The Simpsons Address Sexism

An episode of The Simpsons titled “Duffless” features a hilarious ad for Duff beer. The commercial opens with a group of women picketing outside of the McMahon and Tate Advertising building chanting “down with sexism.” Two young male onlookers lean against a Duff truck. One of them scoffs “Look at all those feminists." The other responds by asking “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” The two males each grab a bottle of Duff, shake it up, and spray it on the protesters. The women are then transformed to dancing women in bikinis and their signs now read “Party Down,” “Get Me Drunk,” and “I’m Easy.”

The ad is a highly funny exaggeration of the sexism that exists in American culture, especially beer advertisements. A few moments after watching the ad, I began to feel guilty for laughing at it. Since the ad does reflect the unfortunate reality of the world, is it appropriate to laugh at? Do the writers consider sexism and the objectifying of women laughing matters? Surely not, The Simpsons can do no wrong! Right?

While no television show is morally infallible, I believe that this particular ad serves as appropriate social commentary as well as satire. The ad begins with the frame on the sign of the building “McMahon and Tate Advertising.” You may recognize the name as the agency that Darrin worked at in the 1960’s television show “Bewitched”. The allusion to classic television gives the building significance – old-school beliefs. Because of progress we’ve made such as women’s suffrage and Title IX it is not hard to consider sexism a thing of the past. The women are protesting those “notions of the past,” but after being sprayed down with some beer they become objects themselves. The ad is a reminder of how little progress has been made in valuing women, especially in the media.