I was gonna to something with this, but I decided to bow to the masters and see what you guys think. Plus it’ll be a different topic then the war for once.
Many people watch the Super Bowl game for the ads as much as the game itself, and rating them has become a national pastime. What’s been missing so far is an accounting of how the ads portray women. That’s why the NOW Foundation is proud to present this, our first-ever feminist review of the Super Bowl commercials.
I guess showing people with obvious brain damage due to excessive drug and alcohol abuse is OK since it doesn’t make women look bad, just the man in the ad. I suprised they were ok with the cussing, even though it was bleeped.
#4: FedEx — “Cast Away” spoof
“Good to see a woman be on top of things, showing the man that he should have been smart enough to open the package.”
Gotta love equality. Don’t make women look bad, even as a joke, but we can rail on guys all day.
#11: Anheuser-Busch — Clydesdales and Zebra
“Cute use of graphics and animal … did not offend anyone.”
Except possible to parents who might be watching with kids. Maybe not everyone is cool with people using the term “jackass” the way it was used.
#73: Anheuser-Busch ? Two men gawk at women in yoga class
“Sexual exploitation. If I were a guy I would be insulted by this ad.”
“Crotch humor with a new age touch.”
No you wouldn’t, if you were a guy you would have taken a leak while it was on. Or if you did watch it, you would have laughed too, case in point: the line ‘crotch humor’ makes me giggle.
I dunno, NOW has really been damaging its public perception lately. It’s one thing to point out truly offensive material, it’s quite another to look for excuses to be offended.
Case in point: I can see a woman being offended about a couple of guys sitting in a yoga class and staring at their asses. But to be offended by a true perception of what a man is thinking when a woman is babbling about her friend’s relationship problems while a game is going on behind her… I dunno, doesn’t seem like something to be offended about.
Without having actually seen the ad, to me it sounds like something pretty logical to be offended by, since it perpetuates the notion of women talking as “babbling”, guys not caring about their girlfriend’s problems (with the implication that the girlfriend is only some auxiliary tool for the guy used for sex) and (since I just read that there was a game going on which might make my first two points a bit… odd) most importantly that men and women can not understand each other.
Congress.[/quote]
AAhhh… the old ‘men rule the world’ tactic! It’s been awhile but lemme see if I can enlighten you: Men do NOT rule the world. SOME men do. But not ALL of them. I’m STILL waiting from my super secret ‘mancode’ message from the president asking if we should go to war.
Maybe at our next ‘He-man Woman Haters Club’ meeting we’ll bring up the possibility of getting a support group so we can give the secret handshake to our fellow male and get a law passed as we eat raw beef and spit on the floor. (Actually I think it’s my turn to take minutes so I’ll be too busy recording the hilarious bodily function sound being made by our pal Kennedy.)
Without having actually seen the ad, to me it sounds like something pretty logical to be offended by, since it perpetuates the notion of women talking as “babbling”,* guys not caring about their girlfriend’s problems** (with the implication that the girlfriend is only some auxiliary tool for the guy used for sex***) and (since I just read that there was a game going on which might make my first two points a bit… odd) most importantly that men and women can not understand each other.****[/quote]
*sometimes it is. Especially if we’re trying to concentrate on something else
**sometimes we don’t. Yeah, I’m the sexist pig, but I don’t CARE that you have a five hour story about how you had your nails done or that you think your professor is hitting on you.
***Oh please, if YOU saw this message then YOU have the problem, like if your toaster tells you to kill, you shouldn’t bring it to the repair shop.
****…duh…DUH
bonus tip: when our girlfriend falls down, and we ascertain that they aren’t seriously hurt, inside we start laughing our ass off. But outside we put on ‘Mr. Sensitive Guy’ voice and ask if you are all right.
AAhhh… the old ‘men rule the world’ tactic! It’s been awhile but lemme see if I can enlighten you: Men do NOT rule the world. SOME men do. But not ALL of them. I’m STILL waiting from my super secret ‘mancode’ message from the president asking if we should go to war.
Maybe at our next ‘He-man Woman Haters Club’ meeting we’ll bring up the possibility of getting a support group so we can give the secret handshake to our fellow male and get a law passed as we eat raw beef and spit on the floor. (Actually I think it’s my turn to take minutes so I’ll be too busy recording the hilarious bodily function sound being made by our pal Kennedy.)[/quote]
I wasn’t quite serious about that, since I don’t believe that old men rule the world. I believe that societal norms rule the world, and such things affect the entire population, ie it’s just as much the women as the men that upholds the patriarchy, and the men as well as the women are victims to it (in the meaning that our individual development is hindered by the norms of society, which is harmful, no matter if you end up on top or on bottom).
Then just fucking say so. I don’t like the “ho ho, women always talk about their stupid woman problems”-joke. And since it perpetuates a behaviour that I see as very wrong in relationships I think I can complain about it.
**sometimes we don’t. Yeah, I’m the sexist pig, but I don’t CARE that you have a five hour story about how you had your nails done or that you think your professor is hitting on you.
I forgot “defining women’s talk as stupid”. Then just say so there as well. I don’t think living in a relationship should be the same as living a lie, as it often seems to be presented.
***Oh please, if YOU saw this message then YOU have the problem, like if your toaster tells you to kill, you shouldn’t bring it to the repair shop.
I just realized that I thought all wrong about that one, my bad. I rather see the “male stance” (as opposed to the "my relationship to person is the most important part of my life) as the correct one, which means that my exaggeration of the same was profoundly stupid :)
****…duh…DUH
I’d argue that the things we don’t understand are 1) love and 2) specific individuals, not “the other sex”.
bonus tip: when our girlfriend falls down, and we ascertain that they aren’t seriously hurt, inside we start laughing our ass off. But outside we put on ‘Mr. Sensitive Guy’ voice and ask if you are all right.
Hey, if you don’t think your girlfriend knows you care about her and that you feel you can’t show what you think is funny to her, then that’s your problem.
The two worst things a man can say to a wife/girlfriend are “Yes, you look fat in that” and “You’re babbling about stuff I don’t care about, can we talk about something else?”
My wife and I get along great and she luckily was born without the “my husband is my girlfriend” gene. But some of my old girlfriends insisted on telling me all the local gosip about who was dating who, who looked fat at work today, who might secretly be gay, etc… Things I couldn’t caer less about and people I had never heard of except for previous stories about them. Your two choices in that matter are to ask her kindly to change the subject (and invariably the new subject becomes how you don’t care about her life) or to nod, pick out key words, and watch the game.
My response may be catagorized as Typical Male, but more time than not it’s true.
Amen, brother. Count me as a lucky one who found a woman who realizes men and women are indeed different.
Man bashing was in vogue during my late teens and it took me about ten years to learn that, in general, it was just vapid bitching. Women generally want men and the masculinity that comes with it. Not jerks, mind you, but not girlfriends with penises either.
There was a good show on the Discovery channel recently about the behavioral and mental differences between males and females. Very interesting and somewhat vindicating for those among us who have been taught that men are evil because they’re not women.
Same here. My wife’s theory, “Sometimes a man just has to be a man.” She still allows my Playboy subscription. She also realizes the rare trip to a strip club is harmless except for the fact that it is a huge waste of cash. I can crack jokes about her hot friends and I think it would take an act of God to make her jealous. She is sweet to me, is beautiful and gave me an angel for a daughter.
And back on topic, she laughed right along with almost every one of those ads. Well the ones that were actual funny, that is. I have not brought up NOW’s point of view, but my guess is she would say, “It’s just a stupid commercial for beer. What is their problem?”
