Grab your cheese dip and your bucket of wings. It’s time for another sexist Super Bowl Sunday.

While it is supposed to be watched for the sports, the Super Bowl has become popularly known for its wide variety of commercials. However, such as with day-to-day life, this event is hardly innocent from ever prominent objectification of women within the media.

Model Charlotte McKinney shocked the world last year in yet another sex-based burger commercial for Carl’s Jr.  The advertisement was a promotion for their “All-Natural Burger” and had McKinney do, or rather go, just that — strolling through a public farmer’s market as the actions of men, and some well-placed produce, covered her seemingly bare body.

In the past, other obscene examples include the 2010 Man’s Last Stand for Chrysler, Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels for GoDaddy in 2011 and Adriana Lima’s 2012 commercial for Teleflora. Needless to say, we’re quite excited to see what kind of product-based misogyny the ad community releases this year.

Banking on the “sex sells” philosophy, companies continue to produce these 30-second commercials, which can cost up to $5 million per spot this year, according to Fortune. And while these companies may never shy away from capitalizing on female sexuality to sell their products, the Super Bowl perpetuates these outdated misogynistic tropes between touchdowns like no other platform, considering that it’s one of United States’ most-visible national events.

“One of the ways that you uphold a belief in male supremacy is to denigrate women and to make women seem (like) unimportant, decorative objects,” said Robin Riley, assistant professor of women’s and gender studies and director of LGBT studies at Syracuse University. “You rob them of their personhood. You reduce them to their body parts.”

Fortunately, just in time for the uproar, #WomenNotObjects – a new campaign to combat the frequent sexism and objectification – published a call-to-action video displaying numerous accounts of female objectification in the media.

Those that oppose the campaign have argued that #WomenNotObjects is a promotion of slut shaming; however, there is a difference between ridiculing a woman for her sexuality and coupling her doing the splits with the text “Now Open.”

“The critique is not of the women who appear in the ad as the critique is of the people who create the ads” said Riley. “The idea is that women’s body parts are necessary to make things seem desirable. And to make that about the women who appear in the ads is a way of distracting from the bigger issue, which is that women are routinely used in this way.”

ABC also refused to air a “Carol” trailer due to its lesbian love scene. Page Six reports that executives have claimed that they will air the ad on the condition that Time Warner Cable provides “more coverage on” both lead actresses, an egregious claim to make on account of all the other commercials allowed.

“The implication is that women’s bodies are for male enjoyment only,” said Riley. “When women are naked it’s for men’s enjoyment, but when women are showing desire or affection or lust for each other it’s not okay.”

This is a perfect example of how objectivity and nudity stand until it makes men uncomfortable. A lesbian sex scene, although also sexualized by men, doesn’t benefit them when it’s in the context of a love story. Use it to sell a product, however, and it’s perfectly appropriate for children.

This double standard extends even further, considering the fact that gay men have been featured before. During the 2014 Super Bowl, Coca Cola’s ad, which featured numerous countries singing “America the Beautiful,” featured a gay couple as part of the company’s initiative to be more inclusive.

Although it sparked controversy, this proves that lesbian women are often not even afforded the chance to be on television. Moving forward, companies should adjust their marketing to refrain from commodifying women any further.

At least for now, we can thank the Super Bowl for Hyundai providing us with multiple Ryan Reynolds. But, women, unlike Reynolds, still have a long way to go in reclaiming their bodies in the media — progress the Super Bowl and its advertisers can contribute to by empowering women rather than degrading them.

Brontë Schmit is a sophomore magazine journalism major and marketing, english and textual studies, and LGBT Studies minor. Her column appears weekly.

Published on February 4, 2016 at 12:45 am