From Frauengold to Feierabendbier

Honest? A women's edition? Do we really have to? Yes, we do. Unfortunately. Okay, the times when we women were sold "women's gold "* so that we wouldn't go for the boss's throat, smooth out the irritated husband's mood with a horizontal insert, and bounce through our housewife and secretary existence "full of life and strong" - and slightly chipper - are thankfully long gone. So are the days when we went into ecstatic states over a new washing machine, or when all Mann had to do was blow a little cigarette smoke in our faces to make us compliant.

When we (have to) criticize the portrayal of women in advertising today, it's often no longer about obvious sexism. We're talking about what's lurking communicatively between the lines: the woman who still likes to appear in the luxury food sector (children's milk slice replaces women's gold), in the household and children's equipment sector, or as an ornamental accessory. The serious bank advisor, for example, is still frequently wearing a tie and jacket in 2018. Unless it's about gender issues - yeeeh, we get to do that!

Of course, there are completely different images of women in advertising today, just as there are in life. Role models beyond role clichés. And yet: "Whereas in the commercials from 1996, a good one in two women still appear smiling lasciviously, lolling or breathing seductively, in 2016 the proportion is still 30 percent," this sentence comes from a 2017 study (p. 6) that ultimately led to this "women's issue." Hey, let's toast the fact that only one-third of all women still loll about, smile or breathe seductively in TV commercials and forget about having "careers." As you can see, somehow these topics get on my nerves. No, actually not the topics, more the fact that there is still a need to talk - and above all a need to act. Gender still plays a role where it shouldn't.

Talent, skill, passion and enthusiasm are individual attributes that are not controlled by X or Y chromosomes. We all know that, don't we? And yet we are not yet in the situation where these "women's issues", more correctly "social issues", are no longer issues.

Women still advertise detergents, conjure up "something delicious for lunch" with the help of some powder peppered with E-numbers - in a tight fitness outfit, but of course with intact makeup and without a drop of sweat. Or in the evening they stumble into the kitchen on 10-centimeter heels - costume, velvet smile, dynamic. Paper bags with obligatory leek in one arm. On the other, a smiling, clean toddler. All thanks to a certain deodorant. WTF! My personal version of this situation here to visually represent, I spare you.

Is advertising simply a mirror of society? Or is what we perceive as "normal" in society so strongly shaped by advertising after all? I'm convinced that both have their part to play in the fact that we still have to talk about the role of women. And that of men. An improvement of circumstances in favor of women must not take place to the disadvantage of men - certainly not under the guise of equal rights. Otherwise there will be a need for "men's gold" at some point. I definitely like the idea of having an after-work beer together better.

Equal right means equal duty. Or in less old-fashioned terms: a balanced distribution of tasks and a willingness to compromise are called for. And how would it be if we went a bit further and stopped talking about men, women and patent remedies? Because there is no such thing! Conditions can and must be improved, without question. But the conditions must then also be used, and by each person in the way that is right for him or her. A bit more of a "if you want to, you can" mentality wouldn't hurt either. And it certainly doesn't hurt to have role models. Like the many great women in this issue, who show that it can be done: It can be done!

*Women's Gold was over 16 percent by volume and was banned in 1981 because it contained aristolochic acids, which are considered to promote cancer and damage the kidneys.

Nora Dämpfle, Editor Werbewoche