Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Estrogen rules

A Fancy Feast catfood commercial.

Young man visits girlfriend's parents, sees her attachment to the family cat.

He repaints, rebuilds, redecorates a room in his house, adding astroturf and a feline pic. Buys a fluffy white little kitten and installs it. Leads the girl into the room blindfolded.

On opening her eyes, she gushes, picks up the little cottonball thing and finds a heart-shaped charm on its collar, which says: Will you marry us?

She gets two pussies for the price of one.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm more suspicious about the marketers' intentions. ... I hardly ever watch TV — I haven't watch'd much since when I was doing my PhD. But when I do watch, I see what I take to be a lot of ads directed at unmarry'd white women. The messages is that not having a guy in your life is no big deal — maybe even a serious advantage given how stupid white guys are.

(I'm assuming the people in this commercial are white.)

The commercial for cat food comes dangerously close to admitting that a white guy can do fine things for a woman (redecorate a room in a house he OWNS and will give to her the whole house via marriage), so if you're a SWF you're missing out.

But the royal we "us" in the marriage proposal is the kitten. So the ideal marriage partner for a white woman is a cat, and buying Fancy Feast cat food is associated with connubial bliss.

The commercial first brings female viewers a bit down (presence of fine fiancé who wants to give her a free house in exchange for love) but then gives them a hit of bliss in marriage (to a kitten). Her more or less constant experience of disappointment in not being marry'd can be more or less constantly attenuated by buying Fancy Feast cat food.

When the Gods and Goddesses decided to send the marriage of guy and womangirl off the rails, man!, they really sent it off the rails. But cat food at fancy feast is not only semiotics but a good way to make money off the new dispensation. Upwardly mobile SFW career persons have a lot of disposable income. "Capitalism" may as well cash in while it can.

Anonymous said...

For the possible edification of the orientation-challenged community, I should emphasize that womengirls enthusiasm for marriage (and children) doesn't imply they have a similar enthusiasm for guys qua husbands. If they did, it would go to our heads and we would be insufferably conceited. But as it is, a guy is only part of the marriage (and family) package.

He marries her (Elizabeth Bennett, only). She marries a whole lot of things (Netherfields, social validation, impressing her family, the children they will have, etc, plus Darcy).

I don't say and I certainly don't feel that marriage is therefore unfair, although trying not to see these realities helps make so many marriages a disaster. imho

Leah said...

You have a true gift with language, I LOLed!

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