Here are two video advertisements for BMW vehicles. The first one is a commercial from Italy in the late 1980s and the other is from 2006 and involves Clive Owens and Madonna. The striking difference between the two is that in one the female is being rescued and in the other the female is being taught a lesson.
In the first ad, the driver of the BMW uses his skills to rescue the damsel in distress from her crazy mother who is driving the truck. During this time, helpless women wanted a knight in shining armor in her life. Movies either placed the men in a heroic position or displayed a woman in a sexual way. Here the advertisement hit two birds with one stone, a female is portrayed as a bad driver, and the woman is dependent on the man to drive. Either way, the man uses the BMW as an object of power.
At the beginning Clive Owens, a classy chauffeur is hired to punish a famous rock star for being basically a brat. He takes her on a wild ride not to impress her with his skills, but instead to battle his power against her power. In an age where women are gaining more power, the bitter men in this formerly male-dominated society are the perfect audience for this ad. What would be better than a man finally regaining his “rightful” place in society by using the BMW as his weapon? Martha Stewart, anyone? A woman stripped of her corporate power because she was made an example over a stock market tactic which is pulled off by hundreds of men everyday?
Both ads poke at the same goal by placing a woman in a helpless position. Whether it’s giving her a manly shoulder to lean on or stripping her power away from her, the female always comes out as the underdog. This shows that in both societies the female image of power has not been accepted yet, even though in the more current period the option for a woman to become independent is acceptable.
Aesthetics 
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