Audi, "Green Police"

by Winnie Wong



After watching the commercial, it is clear to see that the point is that the new Audi car is good for the environment. In fact, all other cars are held in the line to be checked if it is environmental friendly as this car is the only one free to go. This is such a simple easy to understand message but must stereotypical gender roles be incorporated for certain unknown reasons? If anyone watched it only once, they probably wouldn’t think any more about it besides that it is “just another Audi car commercial”. I have identified the many ways sexism is found in this short thirty second advertisement aired during the Super Bowl season.

There are both men and women in this commercial but that is merely another marketing strategy. If no women were shown, then people will start questioning about the sexism in the commercials. Sexism, however, goes beyond the simple appearance and usage of women characters in a commercial. All the main lead roles in this commercial are played by men. It goes from the one who was arrested for requesting a plastic bag, to the one who installed the incandescent light bulb, to the young men arrested for possessing plastic bottles. All the roles that women have are the innocent looking ones who have not much to do with the crime of not being “green” enough.

Taking a closer look at the specific gender roles that society has placed into our minds, men have certain roles in the house hold. Noticing carefully, it was the husband who was arrested for installing the incandescent light bulb and not the wife. This only goes back to the fact that society has made it seem as though all the heavy work such as climbing a ladder to twist on a light bulb are done by husband only. Also, the scene with the woman in the hot tub with the man fits into a very typical stereotype of women. As the police came to arrest them for having the hot tub water at a temperature too high, the woman stayed in the tub looking all helpless as the man dashed for an escape. This goes to show that society has made it seem as though women are the accessories that the man can leave behind and they aren’t smart enough to dash for their own escape as the man could. Only men are capable of escaping and protecting both themselves and the woman.

What left me in more disbelief was the article I found on the Audi website of a sneak preview of the commercial itself. In this article, author Jeff Kuhlman compliments how Audi workers can be as clever as to using an anteater in this commercial. Nowhere in this article can I find any trace of criticism about the use of stereotypical gender roles in this Green Police commercial. This may only be due to the fact that even the author himself doesn’t see it as a problem as many viewers don’t as well. Although this may be unfair to the rest of the viewers, but it is safe to assume that many people just fail to detect these stereotypes in various commercials. People can notice a strange anteater in this one second frame of the commercial but they fail to detect that the commercial itself fits snuggly into the modern stereotypes of gender roles. Is the sexism in this commercial a product of the Audi commercial makers or a product of all the viewers who obviously see no problem in stereotypical gender roles?