This is still possible but not for long:
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Clarissa's Blog 
What’s not possible anymore? Being outside? Or having a white dress? Having something be handcrafted in the US? I need more context! 🙂
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Showing of a woman as an investment.
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I assumed it was the woman making the investment and thought your point was about the decline of manufacturing (or wrongheadedness about making ‘investments’ in a system designed to only benefit the top 5 percent or so).
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I also assumed the woman was the investor, so yeah, I guess that reality is dead and gone. Would you mind elaborating on the “possible but not for long”?
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Women as possessions are a thing of the past. Nobody can afford them any longer and nobody really wants to.
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Well, I’m relieved you weren’t implying that the concept of home-improvement isn’t long for this world. I also assumed that the woman was the investor, though I can also see the implication that she is a trophy wife.
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The ad says “investments” and compares them in terms of which one is more stunning. So it features investments.
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Yes, I also have no clue as to what is not possible for long.
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My sister and I were both equally shocked the moment we saw this.
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Like Cliff, I saw the woman as enjoying the fruits of investment. I assumed she was enjoying the “Marvin Windows and Doors” on her lovely patio. 🙂 But I understand why you say that the ad casts the woman as the investment. I didn’t see it that way initially but that seems certainly plausible.
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There is, an, admittedly, much smaller tagline in the bottom right, “Built around you.” Might be a hedge, or it could be that this ad is actually supposed to sell to rather than on women.
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\\ it could be that this ad is actually supposed to sell to rather than on women.
I think it’s both.
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Clarissa, I agree with the others. I didn’t see the ad as depicting the woman as a possession, but rather as someone enjoying an ostentatious lifestyle. Whether the latter will pass is uncertain as there have always been such people.
The comment highlights another fracture in US society — coastal v. hinterland. The ad community is primarily coastal, and what you see primarily reflects accepted norms in that environment. I’m of that environment. No one I know in this environment now has an issue with equal rights; there were such people once, but they’re dead.
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As someone who studied marketing I can tell you that the woman is definitely the one being highlighted as ‘investment’ (along with the windows and doors). If the objective were not to target her as part of the tagline, but rather as the one making the investment, we would see her looking at her investment, rather than blending with it. She would be physically positioned in a different spot. However, I think that the fact that no one saw it that way might be the glimmer of hope that these ads will soon become a thing of the past.
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I see that somebody made the connecting flight on time. 🙂
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Indeed! But I’ve been sitting in Detroit for hours now. My 2nd flight has been majorly delayed. Oh well, yay for free wi-fi!
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Sorry to hear that! I hope you don’t get stuck overnight!
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I get that point, but the more I look at the ad the more I’m thinking it’s meant to be ambiguous. If she was looking at the camera or was more positioned to the side of the door inviting the viewer in (in more ways than one) then I’d assume she’s an investment.
But her body language suggests casual ownership of the house, to me it looks more like she’s surveying her domain and not a perc of someone else’s lifestyle.
I think that those who are prone to think of atractive women as props (or who are hyper-sensitized to the issue) will see the ad one way and those who don’t (or who don’t give the matter much thought) will/can see it another way.
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You don’t need to be hyper-anything to see this exactly for what it is.
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I agreed with Clarissa and Sister, I saw the woman as part of the “package” of the idyllic life that this “investment” promises you. There’s a big difference between how the beneficiary of a power fantasy and an object of that wish fulfillment are positioned in ads, and she’s definitely the latter.
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My first reaction was like that of other commenters here: it was about the home, windows and doors, etc. After all, that’s what’s written: “transform your home,” “handcrafted,” “windows and doors,” “built around you.”
Still, something seemed off.
The woman looks weird. I’m not in marketing so I don’t know anything about positioning; rather, what seemed weird and unnatural to me was that she looks like some kind of otherworldly entity rather than a real woman, with that immaculate and impossibly long white dress. What’s she doing (if anything)? Where’s she going (if anywhere at all)? Where’s she from? Lothlorien?
She might be a symbolic entity. The dream wife, perhaps? It is then clear who the investor is. So in the end it seems Clarissa is right. But it’s not obvious; it’s really subtle.
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“What’s she doing (if anything)?”
– She is being owned.
” But it’s not obvious; it’s really subtle.”
– If this is subtle, I don’t know what would be explicit. How many male “investors” has anybody seen dressed this way, seriously?
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“… what seemed weird and unnatural to me was that she looks like some kind of otherworldly entity rather than a real woman …”
She’s made to look like part of the building — she looks like a column.
Too ornate to be a Doric, not ornate enough to be a Corinthian, so I suppose she’s of an Ionic classical order? The dress certainly matches.
How clever, hiding an architectural joke about a “classical order” within the advert.
I’d find it funnier if someone replaced the caption with “It’s only a rental” — I somehow doubt the lack of clarity about who this is really about would be such a problem if only the caption were somewhat more offensive, in effect removing all doubt …
As Clarissa says, this kind of thing will eventually run its course …
Besides, I prefer rentals — ownership is just too much on the wallet.
[smugly leaves that ambiguous, just so some can be saints in their injuries whilst also being devils acting offended …] 🙂
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Good catch. She does look like a column. Interesting.
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I think the expression “built around you” supports a woman as investor reading, since the door and windows are around her.
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“You” is obviously the reader. Around which the woman exists.
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I had no idea people had such trouble reading visual images. Can you imagine an ad titled “a board meeting of investors” where all “investors” are dressed like this and stand around in these poses?
Seriously, people, how is it possible not to know that ads work with the crudest, most primitive means? If you need to search for it for 20 minutes, it simply isn’t there. White robes and flowy hair are not code for “investor.” Business suits, eye glasses, briefcases and very severe hairstyles are code for “investor.”
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What can I say, Clarissa, we are heavily resistant to the idea of women as investments 😛
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It isn’t like I’m into that idea all that much. 🙂
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“we are heavily resistant to the idea of women as investments”
You’d think she’d be happy….. (side whisper, you know how these academics are….)
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We are cranky and cantankerous.
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Heh. Here is, by the way, the sister image of the ad campaign, from the company website:
A picture is indeed worth a thousand words.
Still, as a sidenote, whatever else the ad is selling, it’s also selling the idea that shiny windows (a quality of life thing) are an investment (money spent that makes you more money than you spent). “If you bought this, you would be the kind of person who can afford this.” That’s a reality that’s likely not quite ready to depart.
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Thank you, DWeird. I think this puts the discussion to bed conclusively.
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