Guitar Commercials

I was really interested in how guitars are advertised, so instead of looking at magazine ads, or catalogs, I decided to take a different route and look at some commercials. I cannot recall ever seeing a commercial on TV for a guitar, so I was surprised at what I was able to find. The first commercial is for Gibson:

Here's the commercial:


What I found to be most strikingly obvious is that the guitar is clearly advertised to males only. This was not unexpected. However, it got me thinking about social roles in the music industry. Do women have even greater odds to face in the music industry? Can a woman be taken seriously as a musician, or are women only looked at a sex symbols--a brand, rather than real talent? This advertisement definitely says a lot about the different roles of women and men. The woman is trying to please the man in every way possible by offering him a bunch of material items. Is the guitar meant to represent a status symbol, or is it advertised for its discerning significance? Clearly, the former. Does it simplify its complexity of depth and the aptitude one must possess in order to understand such a musical instrument? Does the commercial reduce the guitar to merely a material possession? I would argue so. I think that many people own guitars that have never even plucked a string. They buy a guitar in order to exemplify who they are rather than to play it. With so little prominent commercials I really wonder how this phenomenon came to be.

I definitely wanted to talk about Guitar Hero and how it has monopolized on the idolization of being a rock star. It's a very strange concept that people would rather learn to play this fake instrument than learn the real thing, which obviously takes less dedication, but not much. For example, take a look at this commercial: Click Here. It's almost laughable how they depict this game. They draw people in on the concept of being a rock star and the realistic instruments, but the message is almost insulting in its delivery.

The next commercial I chose for its pure ridiculousness. This commercial is with the model Heidi Klum. I'm not really sure how this commercial has anything to do with Guitar Hero, but that's America for you.

Here's the commercial: