This is wrong right?

Yes AAK I totally agree

And I really wish I'd seen a Dragon's Den pitch on this toothbrush delivery service idea.

Oh yes! I'd pay to see that!

If the response had been better I wouldn't be suggesting going full scorched earth.

This is so depressing. I feel lucky that I went to university in the late 90s and just missed the lads mag, pornification culture that crept into the mainstream in the early 2000s.

Yes me too.

I don't think there's a competitor, and normally I would support a company like BB as its a Welsh start up and god knows they need it. This is their first freshers and by heck have they got it wrong.

OK, a massive mistake can be forgiven if the response is a genuine, oh fuck, this is bad, we are wrong, here's a donation to a rape crisis centre, we have written to doc stock for a meeting etc.

But this response? This gaslighting, Mealy mouthed, passive aggressive fuck you?

People really have got to stop thinking that mothers are stupid.

Yup it's all over twitter. No replies from Sussex University, Dig In or Brushbox that I can see though!

Getting pissed off and venting only goes so far given that money is what companies actually care about, so a thought - who are BrushBox's rivals? Do any of them sell online? Because going and buying from them and making it clear why you've bought from them rather than BrushBox, possibly via a nice little Twitter or Instagram post, would be a great way of demonstrating the inadvisability of depicting women as ambulatory sex toys as a branding strategy.

From the page about their branding strategy.

One key point in the inception of the Brushbox brand was that it shouldn’t come across as corporate, clinical, preachy and pretentious or ‘hipster chic’; weighing more on the side of ‘gimmick’ than helpful lifestyle solution.

So the idea behind the ad aimed at students was to present tooth brushing as a helpful solution to the constantly cock-sucking lifestyle of female students?

@BrushboxUK
Engage your brains! How can that image not be derogatory towards women? Honestly, are you not aware of issues of sexual harassment and sexual assault on campus? And you come up with an image which suggests a female mouth is a repository for semen? How is that not derogatory towards women?

And piss off with your non-apology ‘we are sorry that you are offended’ puts the onus for being offended; you should be sorry for not engaging your brains and CAUSING offence but also for contributing to an atmosphere where women are seen as sexualised and objectified.

I used to drink a lot when I was younger, and only vomited twice. One of which times was after a family wedding (champagne doesn't agree with me), and neither of which was during university.

Thanks AAK. I think that's certainly true of DD1 and her friends so fingers crossed.
I also think Universities should do more to tackle unsafe drinking and the promotion of it at freshers week.
When DD1 went to the dentist after her first term away the hygienist spent her entire slot lecturing her about how to protect her teeth from stomach acid when she is sick in the morning. I was a bit by the end. I mean, ok, a brief mention but fifteen minutes worth?? I don't expect DD to be a teetotal paragon of virtue but we have talked about drinking and safety and I know she likes to stay safe and doesn't make a habit of being so slaughtered she is throwing up, passing out and not taking care of her teeth! So she really didn't need the lecture. Perhaps Brushbox would do better to promote to the boys using a male mouth dribbling vomit.

@BrushboxUK, since you are watching this thread I will point this out to you directly.

In particular, there was never any suggestion or intention (consciously or unconsciously) to be derogatory towards women in any way shape or form, this is something we would never do and we are sorry if this has in any way made you feel this way.

It doesn't matter whether or not your intent was to be derogatory - the ad is derogatory. Saying "this is something we would never do" is rather silly when you have in fact just done it. Attempting to weasel out of it is doing nothing to strengthen your brand. If you are attempting to sell monthly plans that include brushes for children, who do you think is going to buy those? Mothers. How do you think a mother of a little girl will feel about your brand upon seeing that in a decade or so's time your plan for her little girl's nice healthy mouth is for it to be wrapped around some bloke's cock the moment she sets foot in her new university?

Normally I would be a bit more polite when communicating with a company, but if the visual language of porn is what you understand and trade in then fine, I'll use that instead. You know exactly what your ad implied. It's not edgy or clever, it's just sexist. Those ads were given out to girls as well as boys. You are aware that girls attend university, correct (as students, not just as the girlfriends of students sneaked into their rooms)? In what way is an image suggesting that the reason for them to brush their teeth regularly is that as girls their mouths will naturally be full of sperm multiple times a day the best way to promote tooth brushing and good oral health?

And I really wish I'd seen a Dragon's Den pitch on this toothbrush delivery service idea.

"Toothbrush delivery service".

To be honest, in a thread that fills me with rage, that's a bit of light relief.

Students who are, in the main, struggling with mountains of debt - what they really need is to pay through the nose for a monthly delivery of a new toothbrush, rather than buy a pack of two for a quid down Tesco (other supermarkets are available).

And women can't even speak about this stuff now without some TRA pouncing on any 'exclusionary' language and pointing out that transgender individuals are subjected to sexual abuse at 5,000 times the rate of 'cis'women, or whatever made-up statistic they're using that day.

I wonder if we're mean to believe that applies to "transwomen" like BeardyAlex.

Has this hit Twitter yet? A nice social media storm might persuade the BrushBox bros to think their ad campaigns through a bit more in the future.

(Also, as others have asked, why would you need a monthly toothbrush delivery service, unless you're totally housebound? Toothbrushes of many varieties are available in every supermarket and chemists.)

"...we are sorry if this has in any way made you feel this way."

The classic sexist, racist shitbag apology from @Brushbox. Nice. Did you borrow that from the Sarah Huckabee Saunders' PR handbook?

'We're terrible people with sick values but we apologise if our actions make you feel bad'

This is so depressing. I feel lucky that I went to university in the late 90s and just missed the lads mag, pornification culture that crept into the mainstream in the early 2000s. Also, like AngryAttackKittens, I went to an all girls school so I had no fear of telling sexist shitbags to go to hell and call out sexism when I saw it.

I really fear for my daughter, I honestly do. She is only 3 but with a man suspected of attempted rape currently in the running for Supreme Court justice in the USA and this kind of garbage circulating to 75% of UK universities, I am beginning to despair of the future.

And women can't even speak about this stuff now without some TRA pouncing on any 'exclusionary' language and pointing out that transgender individuals are subjected to sexual abuse at 5,000 times the rate of 'cis'women, or whatever made-up statistic they're using that day.

If it's any comfort, Iused, I went to an all girls school and ime it seems to have equipped us with better "what the hell is wrong with you? fuck off" skills in regards to boys pushing boundaries than our peers who went to mixed schools. When you're used to an environment where there are no boys being sexist little turds and then you encounter some who are your first instinct is to wonder what's wrong with them rather than what's wrong with you that you don't like it.

Coming in late so nothing to add beyond being appalled. DD2 is just getting down to UCAS application, she's been lucky enough to go to a girls only school which has largely protected her from all this, but on the other hand, in no way is she equipped to deal with it. Thank goodness for all the women on here and twitter kicking up and looking out for these young girls. Has there been a response from the University or from students/freshers there?

Side issue - who the hell buys into a toothbrush delivery service?

In particular, there was never any suggestion or intention (consciously or unconsciously) to be derogatory towards women in any way shape or form, this is something we would never do and we are sorry if this has in any way made you feel this way.

Pretty stupid to say you'd never do something when you've just done it. And some men will see that "apology" and think, hey, if I "have sex" with a woman and she doesn't like it I can just say "well, I would never rape a woman, and I'm sorry if you interpreted it that way". Same principle.

The only thing worse than this pornified commodification of young women (in 'the name of oral health'!), is that @BrushboxUK had the audacity to defend it.

This is something we feel passionately about and the fact is that conventional methods of highlighting these fact to people, to date, have not worked. Whilst our image was intended to raise eyebrows, at no point in time was it ever our intention to cause outright offence. In particular, there was never any suggestion or intention (consciously or unconsciously) to be derogatory towards women in any way shape or form, this is something we would never do and we are sorry if this has in any way made you feel this way.

The 1950s called, and want their apologies for "accidental" sexism back.

Of course you KNEW it was derogatory towards women, portraying them as 'cum dumpsters' - you just did not think you would get called out for it. Well, you did. It will not be forgotten either.

The pornification of everything marches on. I'd hate to be a young woman now, it's brutal.

'Dig In' promote Amazon, the well-known tax avoiders.

We are powerful. If we have a pension, or share portfolio etc as part of an ISA, or whatever, you can find out whether your savings are part of Brushbox or any part of this scandal. We can research the firms involved and withdraw any money from that part.
For example my pension includes shares but I can look into Brushbox/any relevant part to withdraw finance. Or find out what to do from my pension provider- say, if any company complicit, does not get my money.
They don't care and have made that blatantly obvious.
So hit them where it hurts.

This isn't a generational thing. It's a woman thing - I am concerned that in the current climate that our fellow women of a younger age have less tools available to them to be able to say why this is so wrong. Not because they're inarticulate, but because they're boxed in by queer/kink/identity/third-wave feminism/backwards slide towards the 70's/porn culture

Pombear. Me too. That's what I fear. Porn culture was coming in with Nuts and Zoo as I left uni in the 90s. Then along came the Internet, then mobile phones, then smartphones. And only now are the government making sex and relationship education compulsory in all schools. The last time the recommended curriculum was updated was 2000. The year the current cohort of new students were born. It is unacceptable but few people with clout appear to care.

@Brushbox. you know perfectly well you had no intention of apologising. That was not an apology. You know that.
Eyebrows raising is minimising a serious problem. YOU are the problem here.