A few days ago your commercial came on.
At first it didn’t faze me. Objectification of women is a common way to sell products. But as I watched the rest: the message became clear. The sexualized objectification of these women became clear. The reason I’m a feminist became clear.
I know what you may think. No, I don’t hate men. I’m not insecure, resentful, and I am certainly not rejecting the right for women to express her sexuality. While watching the commercial about your “Bacon 3-Way Burger Fantasy Commercial,” I was not surprised. I was saddened.
I was not surprised because although women and men who acknowledge equal rights surround me, I have watched men like Donald Trump gain immense power and influence. Trump, a man who refers to women as sex objects, a man who calls women “ugly,” for disagreeing with him. I have watched him discuss his daughter’s body as an object, as interviewers as being unfair because she has “blood coming out of everywhere,” labeling a woman’s worth based on what she looks like, and worst of all; I’ve watched people numb themselves to this. I’ve watched people-women-say that his actions are okay. This is not okay.
The reason I bring up Donald Trump while talking about your commercial is because the world has a lot of work to do when it comes to equal rights. You are just part of the problem, but unfortunately its roots run much deeper than just you.
The problem is not in women presenting sexuality; but that the women in your bacon burger commercial are being used as props. They are bodies. They are no longer humanized; they are no longer a person. They are simply an outer shell of people, stripping themselves to sell. And this message is not the message we should be teaching our daughters.
Women have gone through hunger strikes, have starved, just to give us the right to vote. Women before us have suffered, gone to jail, for equality. They have fought to give us a voice, to allow us to be more than a housewife, an object, or a prop for men to use. To be reduced to objects used to sell burgers is not only insulting, it dehumanizes us. It strips us of our empowerment. It strips us of our dignity to be looked at as equals.
To women: you are more than a body. You will be loved for who you are, for the good you do in the world, the talents you possess. You deserve to be looked at as not only someone’s daughter, someone’s mother, someone’s wife; but as a human being. Your body is yours and to understand that it is no one else’s to be used, to be objectified, to be leered at, to be used to sell burgers. You are so much more than a Carl Jr.’s commercial will make you out to be.
