Someone deserves a good swift kick.

[wordinista]

Normally I would say that it takes a lot to get my ire up in any sort of feministic fashion.  I'm usually a very mellow sort of gal.  It doesn't mean I don't care, it just means that if I got pissed off at everything stupid in the world, I would exhaust myself into a coma.

June has been a banner month, however!  First IGN had their ridiculous little boys-only contest, and then the LA Times published a truly nauseating "girls guide" to Comic-Con.  Oh, and let's not forget that idiotic article that sarolynne found -- women can't write porn and don't like steak.

And now this (courtesy of weeniers ):  makes me wish I were a vegetarian.

I don't know where to start.  Really.  Though the part where the woman looks incredibly like a blow-up doll might be as good a spot as any.

Ladies, please commence rants.



EDIT:   OHMYGOD WHAT.  EPIC FUCKING FAIL, BACARDI.  YOUR DRINKS TASTE LIKE CARBONATED ASS, AND ALL OF THE MARKETING IN THE WORLD ISN'T GOING TO CHANGE THAT. 

Comments

[alexander.livejournal.com]

. . . I'm really just reading that as "our burger tastes like penis."

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

BUT WHAT'S IN THE SPECIAL SAUCE.

Ugh. It does not entice me to eat at BK at all.

[alexander.livejournal.com]

I've never liked BK ):

. . . man have you seen the bacardi ads? I mean, at least with the BK ad I can kind of follow the loose, penis filled, train of thought.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

(Trufax: the last time I ate any sort of fast-food was three years ago -- chicken nuggets during a road trip, when I was so hungry I was ready to eat my own foot.)

No, I haven't seen those ads -- but liquor ads, AFAIK, tend not to be one with linear thought. Because, hey! Linear thought is boring and for losers who aren't COOL enough to drink alcohol in copious amounts! :D

*sigh* Marketing and advertising folk must think we're all complete morons.

[alexander.livejournal.com]

no man these bacardi ads are like "WANT TO BE AWESOME? BRING AN UGLY GIRLFRIEND WITH YOU! THIS WOMAN IS FAT AND HAS A MOLE! DRINK BACARDI!" or. Something. I have no idea.

Well, on its base level all marketing is classical conditioning.



... some people just. Don't. . . do it right. . .

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

...No, I should say some people... don't do it right.

I don't... get what that is supposed to convey. I mean, other than contradicting the usual alcohol ads where everyone is beautiful. But somehow I am dubious that Bacardi is trying to make that kind of statement. I know. I'm an incurable cynic.

That said, I don't like rum, and can't even drink Bacardi's flavored malt beverages (there's something in them I'm allergic to -- I get heart palpitations, which is just not the kind of fun I'm looking for when I decide to imbibe).

[alexander.livejournal.com]

I like rum ): But I don't like bacardi now.

[katmaxwell.livejournal.com]

THE BACARDI ADS

I WAS JUST LOOKING FOR THE LINK

ACTUAL PHYSICAL RAGE

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

....I'm almost afraid to go look now.

[alexander.livejournal.com]

THEY ARE KIND OF INSPIRING IN HOW AWFUL THEY ARE

[katmaxwell.livejournal.com]

I want to punch the marketing department/ad agency that came up with it.

[alexander.livejournal.com]

...awe inspiring*

in that. awful way**

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

I THINK I JUST FOUND THEM.

...

WHAT THE HELL, DUDE.

[katmaxwell.livejournal.com]

ISN'T IT JUST

ASJKLSF SEETHING RAGE

dangit I've made myself pissed off just thinking about them

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Seething rage just about sums it up. I mean. What. I CANNOT BEGIN TO WRAP MY HEAD AROUND THE MENTALITY THAT THINKS "HEY, I KNOW A GREAT MARKETING STRATEGY! IT'LL WORK LIKE A CHARM!" I mean, WHO THINKS THIS IS A GOOD IDEA.

...Some people just deserve to have their eyeballs eaten.

[hangingfire.livejournal.com]

June has been an absolute record month for throwing things my way that get my blood pressure up as either 1. a feminist, 2. an Asian, or 3. both.

Burger King's ads have lately smacked of desperate attempts to get people's attention, and I suppose it works, but lord.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

I... really don't get the whole marketing strategy where The King wanders around looking REALLY CREEPY with the plastic mask and all. But this... this is just. What where they thinking? WERE they thinking?

[evilpuppy.livejournal.com]

*rubs head* Actually... we linked that article to Saro. Because it had to be shard. You were TRAGICALLY NOT ON to share in the link-storm it erupted.

Oh, interwebs. Spreading the WTFMANDROIDPOLARBEAR far and wide!

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

...You will never know how sorry I am to have missed that. 'Cause if there's anyone who has perfected ranting into an art-form, it is my fellow Amazon. ♥

[evilpuppy.livejournal.com]

*grins and nods* GiantKappaGirlfriend is superfab at ranting.

On the... thing in that link... You know how I feel about mixing food and sex.

THEY EXIST IN SEPARATE FUNCTIONS IN EXISTENCE!!!

NE'ER SHALL THE TWO MEET!!!!

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Saro and I had a pretty awesome discussion on the dysfunctional relationships women have with food, which is only made worse by marketing and the mixed messages we receive. (FOOD IS BAD. YOU ARE A BAD PERSON IF YOU EAT. YOU MUST ATONE FOR NOURISHING YOUR BODY, YOU FAT H0R.)

[nightangelca.livejournal.com]

........................holy fuck what.

Re: the Bacardi ads, that is. Burger King seems to be getting just more and more bizarre, to the point of where I sort of think of their ads as the crazy homeless man on the street who shouts offensive things at people but you really can't bring yourself to be too angry at him because you know that there must have been some psychotic break with reality at some point.

...but dear god, those Bacardi ads. Well, I know what kind of booze I won't be getting!

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Yeeeah. I don't drink flavored malt beverages at all (can't -- I get a mild sort of anaphylactic shock that is just better off avoided entirely), but that is just... I'm baffled that this made it to print. I'm baffled that, at no point, did anyone say, "Um, guys...?"

When will people learn that it's not okay to benefit by demoralizing/belittling/trivializing/dehumanizing people? IT'S. NOT. OKAY.

And the BK thing, I admit, pales in comparison to the Bacardi thing. I just can't get over how much the model looks like a blow-up doll. She has that perpetually surprised look.

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

*reads the Bacardi one* brooklyn rage.... BROOKLYN RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've had ENOUGH slams against my gender this week to last a lifetime!

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

...

When you calm down, you'll have to tell me what "brooklyn rage" is. ;)

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

It's from Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series, one of the most hilarious anime parodies ever. Comes from this episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxB-IZnvP4s

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

Didn't you know? Burger King is just cashing in on the fact that anything that evokes sex has got to be good advertising!

The actual implications and whether or not they're hurtful, these things don't matter! It doesn't even matter if they're conflating blowjobs with eating, which you think would be a turn off for most guys, if they're picturing the girl biting down and chewing. No, it has to be a good idea.

(I almost wish I actually ate at BK, just so I could boycott. Alas, I'm not much for fast food, and their creepy King commercials would have scared me off quite a while ago, even if I was.)

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

It's bad enough that cars are said to be extensions of The One Manly Organ. Now sandwiches? What exactly are they trying to say here? I mean, okay, ha ha, "It'll blow you away." That's a great play on words, truly worthy of any twelve year-old. But what's the parallel they're trying to make? Assuming they're trying to make a parallel at all, beyond the obvious sight gag and double entendre. That the sandwich will be as satisfying as a blowjob? Um... to whom, exactly? 'Cause as far as I knew, blowjobs are mostly a vehicle of satisfaction for the receiver, moreso than the giver. And even the receiver, afterward, is very likely to be ravenously hungry. So the ad kind of fails on a metaphorical level too. What a shock.

I can't wait to hear what you have to say about the Bacardi ads. ;)

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

gag and double entendre.

I couldn't have picked better words for it.

The Bacardi ads. Oh, those ads.

Could you any more clearly say, "Hello, half of the world! We don't really want you to buy our drink."

I mean. Who's their target audience, here? Shallow women who don't really like their friends? And also don't like alcohol, or they wouldn't be drinking Bacardi fucking Breezers. I don't know. Maybe they don't like food or sex, either. Apparently, their priorities are looking good in bikinis, or being the hot girl while shopping.

It could just be me here, but you'd think that you'd want to market to a slightly bigger population here. Apparently, though, losing revenue is worth it if we can make fun of some "ugly" girls.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Well, let's deconstruct the ad, shall we?

First of all, we've got these ads designed to look like women's magazines, like Cosmopolitan or what have you, which... do tend to give pretty shallow advice (but as far as I remember, do not condone befriending unattractive women for the sole purpose of making yourself more attractive in comparison -- but it's been a while since I've picked up Cosmo).

Next, you've got the more or less unspoken message here: MEET MEN. BE ATTRACTIVE FOR MEN. MAKE YOURSELF DESIRABLE TO MEN SO YOU CAN GET A MAN, WHOSE ATTENTION YOU NEED TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL DESIRABLE. (Which is not to say that I am anti-man, or anti-relationship. But trolling for guys? Kind of demeaning, no matter whether you're at the beach in a bikini, or shopping at the mall.)

Okay, so they're appealing to shallow, insecure women, who will use another woman without compunction in order to entice a man.

OR, they think all women are like this. Which is actually a little scarier.

But it all boils down to this: what kind of cheap slut would drink a Bacardi fucking Breezer anyway?

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

Maybe they know their audience better than we do--they know that any woman with self-respect and depth wouldn't be drinking their product anyway. Really, their self-knowledge might be commendable. It takes a lot of humility to acknowledge that your drink is so incredibly crap. They not only managed to realize that, they just decided to cut their losses on all of those smarter, more secure women with better taste in booze, and go straight for the bottom of the barrel.

Because my brain just can't even process that they might think that this appeals to most women.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Here's a quirker for you:

Maybe they aren't directing the ad at women at all! Maybe they're directing it towards the kind of douchebag guy who'd find that sort of advert humorous.

...'Course, there's a huge flaw in their reasoning if they think guys actually drink those lame-ass cheerleader beers.

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

No, no, I think I've figured it out now.

They assume said douchenozzle guy is buying these for his girlfriend!

There we go.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Still, there's a huge flaw in their reasoning if they think cuntwaffles guys like that HAVE girlfriends who aren't made of plastic and modeling for a BK ad.

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

It's already very clear that logic is not really what you'd call high on these twatnuggets advertisers list of strengths.

[rya-kelley.livejournal.com]

the woman looks incredibly like a blow-up doll

I was thinking more like a painted corpse.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Well, that too. But she has that wide-eyed (and open-mouthed) surprised look that most blow-up dolls have.

[rya-kelley.livejournal.com]

But a bit too realistic, hence the painted corpse perspective.

[kadekmoment.livejournal.com]

GODDAMMIT ADVERTISING

GODDAMMIT

Seriously. The BK one just made me go ". . . uh, well then," but those Bacardi ones are awful.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Yeeeah. And the first person to say, "The only people complaining about the Bacardi ads are probably ugly chicks" is going to get their spleen ripped out and fed to them. :D

[emrlddragon.livejournal.com]

I....I have no words...

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

I have one! Repeat after me!

ARGH!!!1!

[darkfrog24.livejournal.com]

Hey, fuck them, steak is delicious!!