ived notion about a person or people based on numerous factors such as gender, race, religion, or age. In 2007 the gum brand Dentyne Ice aired a commercial portraying a young, attractive male patient alongside an older, heavier male patient both chewing on Dentyne Ice and capturing the attention and erotic interest of two different nurses. The younger patient, who is in a full leg cast, presses his call button and proceeds to hobble over to a table to get a piece of Dentyne Ice gum. An attractive young nurse enters and is immediately drawn to him. The older patient proceeds to act accordingly and the cycle continues with another nurse closer in age to the patient entering and showing sexual interest in the patient. The ideas embedded in the visual text are much more than what meets the eye, the commercial is ridden with subliminal stereotypes. Through further analysis, the Dentyne Ice commercial as stated above, though appearing to be humorous, attacks the professionalism of nurses in the workplace by showcasing their erotic intent, their provocative uniforms, and the generalization that only woman are nurses. Though it may appear to be a simple chewing gum commercial the display of nurses is done quite poorly by objectifying them as sexual objects. Upon entering the room the nurse sits down on the patient’s bed displaying an act of unprofessionalism. By sitting down the nurse is exhibiting an interest in the patient beyond his medical care. This simple initiative demeans the duties of a nurse to nothing more than a sexual plaything at a male patients beck and call. Subsequent to the nurse sitting down on the patient’s bed, she is also in close proximity to his face. This close proximity unveils a sexual interest in the young male patient by just barely being close enough to kiss him. These minor actions are all playing a role in a much bigger picture. Following the nurse and the patient’s almost kiss, they both remember the older male patient laying in bed right beside them in the room, prompting the nurse to rise and close the privacy curtain. This idea that nurses are available for pleasure degrades the true goal and intent of what a nurse is and does. By closing the curtain the nurse is further exemplifying her interest in the patient and her unprofessionalism in the workplace. Under those circumstances the portrayal of nurses is nothing more than a sexual object with erotic desire regardless of the relationship in the workplace and the unprofessionalism it displays.

Reading into the clothing an actor or actresses wears can also give insight into hidden and subliminal messages or ideas. As well as showing a lack of professionalism and decorum this visual text also advertises the female body in small, subtle ways. Our nurse is seen to be wearing her white dress uniform, unzipped and showing some cleavage. A detail as minuscule as an unzipped uniform plays a larger role in the bigger picture. The unzipped uniform indicates that the nurse is open to attention from her patients further diminishing her true role. In like manner this ad reinforces the stereotype that nurses are frivolous, sexually available females by the shortness of the nurse’s uniform dress. For decades the notion that nursing wasn’t serious played a role in the practicing of the field and the potential nurses. The length of her dress can be deemed unprofessional and depicting her in this manner is undermining. Correspondingly, the visual text goes on to give the i