Microsoft Takes 2 Steps Back With New Ad

There was a time, not long ago in fact, that Windows came out with a totally awesome, totally feminist commercial featuring a woman of color who did not fit a conventionally ideal body-type, wearing a non-sexualized uniform, and talking about how she wanted a computer that could handle everything from her school work to video games. And it was freaking awesome. And yet now, they have a new "Wedding Planner" advertisement that is basically the exact opposite of all of that, in which the woman in question explains she picked her laptop based on how it could help her plan her wedding. That's it. Just that.

Of course, planning a wedding is a big deal, and involves a lot of coordination and effort. And if a woman really cares about her wedding, then she has every right to spend a lot of time and effort planning it. But I refuse to believe — I simply refuse — that there is any woman out there who is so consumed with planning her wedding that it's the only thing she needs a computer for. I mean, seriously? She doesn't use it for her job, or watching Netflix, or hanging out on social media, or listening to music, or any of the other bajillion purposes a computer might have? So, once she is done planning, does the device become useless?

Yeah, not buying it — not the ad or the product.

Sexist ads have existed for as long as advertising has, but this one is particularly disappointing because it shows that Microsoft's previous ad (which they seem to have taken down) was a fluke and not a trend we could get excited about. Less than a year later, we're back to acting like women can't have diverse interests, even diverse interests that include weddings. No, women have to be all girly stuff, all the time. Instead of a woman who cares about getting married along with a whole slew of other things going on in her life, Microsoft gives us a woman (and a conventionally attractive white woman at that) whose life seemingly revolves only around her wedding.

Come on, Microsoft, you can do better than this.

Image: Microsoft