall!"

Then - boom. Applebee's logo.

3
[deleted]•

What's wrong with commercials telling you about new products and stuff? Ads are primarily meant to inform, then convince. If there are products or other things advertised that would improve your life or that you would find interesting, why is that a problem?

1
miparasito•

No, advertisements are not designed to inform. They are designed to first provide stress. Then offer a way to relieve that stress. I've worked in marketing and advertising so I'm cynical.

I just want to see the opposing point of view out there -- it's okay to not buy more stuff. It's okay to be happy with what you have, if you want to. Something that soothes instead of stresses. My commercials would not say you suck if you shop, or buy into this simpler lifestyle. That's no different than what product pushers are doing. I just want to let people know that their life isn't deficient without the latest thing. You are doing good in life, you're a great parent no matter what brand of diapers you use. Your house looks nice. You don't stink, you look good, people like you even if you never visit another mall or target again.

8
[deleted]•

I think that's an overly cynical view, though I might be biased because I am on college for Marketing (admittedly because I am more interested on graphic design than any other facet of it) and I'm mostly immune to sneaky ad tactics.

Perhaps you should make PSAs, like the Foundation for a Better Life people. Not all advertising is insidious and harmful.

1
miparasito•

When it comes to marketing and advertising, I don't think it's possible to be too cynical. :-) Not like I sit around bitterly stewing about it, but some of what we were doing was objectively unethical. Totally legal, totally commonplace, but after a decade or so I had to leave.

Now you are right, not all of marketing is harmful. Some of what I did was cool or eh, neutral.

To be fair, I never did TV or radio. I mostly worked in online marketing, customer communication and direct mail. Direct mail was the scuzziest of the three. It's no wonder there are people who have the paranoid feeling that they are being tracked. THEY ARE.

3
[deleted]•

More shows with deep, rich character interaction.

IE: Firefly, Supernatural, Glee, etc. They are becoming more and more common, and that makes me happy. I get a lady boner every time a new Supernatural episode comes on, and sad every time I watch Castle because all I can think about is Mal.

Along with that; TV drama women that are good role models and not just love interests or stock characters. I want to see more Robins (HIMYM), Kaylies (Firefly), and Scullys (X Files).

4
temp9876•

I watch Castle for Mal too, and I'm going to go through your whole history to upvote you now, cause Kaylie is my favorite female character ever! ;)

1
[deleted]•

I love both her, River, and Inara. I haven't been that attached to female characters in forever. Thankies!

2
ShushanEduth•

Haha, I also love Kaylie. And I just want to add that apparently it's well known enough that my brothers bought me a collectible figurine of her for Christmas and it now sits proudly in my living room. Best gift this year :-D

1
marshmallowhug•

I personally don't understand why Zoe seems to be the least well-liked female character on the show. Every other female character has a ton of fans, but not her, even though she's just as interesting as the rest.

1
ShushanEduth•

I love Zoe too, but she's not someone that I'm like. If I had to rank the female characters on Firefly, I'd have to go with Kaylie, then Zoe and Inara last. Kaylie appeals to me most because of her bubbly personality.

1
LessThan3•

Zoe is actually my favorite. I like Kaylee's personality and Inara's wardrobe, but I found Zoe the most interesting.

1
Iyanden•

deep, rich character interaction.

The Taylor family in Friday Night Lights.

1
[deleted]•

Nothing unless it's gadget porn or hilarious.

4
ShinyRatFace•

I'm sick of some product of negligible use being made up to be something you just can't live without.

The most recent one that comes to mind is a plastic dealy that cracks eggs for you. There was an overly dramatic struggle where some poor woman was attempting to crack an egg and when she finally succeeded AHHHHH! egg shells fell in the bowl!

Her life improved dramatically when, after two easy payments of $9.99, she got a plastic contraption to crack the eggs for her!

How about some honesty? "This is a nifty little kitchen gadget you might find useful" is far more preferable than "HOW DOES ANYONE FUNCTION WITHOUT THIS PRODUCT!11!!"

4
miparasito•

I think it would be funny to go to the sarcastic extreme. Show an utterly depressed person with a sad empty life. Ask your doctor about the new egg cracker 2000! Wow!! Life is worth living again!!!!

3
[deleted]•

I actually find those hilarious. The best one was the hair depilatory one, where the woman painfully rips a home waxing kit strip off her upper lip.

3
MayaKarin•

nothing to be honest. commercials are wank.

3
abbeycrombie•

So I think women (well people in general) in movies, tv, ads, etc. should be way hotter than the 'average woman.' Like they're paid tons of money for us to watch them. They should at least be pleasant to watch.

3
[deleted]•

Aren't ad/TV people on the whole already good looking?

5
AnnaRKeyOP•

Alright, so you like to see pretty women on television. So, if every ad had a hot woman in it, holding the product, you'd go out and buy it, soley because of that?

2
abbeycrombie•

No, but I'm more likely to buy the product if the actors and actresses are attractive than if they're average looking. I don't really watch ads though... I usually go on reddit during the commercials.

3
[deleted]•

[deleted]

0
minor_discrepancy•

I'm really tired of the yogurt/pudding commercials that center around "Now that I've paid the bills and done the housework, it's ME time!" because every single advertiser on the planet seems to think women only care about this mysterious "me" pampering time. I'd love it if they said "hey this shit tastes GREAT and it won't make you fat so you can eat like 3 of them while doing whatever and not feel guilty!"

3
emmster•

It's not real food, It's yogurt!

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

2
veeko•

Less people wearing perfectly-planned outfits. Most people don't go to work wearing matching J Crew sweaters and skinny ties and Chinese Laundry shoes. There are laundry days, imperfectly matching clothes, people who just don't know how to do fashion (ahem. me) and not everyone wears crazy jewelry.

2
iamthespoke•

I'd like to see a show about high schoolers where someone gets pregnant...then sensibly GETS AN ABORTION instead of having a baby and getting married at "13". Oh yeah I'd like the students to be portrayed by people that are at least under 30 yrs old.

2