This post is not about Java, Java EE or even IT. It is about the state of our world or, to shrink it a bit, the state of advertisement, business… and women (I had blogged about something similar a few years ago)
A few days ago a friend of mine who was skiing at La Plagne (France) Tweeted this photo asking “Am I the only one being shocked about this ?“. I don’t know if he had many answers, but clearly, I was shocked. Shocked as a man, shocked as a dad of a 8 years old girl who will become a woman. In this photo Sony makes the parallel between a woman and a play station : two toys you can play with.
I’m sure all of us, in our different countries, have seen adverts of half-naked women drinking beer or half-naked women driving a car. This has been going on for decades… meaning… it works ! If you want to sell something ? Just use a naked woman. Yes, it works, you will sell more yogurts, beers, cars, perfumes .. and make more money. So can we all agree here please ? Put a naked woman on your advert and you will make more money ! Ok ? Good ! So now let’s move on !
In the industry I work in (IT), things move very fast, so a recipe that worked in 2000 doesn’t always work in 2013. That’s why we need to be fast, swift, agile, and need to innovate to create value (otherwise your business dies). Sony has the same problem. Looks like in the advertising industry they don’t have this problem, don’t need to innovate and use the same old good recipe : naked woman == more business !
Sony, it looks like your business is not going too well. Maybe you should innovate, re-structure your company, have new ideas. I know, it’s difficult. Making business in 2013 is difficult because the competition is huge. But by using this kind of adverts, you look like your are at one inch of closing the company… and your last trick to come back to business is to use sexist adverts. Or maybe you really deserve your “junk status“.
Women, please, stop creating a world where you’ll get more and more uncomfortable living in. You don’t have to get naked for us to eat a yogurt or drive a car. Tell your female friends about it please !
Guys, can we just move on ?
I would like to know the people who created this advert. If they could spend more time playing with their girlfriends (boyfriends) and wives (husbands) in their private lives, they would not create such crape. If you don’t have a partner to play with in your bed at home, bad luck, keep your sexual frustration for you, but do not expose it to everybody.
I’ll not go into “BOYCOT SONY’S PRODUCTS” because a bunch of idiots damaged the work of thousands of Sony’s employees. I just want these employees to go back to there managers and say “hey guys, the company is not in good shape, so instead of spending money in silly adverts, let’s go back to our original message : innovation”. So please Sony, make us dream like you used to (walkman, discman, floppy disks, compact disc, PlayStation, movie, music, entertainment, computers, flash memory cards, blu-ray disc, cameras, semiconductors…)… or go out of business if you can’t innovate anymore… but stop using sexist advertisement !
Perfect! I hate this kind of ad and it’s a pity that most women doesn’t recognize how they keep the society always expecting them(women) to act like just a sexy object, without brains…
Antonio, just one question. Are you from Brazil? I’m pretty sure about that, but I need to confirm… (I’m from Brazil, by the way).
I’m Portuguese but I studied (UFScar) and lived in Brazil (Sao Paulo / Salvador) for nearly 2 years ;o)