The “Happily Ever After” Complex
Once upon a time, etcetera and so forth. It’s no secret that Disney has capitalized on the “Happily Ever After” fantasy, selling women the idea that a man will magically come along, with no effort on your part, to save you and take care of you forever.
From birth, many girls are given an unrealistic ideal of what a relationship should look like, reinforced by princess products everywhere they turn, to the point that many girls have envisioned their wedding before they’ve even hit puberty.
Britney and Kevin were divorced 1 year later.
PRINCESSES PUSHING PRODUCTS
Marketing campaigns all over the world embrace classic fairy tales to peddle their products. They range from innocuous, to witty, to downright disturbing.
UNIMIL CONDOMS
AXE Germany
DUREX CHOCOLATE CONDOMS, Belgium
Apparently, everyone’s got a Snow-White-orgy fantasy.
NIVEA SELF-TANNER, Germany
Snow Black.
RUSH Chocolate Drink
GLEID AIR FRESHENER, Brazil
Caption: “Every once in a while, your prince charming also goes to the bathroom.”
BURGER KING, Brazil
Brazilian Rapunzel just wants a cheeseburger.
SIDA INFO SERVICE, AIDS Awareness Campaign, Paris
Caption: ” The birds were singing in the clearing and Snow White caressed her Prince…” // “First, she had supplied him with a condom, because the Prince, as many men, was a little absent minded. She explained to him that the body of woman is eight times more receptive to the Aids virus, and the Prince understood that she was protecting their future by protecting herself.”
The use of fruit as temptation is nothing new, and while it suits the product here appropriately, it’s no coincidence that All Bran uses Eve and Snow White in the same ad campaign. Biblical references are prevalent through out fairy tale literature, and the poisonous apple metaphor reinforces the notion that women can’t resist temptation, they ultimately fall from grace, and greatly inconvenience men.
SELLING A FANTASY
Capitalizing on the idea of perfect romance.
RINAT LEVY FASHION
Caption: “A bride like no other.”
Actually a cliché, like many others.
MELISSA SHOES "BEDTIME STORIES" COLLECTION
Here, Cinderella accidentally drops her slipper, and her blouse, and her skirt.
BRU CAPPUCCINO
Cappuccinos are all about finding prince charming.
MELTIN' POT CLOTHING
PLAYSTATION 2, France
Her prince was too busy playing PS2.
SEAFOOD INTERNATIONAL
-
SEAFOOD SAUCE
Having your mermaid and eating her, too.
- CAMPARI
Little Red Riding Hood tames the wolf, then gets drunk by an arbitrary fireplace on the beach.
PARIS HILTON "FAIRY DUST" PERFUME
Caption: “Do you believe in fairy tales?”
DIOR MIDNIGHT POISON PERFUME
Caption: “A new Cinderella is born.”
VERA WANG "PRINCESS" PERFUME
While fantasies are often harmless fun, they become unhealthy when they distort your perception of reality, or set up unrealistic expectations of yourself and others. The aesthetic of fairy tales can be charming, the escapist ideal of “riding off into the sunset” can be entertaining for a moment, but these must be kept in perspective so as not to stunt emotional growth or breed mental illness.
Unfortunately, as long as people grasp at a sugar-coated version of reality, companies will find a way to profit from it. In this modern day fairy tale, it seems the only thing living “happily ever after” is capitalism.
Sources:
I actually don’t let me son watch Disney movies where he coudl elarn the wrong idea of how men and women should be. I want to raise him with the ideal that the is nothing wrong with a strong woman.
What a great post. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen young women’s faces fall when someone asks them what they think is going to change when they get married. Suddenly they realize that “happily ever after” doesn’t come as a side dish to that pretty princess wedding they’ve envisioned – that being happy takes work, and no man is a prince charming (just as no woman is a perfect princess in need of saving).
I think the one I find the most disturbing is the seafood sauce ad. This woman is LITERALLY presenting herself for consumption. I mean, seriously, she’s EATING HERSELF. And judging by the look on her face, she wants others to consume her as well. Women being offered for visual consumption is no new thing, but apparently she wants to be fully and wholly consumed until there is nothing left.
This ad also suggests important allegories between the visual/sexual consumption of women and the physical consumption of animal flesh. Think of the many fast food ads (Burger King especially) where meat is associated with “manliness,” or all the double entendres associated with “juicy white breasts.” Feminism and animal rights are about interconnected oppressions.
Dude, I’m so grossed out.
I think… you are wrong.