I’m analyzing a Good Year tire commercial from the 1960’s that explains that you need top

performance tires, especially when a woman is behind the wheel. It aims at men who’s wives

may be driving or learning to drive. It makes it seem that it is the man’s responsibility to drive,

but to make sure his wife doesn’t outright crash if she’s driving. I had searched for something

that I am passionate about so it would fuel me to write more passionately. I saw a Good Year tire

commercial that was aimed towards men, and speaks about women as if they are unable to

understand the passive-aggressiveness that is underlying in the ad. The ad makes it seem calm

and collected when the man is driving, but the editing cuts to very chaotic shots when the woman

is behind the wheel; the music changes and turns face-paced and it makes the viewer somewhat

anxious with so much going on – because that’s what it’s like when a woman is driving.

This ad was around the time of both the Civil Rights movement, and the Women’s Rights

movement. Women were fighting for equality everywhere, meanwhile there were advertisements

undermining a woman’s capability of driving properly and safely. Women were becoming

mechanics and getting familiar with the automotive world – yet they were still being depicted as

needing assistance and protection. I was primarily thinking that the way I love cars and working

on them, women back in the 60’s were being shown as incapable of this. I was imagining how I

would feel at the time and the rage I would feel towards seeing ads like this. Women were being

subjected to a generalization that was anything but true. With the uprising of feminism in the

60’s, one would think that ads would aim towards women and encourage them. This ad shows
that despite women’s efforts, society still viewed them as incapable of doing simple things –

such as driving – without the help of a man.