There are occasionally commercials about cooking or cleaning directed at men. But even in this highly liberated age when a woman can aspire to be anything, even President (I said "aspire to be", folks, not actually "be"), the vast majority of cleaning and cooking products are directed at women. Come to think of it, the majority of anti-depressant ads are directed at women, too. Makes you wonder.

My very all time favorite sexist woman commercial - Enjoli. "I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never, ever, let you forget you're a man. Cuz I'm a woman... Enjoli".

A little trip down memory lane. Aren't we all glad that things have changed so much for women that things are no longer like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X4MwbVf5OA

And yet, as always, these ads tell women that their place is cooking in the kitchen or vacuuming the living room because men are too stupid to do either.

Perhaps women aren't the sole targets of sexist advertising, hmm?

Forgive my stupidity, but what is sexist about the Roomba ad? It seems quite reasonable.

As it happens, my wife and I just sent away for one of those things because my effect on a household is indeed animalistic.

Though I wouldn't want to be compared to a pig or an ass, I must admit that there does seem to be some truth to these stereotypes, at least as I've observed anecdotally.

When I've lived with just guys, the house has uniformly been less clean than when I've lived with women. Not over-the-top nasty, at least by my standards, but messier none the less. I've recently moved into a house and gotten a female roommate, and can't help but notice that her standards of cleanliness are higher than mine, and as a result I've subconciously adjusted, trying to keep peace and be polite.

Strangely enough, as a result of the fact that she CARES more about the house's appearance, she puts more of an effort into maintaining it. I've ended up relegated mostly to chores on the outside. In other words, even though we're not a "couple", just roommates, we've slipped into traditional male/female roles without even meaning to! And that, oddly enough, is where we fell into our mutual comfort zones.

The emails I get promise all sorts of interesting scenarios that, I assume, take place after the ending of that Roomba ad. Sorry, but while I have my kinks, frisky farmgirls ain't one of them.

The ad is sexist in the way that all ads for stuff to clean your house are sexist: it's always the woman doing the cleaning (or in this case, instructing the robot to do it). And please, Roomba, don't even pretend that your frisbee on wheels can really get the job done.

But I would love to have a donkey in the house (a real donkey). Here's my advice--don't do the housework. Wait until he learns to do it. It's worked for me. My partner is much more attuned to keeping the place clean than I am, and he does the work. I get to do what I'm good at, which is cook. The thing is, don't argue about it, just do what you want to do with conviction.

That sounds good in theory, however...

I've lived with many people over the years, in dorms, barracks, group houses, with girlfriends, roommates and one wife (once). The thing is, SOME PEOPLE just don't give a shit if the place is a mess. You can try the tactic of not cleaning up until they start contributing, but it doesn't always work.

I had one roommate in the early '90's that would never wash a dish. He'd rinse out dishes or pans if necessary (if there were none left) then just leave them in the sink, dirty, again. At one point I just removed all the dishes/silverware and bought paper plates and plasticware. And he still didn't care. And would still dirty up every pan in the house.

Young women are the biggest pigs. They beat the hell out of the units harder than fratboys.

I liked MadTV's ad that skewered both obsessively fanatic housekeepers and obsessively fanatic douchers, who exist in Adland.

-- jebldmm

I grew up dancing around to that commercial. Thanks for the link :D (even if I do end up humming it for the rest of the day)

Utter slobness can happen to women. I am proof positive. Some people just do not see the mess until it hits their (remarkably high) threshold. Not proud of it either, just stating.

the wife in the Roomba ad calls her husband an ass, and then turns around and calls him her best friend (much as dogs are man's best friend?).

@Unluckyimmortal--excellent illustration of the point that sexism hurts men just as much as it hurts women.

@Derek Dreyer--it is sexist to assume that a), it is the women's job to keep the house clean, and b), men are incapable of doing something as basic as cleaning up after themselves. I can be messy, too, but I generally pick up after myself when I am done, because it is rude and disgusting to expect other people deal with my messes.

That Bounty commercial has always pissed me off--who thinks it is okay to let spilled liquid rush toward the rug while just watching it? And the whole let's sit back and watch mom jump to clean up after us aspect gets on my nerves too. What if mom was busy doing something else?

I tend to be more liberal about ads -- they're joking more than anything else. I would take this one as a joke, and not overanalyse it in terms of who exactly it is offending (is it sexist because the woman is supposed to do the cleaning, or because the men are portrayed as animals who can't clean after themselves? -- ask yourselves how you'd have felt if it was the other way round...)

I tend to be rather messy, but so does my wife. So, except at weekends, when we get serious about cleaning the mess, our house does end up having some of the charms of an old frat house. What can I say? We still love each other... :-)