‘Adverts like Numero Uno’s are the reason girls dress like village whores’

If all publicity really is good publicity, then the Ta’ Qali nightclub Uno Malta should be rolling in it by now. 

Following the release of two adverts that club manager Kevin Decesare has described as being merely “suggestive” in comments to The Times, the club has been the target of negative online backlash, with many taking to social media to lament the fact that the offending adverts are yet another example of how media objectifies women. 

And although no explicit reference to the Uno Malta adverts was made in its official complaint, the timing of the statement by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) strongly suggests that they may have been the spur for the Commission to officially voice concerns about a perceived gender imbalance in local media. 

“The pervasive sexualisation of women and girls in media representations reinforces the stereotype that a woman’s value is determined by her physical appearance and that woman’s primary role is that of pleasing men. This correlates with unequal relations in society,” the NCPE said in its statement.

Released last month, the first of the Uno Malta adverts shows two female models engaging in a game of tennis as two men look on. As camera shots linger on the models’ posteriors and one of them strips off her t-shirt in a teasing gesture for the seated male onlookers, she swoops up her racquet to perform a serve. As the camera pans upward, the tagline ‘Game On’ appears on the screen.

A second advert, featuring one of the same models as the tennis-based showcase and since removed from the web following the NCPE’s complaints, has a female office employee entering a room to speak to two male colleagues… who promptly begin to fantasise about her wearing a bikini as they – indeed, ‘suggestively’ – spray champagne over her body. 

With both adverts attracting both opprobrium and counter-opprobrium (with Decesare himself rebutting with “what’s the big deal?”), the issue gave rise to a fresh discussion on gender representation in local media. 

Decesare dismissed gender-sensitive criticism about the adverts on the grounds that they are just a drop in the ocean when it comes to sexually-charged media portrayals of women.  

“You see women dressed like that all the time on TV or out in Paceville. But these people [the equality commission] always have to have a strong agenda,” he told The Times.

“I don’t see the big deal... If they want to play God’s policemen, there are more important things for them to focus on. This advert isn’t lewd – it was just a bit of suggestive fun.”

Contacted for comment by MaltaToday, Brenda Murphy, Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies at the University of Malta, said that actually, Decesare is “absolutely right” – and that’s precisely the problem. 

“This image of women is out there. But the fact is that we have to start somewhere when it comes to combating it. And we can’t ignore the fact that the ‘girls in Paceville’ are conditioned directly by a media culture that has fed them this image as being normal.”

Stressing that a degrading attitude towards women is “endemic” and not just limited to the media, Murphy also hit out against the tendency to mis-characterise any criticism of such portrayals as being about prudishness or censorship, describing it as “stereotypical backlash of those who can’t see past their own noses and who fail to recognise that there are wider issues at stake here… and the fact that a healthy approach towards gender representation in the media is simply not on the agenda”. 

Though expressing weariness at having to wage the same battle for “over 20 years”, Murphy was confident that, at the very least, students emerging from the Diploma in Gender Studies given by the University of Malta are entering the workforce with an awareness of the issues at hand. She also hoped that the new digital tools at our disposal could potentially yield fruitful “alternative” forms of activism. 

Lisa Micallef Grimaud (second left) with her band Areola Treat

Similarly, musician Lisa Micallef Grimaud – the frontwoman for the rock band The Areola Treat – responded to the advert by saying that “most women are tired of having to see themselves portrayed as mere sex toys in commercials”.

And echoing Murphy’s assertion that “swapping around the female models of these adverts with males would clearly expose how ridiculous they are”, Micallef Grimaud added that “Male models would have likely not been asked to do a fun, flirty wiggle, and have their underwear exposed. Having male models would have been both refreshing and will likely invite less anger towards the way the female image is marketed. It is sending the message that women are asking to be seen as sex kittens.”

Meanwhile, actress Pia Zammit minced no words in giving her assessment of the advert, describing it as an “irresponsible” portrayal of women that has highly dangerous implications and that even “promotes rape culture”. 

Actress Pia Zammit (right)

“To quote [sociologist] Erving Goffman, advertising serves to define, or frame, reality. For these reasons, the social impact of advertising cannot be overstated. Adverts like this are the reason why women are harassed, the reason why girls as young as 12 go to Paceville dressed like a cartoon version of the village whore, and sadly, the reason why we accept all this as the norm,” Zammit said. Chiming in with Micallef Grimaud’s concern, Zammit said that, “the ‘Game On’ choice of slogan is also unfortunate as it denotes the acquiring of aesthetically beautiful women as a game. Something to be won.”

Zammit also shot down the tendency to excuse the problematic elements of these adverts by the fact that women have agreed to appear in them, by pointing to the fact that the models were “paid” to act out these roles. She also believes that a distinction needs to be made between what women choose to do in front of their partners – or “intended” partners – in the real world, and the kind of arbitrary sexualisation that the advert promotes. “This ad is implying that if you’re a guy who goes to Uno, then random women will want you so badly that they’ll gyrate for your pleasure. For free. You won’t have to talk to them. Nor buy them drinks. Now we all know that that’s not going to happen. But men will feel entitled to it – because that’s what the ad promised. And then the incidents start,” Zammit added.

Questions sent to Uno Malta on the matter remained unanswered by the time of going to print