OMG, could these ads possibly be any more misogynist!? With the possible exception of the Gucci sweater ad (which was more about children than adults anyway), I don't see any men being portrayed here as hopelessly stupid, just women. I can't believe they would air these.
I think seeing all four at once may be misleading. They are either from different years, or the first two (the two small players with the scene in the store and the school) were advanced advertising. I suspect it was different years since the production quality is so different. Either way, they are poking fun at southern california culture, and in the one at the store, they used the instantly recognizable stock-character, the valley girl.That add became so popular that the characters, now instantly recognizable were continued in the new adds (which aren't nearly as deadpan and ernest which is part of what makes the first two work so well..actually showing the culture clash rather than intimating it doesn't work as well.)
The appeal of the valley girl for comedy does not lie in her being stupid. She isn't. The valley girl character is savvy and smart within her own context. That context just clashes readily with the rest of the world.
so anyway, without continuing on to write a doctoral thesis, the joke is not that the women are stupid, the joke is about their being clueless outside their own context, and they are stand-ins for the stereotype of southern california as a whole.
I suspect both that there were male characters at the brainstorming stage of the original project, and that the store and school were just stronger concepts, and that the characters from the store were so popular that they never went back and looked at it again.
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The appeal of the valley girl for comedy does not lie in her being stupid. She isn't. The valley girl character is savvy and smart within her own context. That context just clashes readily with the rest of the world.
so anyway, without continuing on to write a doctoral thesis, the joke is not that the women are stupid, the joke is about their being clueless outside their own context, and they are stand-ins for the stereotype of southern california as a whole.
I suspect both that there were male characters at the brainstorming stage of the original project, and that the store and school were just stronger concepts, and that the characters from the store were so popular that they never went back and looked at it again.