Advertising to Women

Posted on Aug 20, 2013

Handsome Guy Cooking Advertising to women | Hapari - Kraft's "Zesty Guy" Speaks Out.

Lately I've been noticing a change in the advertising to women. This usually capitalizes on a handsome man, the perfect lighting and a phrase or action that could be taken in more than one way. Since the beginning of advertising we have seen this (for both men and women) and it obviously works because sales for things like website URL's (Go Daddy) begin to skyrocket or you find yourself trying out a new salad dressing ( Kraft). This message is anything but subliminal from today's advertising. Today I am inspired by the new ad campaign containing a charming and handsome gentleman, Anderson Davis. I'm inspired because this has stirred up a lot of controversy this summer, but in all honesty, I wonder...why? The headlines read "Mother's disgusted" and so on, but if we recall the GoDaddy.com incident of 2005 when their first racy ad aired during the Super Bowl we know it could be far worse. The GoDaddy.com commercials only continue to increase shock value over the years, but again, they still air and people move on. Those commercials in my opinion (such as Bar Refaeli making out with a 'nerdy' web developer from last year's Super Bowl) are far more graphic than those geared towards women, until now.

Anderson Davis, "the Zesty guy," feels there is more to his character for Kraft than face value, adding "I really wanted to make sure that it kind of stuck that you can have a guy without his shirt on, and he can look like more than just a guy without his shirt on. He can be appealing, he can be attractive and he can be funny." Kraft's statement also supports this message. "We want to recognize our consumers as more than just moms but also as women and give her a campaign that has her view Kraft Salad Dressings in a whole new way," a Kraft statement says. Advertising towards men has shown women in a seductive way for years, but something about this ad campaign has our attentions spiked because they did find a way to market a seductive ad towards women by capitalizing on the things women find appealing like a sense of humor and personality on top of a the ruggedly handsome man's physique. Thinking of a more intelligent way to market to women has increased my respect for Kraft instead of losing it. So at initial glance from a conservative point of view, yes you can say this commercial is not to watch with children, but you've got to respect Kraft for making a sophisticated humor and sex appeal that blows all the cheap, and often overly sexual, ads geared towards men out of the water.

So, how do you feel about advertising taking a new strategy with their female consumer? I've gathered some of the most talked about commercials and will let you be the judge... buy or bye-bye to these products?

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