The sexiness of a sneaker

Courtney Miller

Media Culture Project

Advertisement comes in many forms. It’s the billboards we see on long drives, magazine ads, television, radios, websites, and even commercials. When it comes to projecting what people want or what people think they need, advertisement companies can create incredible things through the lenses above. As for women, it is through advertising that we are told who we are and who we should be. And this ideal is based on absolute flawlessness. Whether it’s clothing, makeup, exercise, whatever have you, women are projected as Caucasian and ageless--with no scars, wrinkles, blemishes, or even pores. These are all qualities women strive to have because it is projected to the public as the perfect, ideal woman. And these ideals are strived for by men as well—advertisements make them want to see these qualities in potential girlfriends or wives too. This sex appeal that make men lust over you and women want to envy you can come from the strangest of places—like harmless sneaker commercials. The following descriptions of commercials advertising “Reebok Easy Tone Sneakers”, reveal that advertisers know how to real women in—that, as Susan Douglas claims in Enlightened Sexism, “through sex and sexual display women really have the power to get what they want” (Douglas, 156).

“Better legs and a better butt with every step.” This is the closing line of every Reebok Easy Tone sneaker commercial. In this first commercial, what the advertisement tries to get across is that the sneaker works. And clearly, based on the camera’s angles, we are definitely aware of the effects of this sneaker. Another assumption the audience makes is that the cameraman is in fact, a man. This is a valid assumption considering that twice during the commercial, the camera moves from the woman’s face to her legs and butt. The camera man is visibly so distracted by the beautiful set of legs and butt standing before him that he can’t seem to concentrate on filming the actual commercial. The objectification of a woman’s body through a male lens is what this commercial alludes to.

In the next commercial, women are viewed in their homes, at work, working out, on the beach, dancing, cleaning, cooking, walking the dog, all wearing the easy tone sneakers. The one thing that sets this commercial apart from let’s say, a jewelry commercial, is that this one contains only shots of women from their waist down. Not Hispanic women, black women, or any women of color. It shows white women’s’ legs in all these aspects of our every day lives, wearing these sneakers and feeling empowered. The idea of the fit, beautiful, sculpted, Caucasian woman, is alluded to in this commercial.

The last commercial is the one I personally am the most offended by. Let’s keep in mind that these advertisements are for sneakers. Shoes, that people wear usually to work out in…not when we are lying in bed. This commercial is in black and white, on a bed, with a woman completely naked minus the fact that she has spanky pants on. The camera slowly travels down her body in a seductive way, as it describes how this kind of workout is “28% more of a workout for your butt, 11% more for your hamstrings and calves, so 88% of men will be speechless…” and finally ends at her feet, and of course, as she’s lying in bed, she is wearing these easy Tone sneakers which are the only things in the commercial that are not black and white. This commercial alludes to the sexiness of the sneaker. The sexiness of a sneaker? Who would ever think this was possible.

There are several aspects about these commercials that can be analyzed through the lens of our class readings from earlier this semester. Particularly, in Susan Douglas’s Enlightened Sexism and Joan Brumberg’s, “Body Projects” from The Body Project, we are more than able to break down each commercial from their perspective and see how Reebok easy tone sneakers objectify women. The first commercial is one in which men would find particularly funny. They see this camera guy lose focus who is clearly mesmerized by this woman’s legs and in particular, her butt—something especially these days, men find particularly sexy on a woman. Women want to feel empowered—they want men, like this cameraman to lust after them—and by buying these sneakers, women can be awed at in the same way. Douglas tells us, “true empowerment comes from buying the right things and using the right products to look irresistibly attractive”(Douglas, 102). This commercial is showing women that if they want their thighs and mostly their butts to be lusted for, she will have to buy the sneakers to get these amazing results.

Along those same lines, these commercials are clearly accentuating the lower half of a woman’s body. That is the common thread amongst all these three commercials. Brumberg says, “Our current below-the-waist orientation is reflected in a national discourse about female thighs that has generated new products and procedures, and also increased female insecurity and dissatisfaction with themselves” (Brumberg, 125). Women are getting the wrong idea about fitness and exercise—that it is based on looks and not health. And on top of that, the commercial applies to one class of women and that is the “ideal woman” in advertising. “This persona of the sexpert is almost always white, young, heterosexual, slim, beautiful, and middle – or upper-middle class” (Douglas, 157). The racial and class implications of this commercial exclude a major portion of our country’s audience. But again, it is through advertisements like this one, that make women feel as though they need to look like the women in this commercial, because that is the “ideal.”

The last commercial is by far, probably the one that sticks out in my mind the most. How is it that a commercial for sneakers, involves a half naked woman, lying in bed, with sultry music playing in the background? None of these things correlate with sneakers, or fitness for that matter. This commercial implies that fitness and exercise is once again, not about being healthy, but about how your butt gets 28% more of a workout, and you can clearly see this by the incredibly sculpted half naked butt viewed perfectly in this commercial. I think this is a commercial that the Reebok advertisement company wanted to apply to men as well as women. The fact that the sneaker is the last thing we see or hear about is a terrible advertising technique for any other circumstance. However, they have enticed both sexes and made the sneakers something that every woman wants to buy, in order to obtain a sexy body like the one shown. (If I weren’t so offended by the subtle objectification in these commercials, I would want a pair after seeing this last one too!).

Media today reveals a transformed sense of objectification of young women. It is commercials like the ones above that I want to end, but know it won’t. White sells, a nice body sells, and sexiness sells. Feminists today have yet to find a solution to this newfound objectification because there isn’t one. Sure, we have made plenty of progress because of feminism; sure, full equality has been achieved, so now, is it okay to resurrect sexist stereotypes of girls and women? No, it is never okay, but that is Enlightened Sexism, and these are the problems women are facing every day.