Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think the Malteaser advert is in really poor taste

560 replies

Bearbehind · 04/10/2016 21:55

Just seen a Malteaser advert where a woman in a wheelchair is talking to 2 friend in the park about her date.

The jist is she had a spasm, he enjoyed the repercussions, and whilst demonstrating her hand actions the malteasers shoot out of the bag and go every where.

Is it me or is that really bad taste?

OP posts:
itsmine · 05/10/2016 13:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

nancyblackett80 · 05/10/2016 13:15

I'll admit this is stretching the point a bit but - chocolate is meant to be an aphrodisiac, romantic.

So in my opinion there's every point on referencing it to wanking and orgasms Wink

nancyblackett80 · 05/10/2016 13:17

Would probably be less funny if the joke referenced an oyster though!

IceBeing · 05/10/2016 13:28

On the single to double entendre scale I think this rates 1.3.

I also think the flake advert warrants a 1.3. Neither have any strong story aside from using chocolate as a cock substitute.

I liked the adverts. They shocked me and made me think. They helped me to laugh a little when I had a collision going around a tight bend with a colleague in a wheelchair (don't worry she was laughing too) instead of being all uptight and embarrassed about it. It helps to normalise disability for those of us who don't encounter it on a daily basis.

Shallishanti · 05/10/2016 13:42

I agree ads like this help remind us that people with disabilities are 'normal' and have sex, talk to their friends about it, make jokes etc etc- it is a double entendre (OK 1.30) therefore not understood except by people already familiar with sex and all the daft stuff that surrounds it. I would say def less explicit than the flake and also many perfume ads. Same as with the hearing aid one, you do have to pay quite close attention to 'get it'.

RhodaBorrocks · 05/10/2016 13:52

I'm also disabled and found these adverts brilliant and funny. All the disabled people I interact with who have seen them have said the same thing.

But I have had issues with some of the things said in this thread. In particular anyone who has said/thought along the lines of *QuimReaper:

My feeling (expanded on upthread) was that I'd prefer it if they'd made an advert they would normally make, but happening to use a woman in a wheelchair. The chocolate-ejaculate didn't bother me, but I thought it was a shame they foregrounded the disability in the telling. To me it's like "disabled people have sex too! In their own little disabled way ". I don't hate the advert but for me that would have been truly progressive.*

It would be nice if that truly were the case. But it's not. Disabled people, even right there in front of us, are still invisible. Actually acknowledging she has a disability in the advert is the progressive part - it means we can't 'look away' or 'don't stare' at the actress. It shoves in the viewers faces that disabled people have sex, in a time where disabled people are still questioned on their ability. It puts the actress as the subject of the advert in a powerful position - she is the one telling the story, able bodied people are listening to her and she is not someone to be pitied (I have a male friend in a chair who is often told "It's such a shame you're disabled, you'd be hot otherwise." He's actually damn sexy!).

If she was 'just another character who happens to be disabled' we would lose those positive parts, because viewers could easily choose to overlook her disability or the fact that she's in control. Try and put her into another advert and see if she'd fit without having to acknowledge her disability. She can't be in a car advert because it would have to be an adapted car with space and equipment to load her chair - wouldn't appeal to viewers. She can't be in a supermarket ad for customer service because some viewers would think the supermarket was only advertising how it helps disabled people. She could advertise alcohol, but no doubt some people would find that equally unsettling as there is a view that disabled people don't drink. The only thing I can currently think of where she should have been but wasn't was the workplace pensions ad - the one that had just about every age and skin colour but ignored ability, because people still think wheelchair/disability = doesn't work. Any advert where she is struggling would put her firmly back into pity/inspiration porn territory.

And consider what she was juxtaposed against - the paralympics adverts boldly proclaimed them to be 'superhuman'. Paralympians are as superhuman to your average disabled person as olympians are to your average able bodied person. We see disabled people on TV once every four years and then it's only those who are apparently 'superhuman'. They are used as inspiration porn "look what they can do with all they suffer, why can't you just try a bit harder?"

We don't see the average disabled person. And if we do we've been taught 'don't stare', which to many means 'don't look at them at all, pretend you don't see their disability' rendering them still invisible in society.

But pretending not to see a disability is still incredibly ableist. It's the difference between supporting someone and saying "But you wanted equality". It's the same as people saying they 'don't see colour' and therefore can't understand what minorities are moaning about because 'we're all one race - the human race'.

This advert is uncomfortable for some because it is challenging so many assumptions. It's putting a disabled woman in a position of power, telling a story about an issue faced by many, makes her a sexual being, gives her a voice that she wouldn't have otherwise (even if she 'just happened to be disabled') AND most importantly it shows that disability can be talked about, can lead to amusing situations and is not always the dichotomy between 'object of pity' and 'paralympian'.

And tbh I find it much less offensive that that D&G 'Light Blue' (double entendre!) ad where we have 30 seconds of close up on a man's crotch in budgie smugglers. Boak.

metaphoricus · 05/10/2016 14:08

This advert is uncomfortable for some because it is challenging so many assumptions

Not in my case. I've been a SN teacher for over 30 years, and regularly mix in groups/clubs with both disabled and able bodied people. I know disabled people have sex. And get married. And have children. I still think the advert is in awful taste, contrived, and not very funny, and I think that's what most people (who agree with OP) are saying. This was not the OPs point at all, but many people are just focusing on the disability. Oh the irony.

Irush · 05/10/2016 14:10

THANK YOU metaphoricus

itsmine · 05/10/2016 14:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Irush · 05/10/2016 14:14

dawndonnasdd perhaps you'd like to rip holes in what metaphoricus has said? You are not listening. Noone is dismissing the whole thing because she is disabled, you have a total bee in your bonnet.

Tbf, I am sure there ARE people that find the idea of disabled people having sex weird and difficult in some way .But I can't think of anyone I know in RL who thinks this and I can't see any on this thread either.

Irush · 05/10/2016 14:16

This thread is beginning to remind me of the trans ones where if you don't like something you are shouted down as transphobic Confused

nancyblackett80 · 05/10/2016 14:16

Honestly, its 2016. Jokes about sex are funny in popular culture nowadays.

The advert isn't inappropriate, you just don't find it funny. Which is actually fine!

MrsJayy · 05/10/2016 14:36

People dont say it irush because they dont want to appear unkind and intolorent they fall over themselves to be seen as tolerant this is what Dawndonna daughter was saying but hey she has a chip on her shoulder eh she just needs to stop being a silly girl.

Cagliostro · 05/10/2016 14:52

I like them

Klkl · 05/10/2016 15:03

Dawndonnas DD. I'm curious why you don't have your own account. You write in such a similar manner to your Mum it gets confusing. I keep thinking you are the same person.

I don't think anyone's said that you can't make jokes about sex or that you can't make jokes about sex and people with disabilities. It's just that this advert WASNT funny, it was crude and inappropriate. Im not being 'outraged' on anyone's behalf, I'm a bit grossed out on my own behalf. It just comes across as childish and a deliberate attempt to shock rather than to amuse.

I don't mind some crude jokes if they are actually funny and if they are in the right setting.

MonaTheTiredVampire · 05/10/2016 15:28

But isn't the joke not that she gave him a hand job but that when fooling around her disability kicks in & she spasms at which point he misinterprets the spasm thinking she's having more fun than she actually is (which of course is a very normal age approprate joke between women that age) then she says oh he didn't complain & cue the maltesers explosion implying hand job. Which is jokey & normal thing for women to laugh about with their friends, so it's realistic. The shampoo-gasm & oral flake are not at all realistic because no real women would act that way.

Why is it in any way a negative that the women's disability is in fact present within her sex life? Presumably it's present in all areas of her life, but doesn't stop her accessing normal parts of life like sex, & gossiping to her girl friends about it after while laughing that the guy involved clearly lacked a bit of sexual you awareness if he thought her disability related spasm was an orgasm.

My daughter with autism has a best friend with cp. I wouldn't be surprised if they have this type of conversation when older, the same way they will with their non disabled friends.

Soon2bC · 05/10/2016 15:30

I have watched the ad, I'm not entirely sure that is how you wank off a man but if a man ejaculated Maltesers I think that would be a strong case for marriage!

I am struggling to see how it is in bad taste though, maybe not your sense of humour but no more bad taste than a load of stuff on TV all day everyday. (Jeremy Kyle - now that's bad taste in my opinion!)

I find it interesting that in this day we are still talking about the shock factor of sex selling everything from chocolate to perfume. Anyone my age would have seen carry on films and Benny Hill sketches on a weekend at tea time through their childhood, watching things like that now I am surprised how sexual they were and how explicit they were but I didn't notice at the time.

If clearly has 2 meanings to adults and children (who should be in bed or have monitored TV viewing if its after watershed), it is intended to make people laugh whilst also 'normalising' disability, however, it is mainly intended to get people talking about the product and want to buy it. If you don't like the advert and feel it puts you off a product then don't buy the product, complain to the ASA and use your power as a consumer to vote for a change to their advertising style buy spending elsewhere.

I am a lesbian, I do not want to think about men ejaculating or giving blow jobs but thanks to this thread I desperately want Maltesers or Flakes right now!!!

Soon2bC · 05/10/2016 15:34

*by

MrsJayy · 05/10/2016 15:35

Rhonda i think i love you ☺

Dawndonnaagain · 05/10/2016 16:13

Klkl
We did discuss dd having her own account with Mumsnet, but because they would both be the same ip address it could look to someone unaware like sock puppeting, so we agreed to share and DD announces when it's her.
As for a similar style to me, apologies, she was home educated for a while, so it's quite likely that we'd have similar styles.

wornoutboots · 05/10/2016 16:15

well, as someone with a scar in my brain which causes me to have hand spasms occasionally.... I have commented myself that "when that happens to me it looks like I'm doing the jesture for wanking!"

not offended in the slightest by the advert

WorraLiberty · 05/10/2016 16:15

Dawndonnas DD. I'm curious why you don't have your own account. You write in such a similar manner to your Mum it gets confusing. I keep thinking you are the same person.

This has been said many times and I agree.

Bearbehind · 05/10/2016 16:39

dawndonna DD. I'm curious why you don't have your own account

It is odd- it reminds of those married couples who have joint Facebook accounts so you never actually know who is posting.

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 05/10/2016 16:56

We did discuss dd having her own account with Mumsnet, but because they would both be the same ip address it could look to someone unaware like sock puppeting, so we agreed to share and DD announces when it's her.

No-one here can see your IP address though except MNHQ and they would be fine with you both having an account, as long as you gave them the heads up I expect.

crashdoll · 05/10/2016 17:00

Dawndonnas DD I think you give very valued contribution and it would be interesting if you posted on here more often.

Swipe left for the next trending thread