Let's Not Hear It For The Boys

Though it has been a while since we last spoke, I decided it was time to address an important issue (because I saw a commercial that disturbed me tonight) - sexism. Am I about to call someone or something out for being sexist? Not really. I'm going to be sexist. What can I say? It's my blog and I'll whine if I want to. But, this may be more a message for my fellow men. So, ladies, take this with a dash of salt, please.
Have y'all seen the new Kay Jewelers commercial? It sucks! Granted, most of their commercials do little to tickle my fancy, but I also don't go buying jewelry all that much either. However, this new one really gives me pause to wonder if they've got a clue about to whom they are advertising and if they understand that women's jewelry is typically bought as a gift for a woman by a MAN (not a woman... with some exceptions... and Anne Heche... we're still figuring her "out"). Seriously, have you seen it? Here, watch it.
Did you watch it? Did you nearly throw up (or as some of my dear high school classmates used to say "Did you up-chuck?")? Me too. Never before have the people at Kay Jewelers been more artificial in their depiction of a romantic relationship and the giving of jewelry. They've created a ridiculously fake 30-second soap operatic mini-drama to push necklaces - as if the woman watching it is doing the buying. Yes, I'm generally a sexist pig anyway, but please agree with me here. The man is supposed to buy the woman a woman's piece of jewelry. The necklace they advertise is pretty, but it would look awful on me. Therefore, advertise it to make ME want to buy it as a surprise for the lady in my life. Don't advertise as if a woman is supposed to see the commercial and walk up to me and say "This is what you're buying me for Valentine's Day because I want to be like the people in that commercial." That's the easiest way to get some other gift from me. If you want to be like the couple in a commercial, let's go back to the days of those mini-series-style Taster's Choice commercials. Now, that was art. One cup... One brand of coffee... For the rest of their lives. But, I digest.
If you want to sell a product that is commonly used as a gift, advertise to the buyer as much or more as to the recipient. Watch the commercial again. These 30 seconds of Chuck's-gonna-hurl are geared toward the female viewers. No matter how many times I've kept a piece of name-brand jewelry on hand for the possibility that bad weather will strike and, obviously, create the perfect opportunity to surprise my lady fair with it, it becomes a jinx and the sky stays clear. Therefore, I choose not to buy from Kay in anticipation of such a weekend getaway-gone-stormy. Given their blatant disregard for the male money-spenders in the jewelry-buying public, I may not shop with Kay again anyway, unless they get a clue. Who's with me?
I know. I'm nuts. But that's the view from Chuckonia, where every kiss doesn't necessarily begin with Kay.