What a Fishy Commercial!

By Chris Quock

The "Sucking It In" tuna commercial that aired in Japan reveals many issues between the sexes and the stereotypical roles of men and women. In the commercial, a woman walks through a business office while the men stare and literally drool over her. Once the woman makes it to the elevator alone, she quits sucking in her gut and it appears she is fat. Then the audience is instructed to buy their low fat tuna.

The men and woman in the video represent the shifting gender roles. The women's role, according to the video, is to look good for men and be a caretaker, while men's is to work and objectify women. As you watch the video, you notice all the men are dressed in business attire and are working in an office. The woman is bearing skin and dressed as if she were about to go clubbing--certainly not acceptable for the work place. Today, although women are working in higher numbers, many still assume it is their role to stay at home and let the men be the provider. Men have been looked on as a provider since they hunted and gathered. We see the role of men in this way because we know no better; it's been like this since we were little. The woman stands out in the office because she is not dressed professionally, unlike the men. If the woman had been working at the office we could tell her value is in her beauty and not her contribution to the business. We would rarely see this in the past, but it has now become the norm. We have seen our gender roles change in some cases, but remain the same in others. No matter what, we choose to accept these roles and roll with the punches.

The video reveals two main roles of men: must work a white collar job and objectify women. The men work in a modern office, and are all dressed in suits and ties. It shows how men's work is superior--men are in nice office and need to be presentable to even work there. Another thing that the video tells men to do is to objectify women for their own pleasure. During the opening scene we see a man drooling over the woman, while the other men are wide-eyed with their mouths open. We are supposed to laugh at this exaggeration, but it isn't funny when you understand its affect. Not only is the video says that objectification is acceptable but humorous as well. Even the camera gives you the viewpoint of the men, zoomed in on her ass and legs. The camera only adds confirmation of what the men are drooling over. No one "mans up" to talk to her, instead they choose to savor their "eye candy".

We are also informed, according to the video, the two expectations of a woman. First, women must be physically attractive and nice to look at. This is the most obvious because we see that the video is a low fat tuna commercial; low fat will lead to being sexually attractive. Once she was able to satisfy the eyes of the men and in her own solitude within the elevator, the woman can let it go and let it all hang out. The last part of being a woman is to tempt men, but not fully allow them in. The girl slowly presses the "closed" button, symbolizing how men can look all they want, but will never get what they actually want. She chooses to look as good as she can, almost tricking the men to think she is available, but when it comes down to it, she will not give these men the time of day.

I personally don't agree with the representations of men and women in this video. I feel that anybody can be whoever they want and should not have to follow a certain code or outline for their life. However, when looked at carefully, this commercial is more than just the marketing of a low fat tuna product. Rather, it reveals to the viewer, a sad, distorted idea of how to be a man or woman and encourages unhealthy, unequal relationships between the genders in modern society.