Let’s Talk About… Love Island’s Ferrari

Starting strong with the “promise we’re not all about feminism” malarkey aren’t we? Bear with us, though – there’s a point to this. 

On the recent series of Love Island, in one episode the happy couples were treated to romantic dates. A hot air balloon, romantic meals on top of mountains, that kind of thing.

One couple – male Alex and female Alexandra – were ‘treated’ to a Ferrari for the day. And when I say ‘treated’, I mean Alex got to fulfil his dream by tarting around in a posh car. Alexandra didn’t get a look in in his eyes.

Cut to the actual date. Alex is in the driving seat, staring at himself in the mirror. Alexandra in the passenger seat trying to chat and make romantic conversation, while Alex literally batting her away and telling her to stop distracting him.

Now, I’m not going to start a rant on the base-level terrible manners and dating behaviour of Alex.

But I am thinking about the whole modern stereotype that he fell into – guy drives, woman sits and swoons.

If you Google “cars to impress women”, there’s hundreds of articles, from million-pound brands like GQ or Esquire or, more often, blokey car blogs, telling men what cars they should buy in order to ‘score chicks’. Google couldn’t find any articles along the lines of “10 cars women should drive to impress men” – just ‘10 things to know before you date a Car Guy’ . The internet doesn’t even recognise the idea that a woman could be the one in the couple of who cares about cars.

As a girl seeking a guy, I reckon at least half of the dating profiles I’ve had the misfortune to come across have a photo of a car. Him in a car, him stood next to a car, him on a track day with a helmet on pointing at a car, even just a car parked on the road. Are you trying to impress the actual women here or, well, other men?

The internet doesn’t even recognise the idea that a woman could be the one in the couple of who cares about cars.

This whole idea that cars are for men to use to impress women is just boring. As a general rule, women aren’t impressed. At best, they don’t give really care either way.

This isn’t even an agenda pushed by brands. Well, a bit, but even looking back through history, the generic theme is that women just don’t know or care about cars at all. There’s even an old Honda Civic advert that states; “Some car manufacturers actually believe women buy cars for different reasons than men do… At Honda, we don’t make a woman’s car.” Or Volkswagen’s campaign for the new up! just a few years ago, summing it up with; “This car can help you attract women. Just drive it to places where there are women and be really charming.”

So it seems to be just a social construct, believed by a proportion of men who feel they have to make up for their lack of other potential offerings to a woman by showing how much money they have.

The same goes for everything in the dating world, sure. But the idea of a woman swooning over a guy because of a car is a stereotype that doesn’t need to be pushed by media portrayals, especially when the idea of women being in the driving seat – both physically and metaphorically – is completely missing from this narrative. The thought of a woman using a car to impress a man doesn’t even exist on the Internet – or not yet…

I only wish Alexandra had walked out of the villa, snatched the keys from Alex and gone; “Get in the passenger seat – I’m driving now.”

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NB: Male/Female examples are used here to follow the example of Alex and Alexandra. All genders of dating are included.

Also NB: This is a discussion of a select stereotype portrayed in the media. “Not All Men” is recognised and acknowledged…