ciaraldi@rochester.UUCP (Mike Ciaraldi) (11/01/83)
From: Mike Ciaraldi <ciaraldi> Recent magazine ads for the Heathkit Z-100 series have the headline: "I built this 16-bit computer and saved money. KLearned a lot, too." The first few months featured a picture of a young man (about college age) posed with t Z-100. This month's ads (e.g. Nov. issue of "Radio-Electronics") show a woman (late 20's, maybe?) and a girl (about 8 years old) (I'm bad at estimating ages, but these are about right). I'll admit I was a little shocked, but I personally think it's a nice understated ad, with some interesting connotations. Is she a teacher, mother? Maybe a career woman who also has time for a family? Maybe a housewife who likes to keep up with technology and help her child prepare for a later technical career? Does it really matter? Maybe not, but it makes an onteresting contrast to most computer ads with pictures of women, who seem to look VERY professional. Comments? Mike Ciaraldi ciaraldi@rochester
sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (11/01/83)
One the best non-sexist TV commercials lately is the Xerox ad using the rotating mirrored ball of a dance hall to describe how laser printers work--a remarkably apt analogy. Towards the end, the narrator muses on how such a crazy image could lead to such a sophisticated product. He finishes with an apocryphal quote from one of Xerox' scientists, who just happens to be a woman. I thought it sounded wonderfully natural and unforced, and delightfully subversive as only the truth can be. /Steve Dyer decvax!bbncca!sdyer