Barbara Lippert's Critique

When I first came across this No Nonsense commercial on television, the setup seemed so stilted and out of sync with contemporary women’s imagery, I thought it was some mid-1970s relic that was unearthed and rerun.

First, the catfight aspects of the spot are amazingly sexist. At an office cocktail party, “Bob” introduces his wife to his “new associate, Karen.” We can smell trouble brewing by the territorial way Karen says, “Hey Bob!” Of course, these women can’t appreciate one another as human beings; they are immediately pitted against each other in a fight to the death for Bob.

And Bob, the prize, doesn’t help.