There are a couple of split-screen ads I’ve seen for Chevron that have some woman on the right side of the screen, and some man on the left side. The women are basically saying how we need renewable energy and stuff, and there’s got to be a way to make it work, etc., and the men are saying stuff that’s obviously from a script. Actually, what am I saying here? They’re both obviously reading from a script or else an oil company wouldn’t dare put them in an ad. But never mind that part. Anyway, they have this situation where there are two people on a split screen, and they’re both saying basically the same type of thing, since they’re both actors who are paid to learn and then deliver the contents of a script; but ladies first!
Now, look; I’m going to give you my unvarnished take on what these ads said to me, but I have to say in (sort of) fairness to Chevron, it looks like they have made a bunch more ads with lots of different combinations of people. The only problem with giving them credit for this is that I’ve never seen them on television! I only found out about them while searching YouTube for the ads I wanted to talk about, which are the only ones I’ve ever seen on TV! So there’s a disclaimer for that issue. But for real, if you make a bunch of ads, but only show a couple that fit the same pattern, don’t get mad when people pigeon-hole them, as it’s your own fault!
Okay, so here’s the deal. Both of their ads currently playing on TV have some Asian-looking woman on one side of the screen, and a white man on the other side of the screen. And the women start speaking first, with the men chiming in afterwards. And then it turns out from the little subtitles identifying them that the women are a teacher, and a web designer, respectively, and the men both work for Chevron. So the women say that we’ve got to have renewable energy for our children’s future, yadda yadda, and the men reassure them that they’ve got it covered, so no worries.
So this is what this says to me: Chevron seems to be saying this: women (especially Asians) are always whiny and demandy with unreasonably stupid liberal hippie shit about energy, but they don’t know what they’re talking about. That’s why it’s lucky we have (white) men working here to take care of it all! Plus, they can talk these crazy ladies down from all their feminine anxiety crap with all of our Chevron clean energy double-talk. Yay, men! (Have white men ever led you astray before? I mean, after the year 2008, that is. Because who wants to just live in the past anyway? I mean, right?)
Now, I’m not saying this is what Chevron intended to be saying, but based upon the ads they’ve run from the ones they’ve made for this campaign, that’s what it says to me. But I’m a jerk anyway, so what do you expect? I think they were thinking: “Hey, lets run the ads with the cute chicks!” And they are cute. But it’s also obvious that they were chosen for their non-white look. So then to have them being reassured by white men just brings out exactly the opposite of what they wanted to be sensitive to in the first place! Doesn’t it? I don’t know; maybe it’s just me.
Here’s one example of the ads I’m talking about, but if you live in the United States, you must have seen the other one too:
