Erik's+Samsung+Ad

//Whatever you do, you clean your floor.//
//Samsung Navibot. The smarter robotic vacuum cleaner.//

This magazine advertisement was made for a Samsung robotic vacuum cleaner called the Navibot. It depicts three women hanging out in a large and lavish spa room. One woman is standing and vacuuming the floor while the other two are huddled together on the edge of the tub as they stare at the woman who is cleaning.

The Marxist view of this advertisement who say that this is a product geared toward the privileged and well-off upper class. The two women in the background appear to be gossiping in a belittling way to the woman who has to use the typical vacuum. They are all clearly rich enough to afford to visit a lavish spa for the afternoon, yet the two in the background look down on the woman who doesn’t have a “servant robot” to do their vacuuming for her. It also makes a point that if she had the Navibot, she could enjoy living her upper-class lifestyle all the more and she wouldn’t have to do the housework that the other classes have to do.

The Feminist would point out that this advertisement is based off a stereotype of women in that they are mainly concerned with cleaning, gossiping about each other, and going to the spa. The advertisement is really selling the comfort of not having to do work that would cut into your relaxation time, which would also keep your friends from talking about you behind your back; which completely plays into the general stereotype.

This advertisement is trying to get people to think that purchasing expensive technology will make your life luxurious and you will be accepted by your peers. Our society has become so obsessed with “keeping up the Joneses” that even the pride that comes with keeping a clean house is lessened by the fact that you don’t have a robot or some other servant to do it for you. Apparently the typical way of doing things is making life almost impossible to enjoy, so we need to get more money to purchase the instruments that will bring that joy back into the equation.