FLO TV, "Spineless"

by Noopoor Akruwala



This FLO TV commercial features a highly exaggerated “injury report” broadcasted by CBS’s own Sportscaster, Jim Nantz. He gives a sorrowful play by play on how the injured man, Jason, is “rendered incapable” from watching the oh-so glorious super bowl because his girlfriend decided to take him shopping. The last time I checked, spending time with your significant other isn’t a crime, or a fallacy. In fact, Nantz even recommends Jason to change out of his skirt at the end of the ad, implying he has broken the rules of masculinity; by buying a personal FLO TV, he will once again recover from this poor, unhealthy, un-man like state.

Ads or commercials projected for male consumers, such as this personal FLO TV ad, put masculine egos at the center of attention and disregard reality. In this particular ad, the broadcaster, Jim Nantz, had a look of disgust and contempt for Jason. His monotony also revealed that Jason had committed some sort of crime that embarrassed the male identity. Jason himself wasn’t pleased with the fact that he was missing the super bowl because he was shopping with his girlfriend; viewers can ultimately infer what he upholds the most: a lousy football game with too many commercials.

Jason is just a mere representation of a stereotypical male who feels downsized just because he is doing something that is usually considered feminine. These stereotypes that society and the media have induced have greatly impacted our way of thinking and living. Stereotypes have molded gender identities and responsibilities. While his girlfriend is all giggling and happy while shopping, Jason is miserable because shopping is just not masculine enough and according to his actions, the super bowl holds more value at this point. To go to a greater extent, if the roles were switched and Jason was enjoying this shopping spree, he would automatically be labeled as a homosexual (no surprise to that, right?). If the girlfriend was the one annoyed at his fetish for shopping because it interfered with the viewing of the super bowl, I think society would question this ‘mishap.’ However, this sort of scenario would never work for the media. In fact, switching stereotyped gender roles would probably confuse consumers and the product would never be a success for the company projecting the advertisement.

Advertisers hope to sell their products by targeting gullible consumers who become entangled with gender labels. The media perpetuates perceptions that consumers feel they need to adhere to and ultimately, individuality is lost. For example, the girlfriend in this ad is portrayed as “girly” and in effect spreading feminine qualities to her boyfriend. She shouldn’t be viewed as the pinnacle character of this ad because she is just one of those side characters exemplifying a typical woman in the media’s eyes.

Although this FLO TV commercial is supposed to be comical and humorous, it is easy to see how the media labels gender roles and expects society to conform to such views. According to FLO TV, it isn’t wrong for a man to have his manliness preserved by buying a dinky little television to view an insignificant football game. Yet, stepping into a mall with your significant other to shop and spend time there is a big NO NO. Oh what has our world come to?