We may have moved on - but is advertising stuck in a timewarp?

One of the ongoing jokes in the BBC's recent hit cops-in-a-timewarp series, Life On Mars, was the outrageous way in which the '70s detectives treated their women colleagues - 'make us a cup of tea love' and regular breast puns were the order of the day. We like to feel we've moved on, so I had to check the date on seeing this ad in the 9 June 2006 edition of Broadcast:




Oh, bless her, poor love. She's wearing a suit, designer specs and all the trimmings of success but she's still trying to use a power tool to file her nails. And with that luciously pouty look of concentration on her face! Don't worry boys, with 'The Cameraman's Camera' you can be sure you won't make a similar mistake.

What's going on here? Any GCSE media studies student could tell you the underlying messages of this ad. I'm surprised they didn't stamp 'Guarenteed Oestrogen Free' on the page.

Are women (especially pretty ones) uncomfortable in the technical workplace? Do they tend to get things wrong (unlike men)? Do they frequently obsess with their appearance while the real business goes on elsewhere?

I'd be interested to know what any women working in the camera departments of film or TV think of this one.