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I frequently get annoyed by TV, especially commercials, and have many "that __ drives me batshit" reactions. But I very rarely have ones where I physically scream and try to throw things.
My addiction to HGTV is no secret -- I love home improvement shows, and a lot of what I learned in terms of putting together a beautiful kitchen during the remodel came from my endless hours of watching the network. But lately they've been running these commercials from the Maids, a housekeeping service, that are moving me to class-inspired violence. I say class more than sexism because they draw such an offensive line between the people with the houses and the people hired to clean those houses that I was just gobsmacked the first time I saw them.
The first one featured this woman kneeling down to dry off her little rugrat with a big fluffy towel, in a bathroom that is the size of my whole damn house. She's all stern and momlike and then she says that she likes the Maids because they clean on their hands and knees -- the way it should be done. I just. I ask you. WTF? The idea of some poor woman without your education and marriage to a doctor or lawyer to keep you in Egyptian cotton towlels and 10,000 thread count sheets from Italy scrubbing your Travertine tile floor on her hands and knees makes you feel satisfied that your precious spawn are healthy and happy? I... gah. Just gah.
And the second one might even be worse. This priveleged young woman cooking in her fancy-ass kitchen that probably would cost three times what my remodel did and is built in a housing development of uniform ugly houses built in an area that used to be family-held farms or held a winter breeding ground for endangered birds tells the camera that she likes "using" the Maids because they get all the grease and grime that builds up in her fancy-ass kitchen. "Better them than me," she simpers at the camera in what I'm sure she thinks is a cute tone. And no, it has no irony or humor in it.
I'm just aghast at what these commercials say about the underpaid women (and you know it's always women) doing these thankless, backbreaking tasks because they have to. We've always known that the people in the big house are snobs and the help living in the maid's quarters are but lowly uneducated laborers, but why would you base an ad campaign on that kind of classism? What could you possibly be saying except that you're encouraging these suburban witches to envision themselves as the kinds of women who can and will hire less fortunate people to slave on their hands and knees for you? It's appalling to me. I feel a nasty letter coming on.
My addiction to HGTV is no secret -- I love home improvement shows, and a lot of what I learned in terms of putting together a beautiful kitchen during the remodel came from my endless hours of watching the network. But lately they've been running these commercials from the Maids, a housekeeping service, that are moving me to class-inspired violence. I say class more than sexism because they draw such an offensive line between the people with the houses and the people hired to clean those houses that I was just gobsmacked the first time I saw them.
The first one featured this woman kneeling down to dry off her little rugrat with a big fluffy towel, in a bathroom that is the size of my whole damn house. She's all stern and momlike and then she says that she likes the Maids because they clean on their hands and knees -- the way it should be done. I just. I ask you. WTF? The idea of some poor woman without your education and marriage to a doctor or lawyer to keep you in Egyptian cotton towlels and 10,000 thread count sheets from Italy scrubbing your Travertine tile floor on her hands and knees makes you feel satisfied that your precious spawn are healthy and happy? I... gah. Just gah.
And the second one might even be worse. This priveleged young woman cooking in her fancy-ass kitchen that probably would cost three times what my remodel did and is built in a housing development of uniform ugly houses built in an area that used to be family-held farms or held a winter breeding ground for endangered birds tells the camera that she likes "using" the Maids because they get all the grease and grime that builds up in her fancy-ass kitchen. "Better them than me," she simpers at the camera in what I'm sure she thinks is a cute tone. And no, it has no irony or humor in it.
I'm just aghast at what these commercials say about the underpaid women (and you know it's always women) doing these thankless, backbreaking tasks because they have to. We've always known that the people in the big house are snobs and the help living in the maid's quarters are but lowly uneducated laborers, but why would you base an ad campaign on that kind of classism? What could you possibly be saying except that you're encouraging these suburban witches to envision themselves as the kinds of women who can and will hire less fortunate people to slave on their hands and knees for you? It's appalling to me. I feel a nasty letter coming on.
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No, I've never used a 'maid' service, but I have worked for one. I also haven't seen the particular commercials you're talking about and they do seem more offensive than the one that's currently playing in this area.
For the year that I worked for a house cleaning service (and nowhere was the term 'maid' ever used), 6 mos of it was spent strictly as a cleaner and the other 6 mostly as an office manager who often helped clean.
This was about 7 years ago. After 10 years as a manager for B Dalton's, I wanted something that paid the bills and that I wouldn't have to 'take home' with me.
The starting wage is actually pretty decent. At that time it was $10 an hour plus all your supplies and mileage. Not white collar standards, but a hell of a lot better than most retail or food related jobs.
The majority of the houses that we cleaned were middle class working families, usually on a bi-weekly basis. Some were bigger houses, but not many.
Most people were quite nice and treated us like any other person hired to do a service for them. There were a few though that seemed to think we should thank them for the privilege of scrubbing their toilets.
The way you describe the commercials they definitely sound offensive, but in my experience, people with enough money to act that way usually have their full time maids to abuse and don't use a service like Merry Maids or Cottage Care (where I worked).
It's funny, those people who treated us like 'servants' usually didn't keep our service long. Their houses never quite got as clean as they liked but never bad enough to actually point at something and complain.
On the other hand, one pregnant lady who was very nice and always called and complimented my cleaning and the little extra things I did that I didn't need to do, gave me $150 bonus for the one Christmas I regularly did her house.
My own apartment may look like a disaster area most of the time, but I can actually do the job extremely well. *G*
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I did have a cleaning service for a while, and it was a guy, to boot. He ran his own company and I knew him through friends. He mostly did people like me -- young people in a profession who worked long hours and were doing other things, in my case, it was school on top of work. But the stories he told me! And then I see all the digusting yuppy perfect pilates yoga SUV moms all day pushing their preciouses around in the 600 dollar strollers and they treat everyone like shit... I don't know, the disparity seems really pronounced to me. I've heard women talking about their clients on the bus... none of them seem like they like it much. But you're right, I can't judge it without having had the perspective myself.
I just... there's something incredibly classist and offensive in these ads. Maybe if there was some humor in it, or if it wasn't these uptight white snotty bitches, it might seem different.
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I have a feeling what you were hearing about were from women who work for single families who are rich enough to have a full time maid. A true maid and not someone who's employed by a cleaning service. And I think that would suck and it'd be something I wouldn't want to do at all.
The commercial I've been seeing here is from a company called Merry Maids. It's a 40 something professional woman who comes into her house, runs her fingers over the banister, looks at everything gleaming and bright, thrusts her fist over her head in victory and gives a jubilant whoop. Two 'maids' pop up from the other side of the kitchen island, startled and staring at her big eyed. The woman looks self conscious, smooths down her jacket, clears her throat and says, "I mean, good job."
So you can see, either these are vastly different companies, or there's really different marketing strategies going on in our locations.
Either way, the commercials you've been seeing still sound distasteful.
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I'm glad I haven't seen those ads; I might have broken my TV by now. And seriously, it's terrifying that those ads have certainly been tested to appeal to a demographic full of people that would all probably make me sick.
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The only time I've ever used a cleaning service was when I moved this last time, and the previous tenants left my new place a fucking pig sty. I insisted the landlord hire someone, and came over to let them in and pay the tab. It took the poor guy (yes, a guy, who spoke no English) 4 hours to do the job, too (unfortunately, it wasn't enough time, because I still found gross stuff in kitchen cabinets, and there's god-only-knows-what splattered on the bedroom and bathroom doors that I can't get off, but I was just too freaked and stressed on the day to look at every inch of the place). I felt horribly guilty, but I just didn't have a choice, because there was no way for me to physically clean the new place in addition to the old one. But I thanked him profusely and tipped well.
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Gross. Just sick and gross in every way. Things like this make me despair of the human race in general.
Write that letter.
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And on the other side of things, it sort of boggles my mind, because the people they show using the service don't come off looking very good in those ads... and yet, the ads are supposed to attract people to their service. It's saying "If you use our service, then you're probably a bit of a stuck-up jerk, but we want your money anyway."
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(Anonymous) 2008-04-24 03:50 am (UTC)(link)