Tom Tom is one of many GPS companies that make a wrist-mounted system that tracks your mileage, time, and pace while running or walking. But in a field of competitors, how does one stand out? Tom Tom has decided to be defined by its sexism.
The above video, viewed to date almost five million times, is meant to tell the customer that their watch has a built-in heart rate monitor instead of a separate device. Problem is, they've created a commercial that appeals the the lowest common denominator of men, apparently unaware the majority of runners are women.
With that in mind, let's document their amazing missteps. First, supermodel Alexandria Morgan stars in this campaign, because everyone knows models are incredibly relatable to the average woman. Morgan looks like she's run once in her life, and this is it. She is a pretty face, big breasts, and a thin body—the only qualifications Tom Tom felt its Neanderthal customers demand.
But Morgan is not just running; she's running in slow motion in a bra as supportive as pasties to illustrate a stupid tech feature of a watch. That up-and-down movement of Morgan's breasts? In the real world at full speed it's fucking up the tiny Cooper's Ligaments underneath which comprise the breasts' structure. No sane women would ever run this vulnerable because it hurts like a bitch and can result in permanent damage.
This commercial is as targeted for women as a beer ad in a convenience store. Slow-motion jogging? Check. Close-up chest shot? Seventeen checks. And in case you didn't get the BOOBS BOOBS BOOBS message, they've included an instructional gawking preteen. The assumption that men would respond to this base of an advertising ploy is an insult in itself.
Women are largely steering the course of the running industry. Despite this, Tom Tom is attempting to sell its watch utilizing sophomoric sexualization irrespective of who actually holds the power. It chooses the easy road, which only further illustrates how little the company knows actual runners.