There's a complicated set of images here, since the original source is a two minute long commercial and there didn't seem to be a single frame that adequately captured the entire narrative. This is the original commercial, featuring Megan Fox:

Given that this is a Turkish commercial and I have no idea what most of the dialog is saying, much of the meaning of the commercial is undoubtedly lost on me. (No one online seems to have translated it.) Nonetheless, at its core is a reasonable example of the usual pattern of body-directed advertising:

• Consumer has body tagged as undesirable.
• Consumer is offered product to "fix" undesirable body.
• Consumer's life is transformed.
• Consumer is rewarded by adulatory crowds.

This same pattern is used even for products that have nothing directly to do with the body—and even those, like calorie-rich foods, which in reality usually have the opposite effect. This logic is clearly absurd, and yet advertisers continue to use this pattern, so it seems to be effective in some way that bypasses logic.

This particular commercial seems to acknowledge the absurdity of this trope and apply it in an ironic and over-the-top manner. For all I know, it might actually be intended as a parody of American-style advertising. However, there seems to be a somewhat common trend in advertising to use irony in a very similar manner; modern consumers are assumed to know the "tricks" used by advertisers, so instead of aiming for subtle influences, the tricks are acknowledged ("lampshaded") and used blatantly for humor value, in hopes that the humor will be enough to keep the idea of the product in the consumer's mind.

This technique was called out and identified on the Feminist Frequency YouTube channel as "Retro Sexism and Uber Ironic Advertising." In the examples given by Feminist Frequency, the absurd tropes used ironically involve stereotypes of clueless women and callous, manipulative men. This commercial, if it is indeed a similar sort of "uber ironic advertising," uses a somewhat different and less retro trope, but it works in a similar way.

Works Cited

Lampshade Hanging. (n.d.). TV Tropes. Retrieved February 28th, 2012, from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging. 

Retro Sexism and Uber Ironic Advertising. (2010). Feminist Frequency. Retrieved February 28th, 2012, from http://www.feministfrequency.com/2010/09/retro-sexism-uber-ironic-advertising/. 

Usmar, J. (2012). Megan Fox stars in the weirdest advert we've ever seen (video). The Mirror. Retrieved February 28th, 2012, from http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/weird-celeb-news/megan-fox-stars-in-a-turkish-commercial-742564. 

Contact information:
Title of proposal: VOX service learning community partners, spring 2012.
Name of community partner: VOX
Group members: Erika S, Lydia H, Scott V, Kelsey G, Charlotte A

Community partner profile:
Name: VOX, Voices of Planned Parenthood
Contact: Alexa Nelen
Community partner mission statement: “Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood-UCF chapter exists to educate the University community about reproductive health and rights, to translate increased awareness into pro-choice activism on campus, and to serve as a coalition partner to state, national, and international reproductive rights efforts” (“VOX UCF”).
Political/and or social basis for organization: VOX strives to obtain equal reproductive justice for women. VOX works with Planned Parenthood to help achieve this goal. Equal reproductive rights for women are being threatened by a number of political initiatives in which Planned Parenthood is opposed to. Some current concerns that will be addressed this semester are: birth control refusal under the affordable health care act, pro-life protests at the Planned Parenthood clinics, general access to sex education and contraception.
Community partner needs: Many of Vox’s activities are reactions to things that are going on politically therefore, the organizations needs may not be known that far in advance. Some of the organizations immediate requests include:

• People to solicit donations for the “Lets Talk About Sex” event- This is a benefit event that has a lot of raffle prizes, games, and music. We have been asked to go to businesses and ask for donations for the event.
• clinic escorting-We will be helping patients safely enter Planned Parenthood when protestors are present. Training is necessary for this and VOX will provide this later on in the semester.
• tabling oustside of the student union- A table is set up in which members of VOX inform students who approach the table about safe sex, current reproductive issues, any questions they may have. VOX also has condoms readily available for students.

VOX is a pretty active student organization so more events are likely to come about as the semester progresses.

Plan Proposal: As part of this group of volunteers, I (Scott) will be making myself available to respond to VOX's needs as they arise. My personal availability will be mostly limited to evenings and weekends due to my work schedule, though I will be able to take the occasional day off if necessary. Enough of VOX's events seem to be evening and weekend events that my work schedule should not be a major impediment to my ability to fulfill the obligations of service learning.

I expect clinic escorting will be a major focus for me personally. An escort training event for February 27th was just announced by VOX; after that, I should be able to do several hours of escorting every weekend throughout the "40 Days for Life" timeframe.

Rationale for Women's Studies: It goes without saying that access to reproductive health care and reproductive justice are major concerns for women. Planned Parenthood offers communities a number of services, including abortion and contraceptives but also cancer and STI screenings. In some places, a Planned Parenthood clinic may be the only source of these services, especially for low-income women. Simply ensuring that this valuable resource remains in operation has intrinsic value for women's lives.

The fact that Planned Parenthood has inexplicably been singled out as a target for the ire of some American political groups adds further importance to VOX's work in supporting it. The anti-choice protests outside of Planned Parenthood locations are a very visible manifestation of how women are impacted by the political situation surrounding Planned Parenthood and reproductive health. Patients who arrive at a Planned Parenthood clinic during one of these protests are subjected to a gauntlet of verbal (and occasionally physical) violence. For the women (and men) who are caught in this, the personal decision to see a doctor has become inescapably political. For a person to suddenly and nonconsensually have her life made into a political act can be traumatic, and escorting as an expression of political and personal solidarity can help to mitigate the impact of these protests on patients.

Planned Parenthood also offers information about sex, contraception, and sexual health that have been made unavailable through normal educational channels, due to political pressure placed by anti-choice groups on the American public school system. Inaccurate information about sex is widespread among young people, and this has measurable consequences on people's health. In making useful information about sex available to young people through events like "Let's Talk About Sex," VOX is working to ensure that people have the information they need to make life-affirming choices and live in a safe and fulfilling way.

Anti-choice politics which work to limit women's power to access some kinds of information and health care have the effect of limiting women's ability to participate in society as free agents capable of making their own informed choices. Women instead become a lesser category of citizens, whose lives and bodies are made into a public concern. This, needless to say, is not a good status for women to be assigned. VOX's goals are essentially to preserve women's status as fully independent people, capable of making informed choices, and free to choose when and if their lives will be politicized.

Action: We have met with Alexa Nelen, the president of VOX at UCF. She is aware that we are available for service learning and has made some requests in regards to getting donations for “Let’s Talk About Sex.” We will continue to attend meetings throughout the semester and respond to needs as they become apparent. 

Timeline: Again, new needs will arise as the semester progresses, so a full timeline is not possible at this time. Some presently known events include:

• “40 Days of Life,” a 40-day sustained nationwide protest targeting Planned Parenthood clinics, will last from February 22nd through April 1st. There will be a recurring need for clinic escorting throughout this event (“40 Days for Life”).
• A training session for clinic escorting will occur “in the coming weeks,” according to meeting notes from VOX’s Facebook group (“VOX UCF”).
• “Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby,” which will happen “sometime in March” according to VOX’s website (“Events”).
• Tabling will occur throughout the semester.

Works Cited

"40 Days for Life." 40 Days for Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. <http://www.40daysforlife.com>.

"Events." VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood at UCF - About. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://www.VOXUCF.org/events.html>.

"VOX UCF." Facebook. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. <http://www.facebook.com/groups/2200915873/>.

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