more offensive ads...at least for some
I remember, long ago (perhaps a couple of years, but in some circles that can be long ago) there was an advertisement for Tim Hortons coffee house in Canada for some iced mocha kind of drinks. The ad basically showed a man and a woman sitting on lawn chairs, out in the sweltering heat, both stareing at this drink, when all of a sudden the girl gets up, walks over and takes a big drink of it and the guy leaps up and shouts "yes, I won, I won, I won" and the girl walks away smugly drinking the drink going "yep, you won alright" and the guy stands there for a second in glee and then thinks about it and a look of "awww, MAN!" goes across his face as the ice mocha close up goes across the screen and you hear how it is a limited time.
At the time, I thought that this ad was incredibly sexist and horrible. I approached a few women friends of mine that were of the feminist sort and they all gave the answer "hell no that ad isnt sexist. Women are smarter than men". But if they switched it around, I am sure that the women would have screamed sexist and had the ad pulled.
Then, I see this ad. I was reading in the EdmontonSun that one woman, yes actually a woman had an issue with this, said she wrote to Kia and expressed her displeasure in the ad. After all, if it was a male cop that had pulled a woman over and was making out with her in the car, it would have been construed as sexual assault, abuse of power and all that stuff. However, since it was a guy getting mauled, then it is perfectly ok.
Now, I have to wonder, what is horrible at this moment. Does it show a bad light on the females of the world, saying that they are too oversensitive and that all the problems with ads being pulled, demographics and all the legal battles and stuff in court about 'degrading' ads are due to women? Are men just so uncaring and callous that we sit back and let these horrible ads run without caring, or are men just generally more laid back and liberal minded in that we see an ad as mindless entertainment and a general funny thing instead of a way of the advertising people trying to undermine peoples position in society and degrade them lower and destroy their self esteem.
I know that men have firmer grips on self esteem and all since a man can be 50 lbs overweight and still walk down the street in a tight shirt thinking they are gods gift to women whereas a woman is 2 lbs overweight and she has to throw on a baggy outfit and thinks she is the elephant woman. But are women so insecure about themselves that they have to whine about everything? or is it a case of women feel the need to mother hen everything to death. Hence why the main thing that men dont want to tell women (in the previous post) is that they want to be left alone sometimes and we really dont need to communicate every single little thing to them every single second of the day. Why do women have to nurture everything? They say it is a 'mothering instint' that makes them better mothers and parents. But could it also be a way of looking at it that they feel threatened by being out of control and therefore must control everything around them to assert that they are in control? Like how a bully in a school playground has to go around beating up little kids everyday to show that he is 'strong', whereas the other people with the inner strength, dont use the force til the bully comes to them and picks on them.
But, then again, I am generalizing, perhaps it is not all about women. Perhaps there are men out there that look at ads, like myself, and think it is sexist but us men are just too lazy to actually want to do anything about it. Perhaps that is the problem, both genders have the same urges, feelings and thoughts about certain things, but men are more inclined to think "too much work, not worth it" whereas women seem to think "one stopped horrible ad is worth 100 hours of work". Perhaps it is not a case of insensitivity and all, but it is a case of energy.
At the time, I thought that this ad was incredibly sexist and horrible. I approached a few women friends of mine that were of the feminist sort and they all gave the answer "hell no that ad isnt sexist. Women are smarter than men". But if they switched it around, I am sure that the women would have screamed sexist and had the ad pulled.
Then, I see this ad. I was reading in the EdmontonSun that one woman, yes actually a woman had an issue with this, said she wrote to Kia and expressed her displeasure in the ad. After all, if it was a male cop that had pulled a woman over and was making out with her in the car, it would have been construed as sexual assault, abuse of power and all that stuff. However, since it was a guy getting mauled, then it is perfectly ok.
Now, I have to wonder, what is horrible at this moment. Does it show a bad light on the females of the world, saying that they are too oversensitive and that all the problems with ads being pulled, demographics and all the legal battles and stuff in court about 'degrading' ads are due to women? Are men just so uncaring and callous that we sit back and let these horrible ads run without caring, or are men just generally more laid back and liberal minded in that we see an ad as mindless entertainment and a general funny thing instead of a way of the advertising people trying to undermine peoples position in society and degrade them lower and destroy their self esteem.
I know that men have firmer grips on self esteem and all since a man can be 50 lbs overweight and still walk down the street in a tight shirt thinking they are gods gift to women whereas a woman is 2 lbs overweight and she has to throw on a baggy outfit and thinks she is the elephant woman. But are women so insecure about themselves that they have to whine about everything? or is it a case of women feel the need to mother hen everything to death. Hence why the main thing that men dont want to tell women (in the previous post) is that they want to be left alone sometimes and we really dont need to communicate every single little thing to them every single second of the day. Why do women have to nurture everything? They say it is a 'mothering instint' that makes them better mothers and parents. But could it also be a way of looking at it that they feel threatened by being out of control and therefore must control everything around them to assert that they are in control? Like how a bully in a school playground has to go around beating up little kids everyday to show that he is 'strong', whereas the other people with the inner strength, dont use the force til the bully comes to them and picks on them.
But, then again, I am generalizing, perhaps it is not all about women. Perhaps there are men out there that look at ads, like myself, and think it is sexist but us men are just too lazy to actually want to do anything about it. Perhaps that is the problem, both genders have the same urges, feelings and thoughts about certain things, but men are more inclined to think "too much work, not worth it" whereas women seem to think "one stopped horrible ad is worth 100 hours of work". Perhaps it is not a case of insensitivity and all, but it is a case of energy.
posted by Capt_Canuck at 7:09 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home