Curator's Note
The Summer’s Eve “Hail to the V” commercial caught my attention from the initial shot of a black woman cradling a black baby. The black Egyptian queen was a bonus. They were doing everything right. Diversity? Check. Female prioritization? Check. Quasi- historical accuracy? Check. And then, they reminded me that my vagina was dirty.
I felt betrayed by the use of female empowerment to disempower me. Summer’s Eve only needs me to believe that my vagina is the most powerful thing on earth so that I can be shamed into buying their product. The commercial’s conclusion had me rethinking my positive response to its initial representations. Let’s take them one at a time.
Diversity
The commercial features three black women, one Asian woman, and one white woman. Do women of color outnumber whites in this mainstream commercial because their vaginas are genetically dirtier? Or perhaps, is it because women of color are ignorant about personal hygiene? The contemporary character who places the product in her shopping cart appears African American.
Female Prioritization
The more progressive public conversations we have about sex and reproduction in a society where lawmakers believe birth control and access to abortion are not fundamental rights the better. But in this instance, the vagina is merely an object that women are supposed to “show a little love” so that it will be nice and fresh when a man decides he wants to possess it. Furthermore, promoting fighting and dying for the vagina as noble deeds dangerously normalizes sexual assault. In an attempt to celebrate the vagina, the advertisement diminishes the power of a woman as a whole person.
Quasi-historical Accuracy
None of the women in the commercial do anything. They passively watch the drama unfold. Women overcame centuries of injustice not because they waited for their vaginas to be conquered, but because of their intellect, warrior instinct, and strategic savvy.
The advertisement’s portrayal of faux empresses reveals its imperialism. Imperialism works best when its subtle domination tactics are accepted as empowering. Women are shown as ill-equipped to take care of the reproductive aspects of their bodies unless they enlist the help of Summer’s Eve, promoted by a male-dominated empire, I mean, company. The exalted vagina is being pimped to fulfill a patriarchal imperialist desire for capital and control. Although the tactics no longer involve sword fights, men still attempt to control the most powerful thing on earth.
Comments
marketing inadequacy
I really love this post--thanks for writing it. While one might expect the makers of a female-targeted product to be a bit more sensitive to issues such as these, it is delightful to read how clueless (and destructive) is the ad for a company hawking a product to "solve" a fake issue.
Considerations of advertising always make me wonder about how these ads came to be. Was this ad test marketed at all? If so, the reaction of a general audience similar to your own intiailly positive instinct? How did the product maker express their desires for this ad, and how was a feminist portrayal of female power discussed in meeting with the ad company?
Despite not being able to know more about those issues, you've offered a useful approach for how scholars can break down and interpret images such as these. This may be a particularly ideal example of how scholarship, particularly scholarship of seemingly benign and insignificant media, has something important to contribute to a wider audience.
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