The “Mr. Clean” Commercial

Summary Of Commercial:

In 2017, during Super Bowl 51, the “Mr. Clean” cleaning products were really making a hit when they made a commercial with a romantic arousing plot. In the beginning of the commercial, the woman makes a spill on her stove and wonders how she’ll get it out, also looking stressed and then music begins to play. Mr. Clean comes out of her imagination and starts to clean it for the woman while also starting to clean other parts of her house while dancing to the uplifting music (with a sexual twist) the commercial added. The woman follows and also begins dancing with him as she starts to get an aroused feeling by him. Then after, her husband came into the picture and she no longer was seeing Mr. Clean.

Catching An Eye:

When it comes to women, catching their eye is something that tends to not happen often depending on the type of lady of course. Mr. Clean had caught the attention of the woman by cleaning her house. The woman had gotten an aroused feeling and began to really admire Mr. Clean. In Jean Kilbourne’s essay, "Three Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt": she wrote, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if, realizing the importance of relationships in all of our lives, we could seek to learn relational skills from women and to help men develop these strengths in themselves? Popular culture usually trivializes these abilities in women, mocks men who have real intimacy with women..." (Kilbourne, 490-91) The commercial makes men think that if you help a woman with her chores she’ll give you some sexual pleasure, but it pictures an unhealthy and unattractive image when it comes to relationships between men and women. If something is free, you are the product.

Cleaning Is a Fetish

Again in Kilbourne’s essay she had also wrote: "Sex in advertising is pornographic because it dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially women, and because it fetishizes products, imbues them with an erotic charge- which dooms us to dissapointment since products never can fulfull our sexual desires or meet our emotional needs." (Kilbourne, 489) Now don’t get me wrong, the woman in the commercial was definitely having a sexual appeal towards Mr. Clean, and although he didn’t push anything on to her, the commercial outlines a image that objectifies women when it comes to a man cleaning and whether or not will the man and women have sex after.

Conclusion:

In the end of the commercial the quote “You Gotta Love A Man Who Cleans” gives people an understanding of the odd commercial but explains why the woman was getting a sexual attraction towards Mr. Clean. All in all, the commercial is trying to send out a message towards the end implying that if a man cleans, a woman will have sex with him. The commercial doesn't help women with relationships, in fact, just objectifies women in all.

References:

Kilbourne, Jean. "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt."

Cleaner of Your Dreams [Video file]. (2017). United States: Procter & Gamble. Retrieved April 17, 2021, from https://youtu.be/ozuWoZITX3Y

Picture Citing:

Screenshots from the Mr. Clean commercial