Working

I just caught a Subway commercial where they sing some tune about five dollar meals. In it, they show three men dressed as construction workers singing it. They alternate with two women who sorta look business casual as they sing their song.

Normally an ad I wouldn't think that much about.

But I did think about it.

Why construction workers? It's an occupation that has comedic values but also an occupation that is thought of as masculine (construction guys always seem to have overweight fellows, which may contrast with the healthy eating Subway prefers). In short, comedic and masculine.

Why not doctors or lawyers or whatever? Doctors have stereotyped clothing, but maybe people don't feel enough kinship with doctors. Lawyers don't have anything particularly lawyerly. Judges do, and that could be amusing.

Women? They didn't pick a particular occupation for them. They seemed to be singing in a mall in a business casual dress, something you might expect a secretary to wear, but nothing that screams out a particular occupation.

Why's that? There are a handful of occupations that have distinctive women's outfit, such as nurses and nuns. Why did they decide not to pick an occupation for these women? And why were they a bit thinner?

All these things have to be going through the minds of the advertisers. Why have a men-only group and a women-only group? Once you have three men, then one of them has to be African American, but the other two should be white. These decisions aren't made on a whim. There are rules for all of this stuff.

All from a Subway commercial.