This is wrong right?

Bloody hell NothingOnTelly that is terrifying.

what the fuck is this terrifying shit?

Is this an american company?

I bet that at some point there was an Apprentice-style brainstorming meeting where some bright spark linked oral health to oral sex.

Except they wouldn't run that campaign in the workplace or in schools.

Seems to be that female first year students are as disposable to them as their dental floss.

I doubt @BrushboxUK will be back on this thread to answer any further questions.

They have made their 'sorry if you are offended by misogyny, obviously we didn't mean to upset anyone, but look how passionate we are about oral health' token statement, so their job is done as far as they are concerned.

Grim.

Really disgusting. That picture and the words

They don’t give 2 flying fucks about how a woman would feel when they got that in thei4 pack
Gross and also Weasley words from that company

I doubt @BrushboxUK will be returning to answer any of these questions. Which is a shame.

@BrushboxUK

You know that spit or swallow is a sexual innuendo. Please don't try to back peddle by voicing concerns for dental health...You don't feel passionate about anything other than getting people to spend money on your product.

There’s nothing edgy or progressive or novel or new about telling women to smile, and suck dick.

This.

That’s have been said to me since 1985 so I don’t know why the nation’s teeth aren’t in a better state.

Prawnofthepatriarchy
There are many students who don't drink for many reasons, religious and otherwise. This is shocking. But not surprising. There is such a lad, binge drinking culture at universities.

the fact is that conventional methods of highlighting these fact to people, to date, have not worked

There’s nothing edgy or progressive or novel or new about telling women to smile, and suck dick.

No one swallows toothpaste.

"Spit or swallow" is in absolute reference to to spitting or swallowing ejaculate.

This is the message you're giving to 18 year old brand new adults starting life on their own, away fromnthe family home.

This is what you're promoting. That women are nothing more than a spunk receptacle.

Shame on you.

Someone upthread said that if they received this is a workplace welcome pack they’d be able to say it was harassment.

Yes. If this turned up in my pigeonhole at work, I’d be raising merry hell about it with HR, and whoever sent it to me would be facing a disciplinary at best. If that’s the case for someone who is employed in a university, why would it be acceptable for a student at the same university to be given this?

The ASA cover leaflets if anyone wants to complain.

Don't think they cover website spiel unfortunately, only accuracy claims online so that "only making friends when drunk" bit will get away with it (unless they put it on a leaflet!).

www.asa.org.uk/about-asa-and-cap/the-work-we-do/what-we-cover.html

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

Conventional methods aren't working, so we had no choice but to go with a horrible, misogynistic, derogatory approach instead.

@brushboxUK

Look: we are all fine with oral health. The issue is the visuals/text you’re using. They’re awful. Utterly tone deaf.

*the screenshot above about smiles and consent - grim. You can do great campaigns on consent (the cup of tea one was just the right balance between light hearted and serious messaging.)
Think for a minute about the subtext you’ve created: a woman smiling at you is up for it. Can you see why that’s a problem? In a climate where a rape victims top and clothing is presented in court as evidence they were asking for it. She smiled at me m’lud - she clearly wanted it.

• the spunk one. Also grim. Would you have made that with a male mouth? If not, why not?

  We aren’t a bunch of fuddy duddies. I had a very good time at uni, involving plenty of partying, a quantity of booze that could have killed a platoon of rhinos and plenty of shagging. What was different back then was that it was so much more respectful - young men were concerned with BOTH parties having fun, and there wasn’t this portrayal of sex as something done TO women.

Your marketing is really poor. Someone upthread said that if they received this is a workplace welcome pack they’d be able to say it was harassment.

You’re portraying women and girls as passive spunk receptacles that are there to be fucked and smile prettily. That is a toxic message to send to both sexes.

All @BrushboxUK have sparked awareness of is that parents (a lot of whom are PAYING the 9K a year) need to be much more aware of the messages being given out by universities.

I have looked into a monthly box for DD who is at uni, I think they’re a great idea, I wanted a monthly period box for her. After looking into it and discovering some aimed at ‘people who menstrate’ I decided just to make up my own monthly box.

I thought the ‘people who menstrate’ boxes were the worst example of ‘so woke it’s misogyny’ I would ever see. Then I saw this thread.

This all needs saving for next years clearing threads along with Goldsmiths Gulug.

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

So why did you choose an image of a woman's mouth with Toothpaste dripping out of it, which you admit is supposed to be representing spunk?

If you don't think that is derogatory, then that is total misogyny in itself. So it's no wonder you thought this was a brilliant advert for your product.

@BrushboxUK

I work in a university. Do you understand how much sexual harassment and assault of young women there is on campuses today? Do you understand the pressure and trauma that pornified sexual imagery exerts on young women today? How anxious they are at starting university? And, that having achieved the academic credentials to attend a good university, they are, on their first day, confronted with imagery which suggests that a woman’s place is to service men’s dicks? Many female students haven’t even had sex for the first time yet. And what a lovely welcome to the U.K. for overseas students, far away from their families.

To be clear, I’m not only angry with you, but at Sussex University and its pathetic Students’ Union.

That's disgusting.

Agree Duke. It is clear from the phrase ‘raise eyebrows’, that they are admitting it; I’m just annoyed at the circumlocution and ‘didn’t mean to cause offence’ faux-apology.

Brushbox, how the hell can anyone have signed off on that ad and NOT thought it was derogatory to women. FFS. You need to sack your marketing agency or people, they are misogynists and deeply uncreative. If they can't come up with a unconventional method of highlighting poor hygiene with objectifying women. Like a previous poster said, its the equivalent of some guy shouting "suck my cock" at some innocent women walking by. Sexual violence against women on the increase and you come up with this shit.

@BrushboxUK

Is there an equivalent advert aimed at men? Featuring a highly pornified image of a man's mouth? If not why not?

How misogynistic are you to think that's not offensive