Men Who Complain About Advertising

[NickAndNora]

After seeing yet another thread derailed by a dick-wielding troll complaining about the way men are portrayed in advertising I thought we should get this over and done with once and for all.

1 - If the biggest thing you have to complain about in life is advertising, or having to wear a tie to work, then you are really, really privileged and lucky. Sean Penn isn't going to star in a searing biopic articulating your struggle any time soon. You are not Spartacus. You are not Rosa Parks. Boo boo fucking hoo.

2 - Most advertising is sexist, manipulative and patronising towards women. Because you are not a woman this is invisible to you and you don't give two shits. You only see the minority of ads that sexualise or patronise men.

3 - The advertising you complain about is not made by feminists and probably not even made by women. It is made by the men who run advertising companies for the men who run companies that wish to advertise. If you don't like it tell them.

4 - The advertising you complain about does not espouse feminist ideology. Feminism is not an inversion of patriarchy, with the world existing as it does now except with women at the top. Feminism is about living under a completely different value system. The sexist fuckwits who make these adverts believe the way to appeal to women is to show women 'empowered' by behaving like sexist men. The men who make these adverts have no clue about women and no clue about feminism, hence the inverted sexism of the adverts.

Can we get back to discussing violence, the justice system, financial independence, the system of gender and other important stuff now or do we need to hold your hand while you cry into your wank-cloth about the Diet Coke ad for the hundredth time?

[PetulaGordino]

[YonicScrewdriver]

Sing it, sister.

[7Days]

poor men though. It must be awful to run to the world and yet be depicted as not being able to work the washing machine.

[7Days]

the other big complaint among the M R.A's is having to pay for dinner, and they might not even get sex at the end of it.

That brought me up short from my liberal handwringing about femicide, fgm, 1 in 4 rape stats and child brides, let me tell you. Turned out I was only looking for things to be offended about.

[YonicScrewdriver]

Oh shit, did I forget to pick up my combination padlock for my purse, with Automatic Date Detector?

[7Days]

Oh really? Forgot typical

[Zazzles007]

Just did a spot of googling and came across this gif:

Its taken from this YouTube clip, which I thought was very topical:

[PetulaGordino]

this is missing the point entirely, but who would have sex with someone who emptied a packet of crisps onto the bed?? i would be FURIOUS

[7Days]

hubba hubba crisp sex


crunchaaaayyyy

[Zazzles007]

That's the thing, it looks so, so ridiculous with a man covered in Doritos, but the reality is, it is equally stupid with a woman covered in Doritos. Why the company thought it was a good concept for an ad is beyond me - they must have some really crappy (men in their) advertising agency working for them who think "I know! Women exist to please men , so why don't we....."

On a personal note, if I had to go to such lengths to get a man to have sex with me, I would just walk out the front door and leave him to it. Then when he wants sex, I would pass him a pack of Doritos and say "Well, I wanted sex a while ago..."

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

They always bring up the fucking coke ad.

You know why it is brought up so often? Because it is the ONLY one. Whereas we have a flood of them objectifying us.

[YonicScrewdriver]

I wonder who is changing the sheets after Dorito Fest...

[RamsaySnowsSausage]

Well put Nick!

The point of the 'all men are bumbling idiots re housework/cooking/childcare etc.' trope in advertising is that these are 'supposed' to be women's jobs so men need the latest gadget/product etc. to be remotely capable.

When the mum comes in and shakes her head at the man's feeble efforts that is not evidence of 'reverse sexism' or matriarchy that is plain old normal sexism. Is it supposed to be a massive compliment to be best at scrubbing floors or cleaning up baby sick?

Are men really upset that they are portrayed as being inept at shitwork? It's patronising and inaccurate and I hate it but do they think as feminists we like to be portrayed as naturally better/ in charge of housework/childcare etc? Is that supposed to be empowering?

[RamsaySnowsSausage]

Crisps is bed? Good god, no! Yuck.

[qumquat]

The 'men are rubbish at home' theme is massively supportive of the patriarchy. Men aren't good enough at the boring jobs ladies, so you better do them!

[PuffinsAreFicticious]

Absolutely.

I have actually heard men discussing this. That if they pretend to be useless and helpless, then their wife/partner will just take it over out of sheer exasperation.

And it's always job that gain no cookies. Cookie earning jobs, putting a shed up, putting up shelves etc, men are all over them. Things that have to be done to feed or clothe get no cookies, therefore are dull and men don't want to know. Oddly though, men who do cook or clean or do the washing get packets of cookies thrown at them.

And yes. NAMALT. Of course.

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

Small thing maybe but the new Iceland ad annoys the hell out of me.

It should be "That's why dads go to Iceland". Not just Peter.

Of course, it should actually say "parents" but if it must specify one parent then if it's fine to say "mums" then why not "dads" too?

[noddingoff]

Oddly enough, the army seems to think that it isn't necessary to have a vagina to iron a shirt or polish a pair of boots.

[PuffinsAreFicticious]

Indeed not, nodding. In fact, they tend to teach that having a penis means you can do it far better than anyone with a vagina! Even those vagina owners who are themselves in the Army.

[CatKisser]

One that's grating on me at the moment is that Nescafé coffee ad where it's pissing down outside and the woman wants her boyfriend to get her a shop bought coffee. He sticks his head out the front door to get it wet then makes her a normal one. "Ooh you even put it in my favourite mug" says deceived woman - blonde and ditzy sounding - Cue "get iiiiin" look from fella and jaunty music. I know I'm over reacting and there are much worse, but it really irritates me!

[PetulaGordino]

catkisser that advert is stupid. surely the whole point of not going out in the rain to get the coffee is so that you don't get wet? in which case, sticking your head out the front door in order to get wet makes the whole deception pointless

[CatKisser]

I know!!
I know it's not the worst but for some reason the deception element pisses me off!
Also the Glade one where the Man Of The House catches a whiff of the apparently delightful waft of Glade and gives the wife an approving nod as if to say "Good job!"

[PetulaGordino]

like she does frequent fragrant farts

[TessOfTheFurbyvilles]

The advertising thing is just another example of how men (NAM!) like to whinge about how they have it bad too, and complain that feminists don't do anything about it, rather than them doing something about it.

A few years ago now, my DH was angered by a particular advert that he thought belittled men (and for the life of me, I can't remember what it was, but I think it was a cleaning product of some kind), so he e-mailed the company to complain. He knew it probably wouldn't change anything, but he thought rather than just whine about it, he'd actually write in.

Also worth mentioning though, that he is also quick to complain about adverts that belittle and demean women, and he would be the first to tell you, he's had to complain about that a lot more!