A Gulp of Enlightened Sexism: An Analysis of Smartwater's Sexual Objectification of Women

Sex sells. We have known that for decades. The advertisement above is the latest viral video for Smartwater, the top selling enhanced water brand in the United States. The face of Smartwater is the acclaimed Hollywood actress and old sex-symbol Jennifer Aniston, who claims this bottled water to be the most pure, refreshing and best tasting water on earth. Armed with a heavy dose of viral-film-making elements including cute puppies, the Double Rainbow guy and computer generated babies who can dirty dance, Aniston embodies the stereotype of the perfect American woman to sell water.  Like any other mass media, the marketing strategy of Smartwater does not consist of selling the actual product but the ideas and feelings that accompany it. The ad employs Aniston’s face, body, attire, and sexuality to pull every viral-trick in the book, painting a picture of seductiveness and beauty achieved by drinking Smartwater. Hence, the success of this video clip rest in its ability to sell the hope of satisfying a female’s desire of outer-beauty and, in the case of a man, the sexual fantasy of having a woman as beautiful as Aniston.

In the first 30 seconds of the video, the YouTube superstar Kennan Cahill is mouthing the words to a top hit when Aniston suddenly breaks into his room to ask him if he knew any song about water. Cahill is known for his eccentric lip-synchs performances that have garnered more than 18 million views on a single video and 200,000 subscribers. Moreover, Cahill is also known for his rare genetic condition (Maroteaux Lamy Syndrome) that makes him look like a dwarf even though he is 15 years old. Undoubtedly, his rise to stardom is as unique as Susan Boyle’s, whose dowdy appearance strays from the usual singers who sprung to fame. This, however, is the exception that proves the rule. Cahill may not have depended on his ¨good looks¨ to become an internet sensation, however, the person who embodies this smartwater ad is Aniston – an incredibly attractive blonde woman who can still bare a ripped stomach at the age of 41 – not an overweight black lesbian woman. As Susan Douglas would agree, the producers of this ad, like many others, gave preferential treatment to a particular type of women (mainly a skinny, light eyed, blonde model) over all the other non-white women, resulting in the delicate creation of ¨female fantasies.¨ Smartwater chose Jennifer Aniston because she symbolizes the highly-sought-after, perfect image of an ideal American woman that satisfies both female and male desires.  

Following the brief appearance of Kennan Cahill, three geeky ¨Internet boys¨ (who sound like a speaking Mac and who probably never had a girlfriend before) corrects Aniston after she said she wanted to turn the video into a ¨virus¨, as if completely oblivious of the concept of ¨viral¨. To the untutored eye, Aniston appears to be a complete tech illiterate, an image the appeals to the public because it makes Aniston seem friendly, funny and quirky – in other words, someone you can trust. However, if we un-wrap this marketing plot, the female ¨fantasies of power¨ shine through. Here’s the odd: even though Aniston is often seen as a representation of female achievement and control, the ad carries the seductive message to women that ¨being decorative is the highest form of power.¨ The ad promotes the message that females are completely inadequate in the realm of science, a field highly dominated by men, and should only remain as an accessory that requires a man’s input to function. As the clip progresses, Aniston exemplifies some of the stereotypical femininity, filling the advertisement with sexual innuendos.   

First, Aniston is surrounded by dozens of Labrador puppies with blue bows tied around their necks. Even though the background might not seem very sexy, the fact that Aniston is wearing a body hugging tank top and tight jeans is significantly sexy because the clothing wraps around her curves, shows off her flat abs and accentuates her butt.  In addition, although sitting crossed-legged is very common, one can also interpret Aniston’s sitting position differently. Her open legs, together with several puppies trying to carry out what looks like a vagina attack, draws attention to one of the female’s most sexual areas of the body. These symbols are connected to sex and feed the secret desire that women have to become a sex goddess, or every man’s fantasy. After the dogs, comes the talking parrot who instead of advertising for smartwater says, ¨Rachel, I love your hair.¨ This reference is associated to the bouncy, square-layered hairstyle  Aniston’s character of Rachel Green wore in Friends. A survey conducted last year indicates that this cut is still the most popular among British women. This is an example of how the media perpetuates the exaggeration of certain kinds of physical attributes in a person, deeming them desirable while rendering other characteristics undesirable.

Second on the list are dirty-dancing, computer generated babies. When Aniston first saw the babies’ entrance she exclaimed amusingly, ¨Well that’s adorable, look at you guys!¨ Once they started dancing, she looks at the camera in disbelief and says, ¨wait…what are you doing?¨She tries to stop them but fails miserably against the internet guys’ comment, ¨this will gets us more views.¨ In response, she asks ¨where’s the mommy?¨The first time you see this, it is usually funny mainly because babies who qualify for Dancing with the Stars are simply unconceivable in real life. A closer look, however, reveals that enlightened sexism is at play here. Aniston`s comment on where are their ¨mommy¨, rather than ¨parents¨, implies how the role of guidance and nurture is closely associated with females.  Aniston’s inability to stop the babies from acting inappropriately displays her lack of motherhood which closely resembles her real life. Despite being 41, she is still not married, has no children, and no plans of adopting either. Her incompetency at taking care of children and lack of intuitive motherhood may be seen as a tradeoff for her kick-ass shape, economic independence and professional achievement. However, we are talking about CG babies and the idea of babies selling sex is too immoral to even be considered a reality, therefore, one can laugh it off. It gives off the impression that we know what is right and what is better. We laugh at it because we know that babies cannot grind against each other in real life. Deep inside, we know that if they actually did it would be immoral and unacceptable.  However, the question is: when did it became acceptable to joke about sexualizing women, not to mention babies?  Although we might find it humorous at this moment, there will be a point in time that we might not realize it is a joke because the images have been so deeply engrained into our minds that our visions become blur.

The Double Rainbow guy lookalike also makes an appearance. As he bends down and opens his arms towards the sky emotionally exclaiming, ¨double rainbow across the sky¨, Aniston appears from the other side carrying a bottle of smartwater, totally emotionless. As the man is about to tear up, Aniston helps him stand straight and walks him out. After saving the guy who loves rainbows, Aniston kicks a fan in his privates and says, ¨sorry, that’s worth about 100 thousand hits.¨ The guy squeaks, ¨not for me.¨ This is a very interesting scene, because unlike seeing the dirty dancing babies, she feels no remorse or guilt about kicking a fan. Aniston is portrayed as a strong and bitchy (I am not at your reach) type of woman and the guy as a ¨helpless, ogling, crotch-driven slave.¨   This makes humor out of violence directed towards men. Aniston doesn’t feel guilty here because she is playing naïve, whereas the man appears as a weak soul at the mercy of a woman. This portrayal of a strong and accomplished woman overpowering a man feeds into the concept of embedded feminism because it depicts women as being fully empowered and confident while focusing on the use of their body as a tool for power and control.

Finally, Aniston tries to appeal to the male audience by drinking suggestively from the water bottle. At one point, she chokes, spills some water, giggles and says, ¨I’m fired.¨ Her comment suggests that she was aware that by objectifying herself as a ¨decorative¨ sexual object, she could sell the product. Rather than feeling shame about it, Aniston enthusiastically agrees with the ¨internet boys¨ suggestion of naming the video, ¨ Jennifer Aniston’s Sex Tape.¨ This makes the search word for the video extremely deceiving, turning it into an actual hit with over 1 million views in just a day. Needless to say, the producers of this ad are exploiting Aniston’s body and sexuality, rather than her brains to sell water. The fact that Aniston approves of it, confirms the illusion that one can use sex to get what one desires.

In the larger scheme of things, the ad is marketing bottled water but it never explains why it’s good. Truth is, bottled water is unethical and environmentally unfriendly.  First of all, tap water has much more strict regulations than bottled water. Secondly, bottled water is marked up in price 2,000 times. Paying for a bottle of water is like paying $10,000 for a sandwich. Likewise, selling bottled water is like selling rain to the Amazonians and ice to the Eskimos.  Not once does Aniston explain why smartwater is so good for you. The only thing she says is, ¨smartwater is the purest tasting water there is¨ (is the water made from tears of virgins or what?) Similar to the emergence of bras, bottled water is marketed as an essential commodity of life when in reality push-up bras are totally unnecessary and water should never have a price tag. With the emergence of standardized bras, women felt compelled to fit into a category, and became extremely conscientious of their bodies. The Smartwater ad has a similar effect not only because it portrays how an ideal woman should look like, causing women to envy Aniston’s body and see themselves as deviant only because they do not have a turkey neck, but also because the ad pushes towards consumerism, turning bottled water into a status symbol and marketing it as being indispensable if you wish to become someone nearly as sexy as Aniston.  Given all of the above, the entire ad is “enlightened sexism¨ in action because it ¨claims you can have independence, power, and respect and male love and approval and girly, consumerist indulgences all at once, all without costs.” 

This is not all.  In 2007, Coca-cola Co. (the world’s largest beverage maker) purchased the privately held Glaceau’s lines of water (Vitaminwater, Fruitwater, Smartwater and Vitaminenergy)   for $4.1 billion in cash with the hopes of expanding its beverage offers and acquiring long-term profits. With such a powerful company marketing liquid cancer around the world, it is safe to assume that ads similar to this one will also be screened worldwide. Can you imagine to what degree these images will seep through people’s mind and change their behaviors?  My only assumption is that 10 years from now British women will continue to request ¨The Rachel¨ haircut while sipping from a Smartwater bottle.

Works Cited

Douglas, Susan. Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism’s

Work is Done. New York: Times Books, 2010. Print.