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Throughout the history of United States, womens roles are constantly repressed in the

society as a passive figure while men seeks out for dominant roles. Similarly, in the Fiat
commercial My World starring Jennifer Lopez, women are portrayed as crude, carefree figures
while men appears to be proper, focused individuals. Although subtle compared to the other
commercial selections, this commercial serves as an example of the reinforcement of gender
roles in the dominant media society.
This idea can be compared to that of Americanization through Homemaking, a
document published by the Department of Americanization1 in 1929 in a failed attempt to
integrate Latina women to the American dominant society. The document stressed the value of a
woman as a housewife, imposing the gender role of a stay-at-home women who passively
supports the household through repressed means of homemaking such as cooking, motherhood,
nursing etc. while relying on men as a source of household income. This notion of resting
women, hardworking men is shown in the commercial, where women are displayed to be relaxed
and restful while men works.
As Lopez first arrives on the scene in Bronx, she first notices the barber shop in the
neighborhood. Within the shot of the barber shop, two women are seen strolling on the street.
They are elaborately dressed as if they are shopping or going to a date. This is the very first
notion of assigned gender role in the commercial. Within the same scene, men are shown to be
reserved and concentrated. The barber shop owner is shown to be working diligently while his
customer patiently waits. As the commercial progresses, two women are shown sitting by the
sidewalk enjoying music, as the ensuing scene presents a middle aged, plainly dressed male taxi
driver as the contrasting working class figure. Throughout the commercial, there would be two

more scene showing male working figures (as a chef and a police officer) as an absence of
working female figure becomes apparent.
The concept of subservient women brought forth by this commercial can also be
compared to Luisa Morenos experiences as a female social activist from more than 70 years
before the making of this commercial. Born as Blanca Rodriguez, she was forced to change her
name due to her familys disagreement with her political position (Ruiz 8)2. Even with her
significant contribution as a Chicana activist, she was heavily criticized for placing social
activism above her familys needs. She was unfairly criticized simply because she refused to
adhere to the gender roles imposed by Latino traditions, where women is expected to be of care
of her family, and roles of leadership are better suited for their male counterparts.
Similarly, other Chicanas activists sought to fight for social justice for Latina women. As
mentioned by Ruiz in La Nueva Chicana from the book From Out of the Shadows, one of
Chicana feminists first objectives is to eliminate misrepresentation of women through changing
the image of La Malinche (Ruiz 106)3, an infamous cultural icon associated with Latina women.
It becomes obvious that misperception of women in the society further leads to inequality.
Unfortunately, the narration of the commercial blatantly poses misrepresentation of
women. In the limited one minute of the commercial, female figures are constantly neglected.
Every line of Jennifer Lopezs narration is met with shots of working male figures. Firstly, as
Lopez says this place inspires me, a young male drumming is shown. Secondly, when Lopez
says to stay sharper, a male police officer becomes the subject of the scene. Lastly, a male chef
is suddenly introduced to the commercial when Lopez says to think faster, even though a chef
does not relevantly serve as a symbol of quick thinking. Marketing and commercialization
heavily values timing, placement, and strategy. The characters in the three scenes above may

easily be replaced with female roles, but as shown in the previous page, the modern dominant
societys perceived value of women as a repressed member propels the producers choice of
employing men into said scenes.
Furthermore, as the male characters are associated with traits of inspiring, staying
sharper, and thinking faster, women are displayed to be unsophisticated and nave in the
commercial. Besides Lopez, every women in the commercial is seen dancing and shopping, two
of the stereotypical activities that the young women are perceived to enjoy. In the first scene
featuring the drumming street artist, the ensuing shot depicts two women mindlessly dancing to
music. It gives out the notion that while men are active figures (producing music on the street),
women sits back and enjoys the works that men produces (listening to music on the side of the
street). On the same scene, it is worth noting that while the women dances casually to their own
music, a contrasting scene of a male artist skillfully performing breakdancing appears a few
seconds afterwards. Likewise, a young African American woman dances provocatively by the
end of the commercial. The activities which the characters partake in the commercial is enough
to justify a notion of male superiority being carried out by the commercial.
Aside from issues of misogyny, the commercial also carries a notion of racism through its
representation of minorities. Its plot surrounds the story of Jennifer Lopezs return to The Bronx,
where she was raised. Notorious for its reputation of high crime rates and poverty, Bronx is
frequently depicted as the hood filled with working class people. This commercial serves an
example of the medias portrayal of minorities in urban areas.
The first scene of the commercial shows Lopez driving her Fiat minicar as she travels
away from Manhattan into Bronx through the Brooklyn Bridge. As she leaves Manhattan and
arrives into Bronx, a drastic difference is already seen thorough the scenery. In contrast to the

bustling Manhattan filled with modern skyscrapers, the Bronx in the first scene appears to be
archaic and obsolete, symbolized with government subsidized housing projects and old fashioned
public transportation. Though this scene, it is perceived that Jennifer Lopez grew up in an
underprivileged, urban setting.
The commercial carries a prejudiced assumption that a majority of minorities resides in
poor, lower class neighborhoods. This is evident through the false racial representation of
characters in the commercial, where only one character shown is ethnically white (a taxi driver
who might not even be a resident of the neighborhood). The commercial uses the scene of an
African American owned barber shop to introduce street life in Bronx, a notion that the poor
neighborhood is filled with a predominantly minority population. In the ensuing scene, a shot of
a brown, old 1970s car parked in front of a neighborhood mom-and-pop grocery store is shown,
contrasting Lopezs modern Fiat minicar. A bewildered elderly African American woman looks
out as Lopez drives through her neighborhood, as if such modern cars is an uncommon sight
among the neighborhood. This series of scenes further ties minorities such as Latino Americans
and African Americans with ideas of poverty and under development.
In addition, the commercial holds racist notions that associates minority with crime and
violence. The presence of violent gangs in a minority-filled neighborhood is hinted throughout
the commercial, with many scenes depicting characterizations of violent organized crime groups
from gang affiliated graffiti signs to protective wired fencing, to even the presence of police
officers. In one specific scene, two Chicano teenagers are shown spray painting graffiti art on a
locked gate of a store.
The narration of the commercial also proves to hold racist notions against minorities. In
the scene with the white taxi driver, Lopez mentions the neighborhood inspired her to be

tougher, as the taxi driver scowled at her, promoting a racial tension between the Latin
American and the White population. Another instance also promotes the relationship between
Latinos and violence, where she says to stay sharper as the face of a police officer is shown on
the commercial. Immediately afterwards, it is seen that she pressed the SPORT button of the
car. Although this scene is conveniently used to advertise the sport mode of the Fiat car by
implying claiming that the button can enhance the cars performance, it also hints that Lopez is
able to use the sport button as an attempt to distant from the police officer. The line to stay
sharper suggests that growing up in the Bronx neighborhood taught her (as well as others) to
stay alert for the presence of police officer in the risk of being caught in the act of committing a
crime, and the sport button poses as a symbol of defiance against figures of law,
There are also an association between minorities and poverty present in the commercial.
In addition to the contrasting architecture between Manhattan and Bronx in the first scene of the
commercial, the minorities are depicted to be living in lives of extreme poverty in Bronx.
Midway through the commercial, African American kids and Latin American kids grouped to
play together in an abandoned lot in front of a government housing complex. The lot is
displayed to be very primitive, shown being surrounded by rusty wire fences with bushes of wild
grass growing out of the concrete floor. Fast forward a few seconds, four African American
children are cheerfully playing around a broken, leaking water sprinkler. It was shown in a
manner as if clean water is an unusual rarity for them to embrace it in such manner, similar to
images we have seen in poverty stricken countries in Africa. The comparison of such image is
reinforced when Lopez drives her car into a small street while children runs along her Fiat.
Although it can also interpreted that those children are excited with the presence of Lopez, it
seems similar to a situation in a third world nation where a symbol of savior (Lopez in this case)

visits such nation to provide aid. The false connection between race and poverty displayed in the
commercial can be summarized by Patricia Zavella in Frontiers, in which she explained people
[Puerto Rican and Mexican families] were said to have a whole host of maladaptive cultural
traits. This equation of racial status and poverty conditions with culture had been critiqued for
being static. (Zavella 76)4 The manner which the commercial portrays minorities in an
underprivileged condition ignores the harsh realities of poverty. It perceives the underclass as
being comfortable with their status quo, that they have no intentions of achieving social and
economic mobility simply because external support are present. This concept of connecting
minority to poverty does not only exhibit the stereotypes towards minorities, but further
emphasizes the perceived inferiority by the modern dominant society.
Though being only a light-hearted commercial marketing an affordable car toward young
Americans, the Fiat commercial My World carries fundamentally unsound notions of racism and
sexism. Although he stereotypes shown throughout the commercial presents themselves in a
subtle manner, they work to reinforce traditional ideas of prejudice against women and
minorities. One must consider that not only would such ideas deliver an unjust message against
the specific population, it imposes ideas of racism, and misogyny to the younger generation that
is the commercials targeted audience. The commercial is just one of many examples of
prejudice that exists. With the immense power that media has to manipulate thoughts of its
viewers, it is essential to consider the importance of notions of inequality presented in the
dominant society.

Works Cited
1. United States. Department of Americanization and Homemaking. Covina City.
Americanization Through Homemaking. By Pearl D. Ellis. Los Angeles: Wetzel, 1929.
Print.
2. Ruiz, Vicki L. "Una Mujer Sin Fronteras: Luisa Moreno and Latina Labor Activism." The
Pacific Historical Review 73.1 (2004): 1-20. Print.
3. Ruiz, Vicki. "La Nueva Chicana: Women and the Movement." From out of the Shadows:
Mexican Women in Twentieth-century America. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. 106-07.
Print.
4. Zavella, Patricia. "Reflection on Diversity among Chicanas." Frontiers: A Journal of

Women Studies 12.2 (1991): 73-85. Print.

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