In this ad, from the beginning it is apparent that the young, adolescent boy has absolute power over his family. He orders dinner for his father, mother, and younger sister: "We're gonna have the new Cheesy Bites pizza, please." Evidently, he is the patriarch of the family, he speaks for everyone, and what he says is indisputable. His mother gazes at him with adulation, how wonderful her son is! Even the waiter obeys him: he acknowledges wthat the adolescent says, and he starts to leave to realise the boy's desire. This adolescent, however, is not a man at all: he still has the curls of a young boy who has not yet had to undergo the obligation of cutting them to become a "little man", according to the traditional rite of passage for boys. This teenager is clearly a miniature despot, the golden boy of his family.
Suddenly we hear the first few notes of a song and the young boy is seen in a spotlight. Jessica Simpson enters the scene, dressed in boots and a short, red dress, with a pizza in her hand. Her movements provoke a reaction in the boy - he reacts to her legs and her walk; he is clearly attracted by her. She throws him some Cheesy Bites, explicit phallic symbols, and he catches them in his mouth. Finally, she approaches him and places a Cheesy Bite in his mouth herself, singing, "One of these days these Bites are gonna pop right into you." One thinks that it is Jessica who has this power to give, and that it is she who has this power over him because after this small meal, the boy faints - action typically perceived as feminine and passive. Now he is submissive to her power, to her charm. He is no longer a despot, but a sort of slave belonging to her.
However, there is a second interpretation to this ad. At the first glance, one believes that this commercial could be somewhat feminist: it is the woman who has control over the masculine signifier, who could easily usurp his role as the most powerful person. But upon closer examination, there is a troubling message.
How does Jessica have this power over him? Firstly, her power comes from her physique, there is no question about this. She is very feminine, not a hair is out of place, and she wears a little dress that shows her legs and breasts, the parts of the female body which are always sexualized. One always hears the question asked of American men, "Are you a breast man or a leg man?" Thanks to Jessica, here it is not necessary to choose: her sexuality is almost universal. Her hair is long and blonde, the standard of American beauty, the "All-American Girl" - a living Barbie doll. And even better, she's carrying food! - here is the good little wife and the femme fatale at the same time, the "ideal woman" of whom all men dream. This is hardly feminist.
Furthermore, only when she is carrying a phallus does she have power. In the same manner that femmes fatales like Marlene Dietrich had cigarettes to indicate their power (again, the cigarette is a clear phallic symbol), these Cheesy Bites represent the same thing. Evidently, the power of a woman does not count for anything. She does not have power over the young boy because of some sort of natural feminine power, if one even exists within the context of this ad, with its traditional role of the woman as the seductor. The fact that she gives the phallus to the boy is almost a rite of passage resembling the first sexual act. Through the female he receives his phallus, which he incorporates into his body by eating. She feeds him his masculinity, and from this moment on, the young boy changes state. He faints, which is parallel to orgasm, another change of state. He is now in ecstasy, a state literally "outside of stasis", and the transgression of this limit makes him, defines him as a man.
Therefore the power of Jessica exists here purely through the sexual act. She gives the boy his masculine identity and again, this begs the question, do women have a real power? If the feminine power exists only through the masculine sexuality, do women have a power outside of this context? This ad is intriguing but distressing because some viewers will only see its first interpreation: where the woman appears to be strong and dominant. They will not question how she gained this power, nor the limits or contexts of it. Additionally, this ad is poignant because only several years ago Jessica Simpson believed herself to represent a positive role model for women, especially for young girls, by demonstrating that one did not have to be sexualized to suceed in life; certainly this is no longer the case. It seems one must look elsewhere to find a good representation of feminine power, and hope that one even exists at all.
