Shane Co. is notorious for their radio ads which have been running for decades. It is no surprise many have grown to despise them. However, this holiday season, Shane Co. has released a new radio campaign. In this series of ads, men present the various gifts they had planned to give their significant others, only to have the displeased recipients ask Tom Shane to give advice on "what she really wants". Tom then presents the various jewelry options Shane Co. provides.
These ads appeal to the need for affiliation. They feature couples in which the men are told their gift ideas suck and that jewelry is the way to a woman's heart. In this way, the ads threaten men into buying jewelry for women in case they hate their original gift idea.
The ads use "Simple Solutions" by telling men that if they want their partners to love them, buy them jewelry. They no longer need to worry about being a good boyfriend/husband, as diamonds will keep their girlfriends/wives happy enough. Forget getting her something she might actually use, give her a gold necklace no matter what, and she will simply adore you.
While these ads are different from the older ads, they still generate the same irritation. This is the result of the reality assumption that all women want jewelry. The entirety of this series is men scrapping their gift plans under the notion that their significant others would rather have diamonds. Despite probably knowing their partners better than Tom would, they accept that women just want jewelry. Of course, Shane Co. depends on people buying jewelry as gifts for the holiday season, but giving out the message that jewelry is all she wants makes it seem that women don't care about anything but their appearances.
There is also the lack of diversity in the couples in Shane Co.'s ads. This gives insight on who Shane Co.'s demographic is. A quick browse through their website reveals mostly straight white couples. Of course there are exceptions to this, but it is not hard to tell that there is definitely more focus on such couples.
Overall, Shane Co.'s new ads encourage the stereotype that what women really care about are appearances and jewelry. They seem to be really buying into the whole "diamonds are girl's best friend" idea.
I agree with you, Angela, that the Shane Co. commercials are just another obstacle I would usually ignore. They are encouraging the stereotype that diamonds are a women's best friends and that accessories is all she needs. It is true that they have what it seems to be like an all European descent family that is wealthy in the Shane Co. advertisements. It is sad that not more ethnicities are expressed in most ads broadcasted like the Shane Co. ones.
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