Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Anyone else find this pretty ignorant and offensive

322 replies

Herdingcows · 19/02/2017 09:22

Advert for a local company popped up on my fb, what were they thinking!

Anyone else find this pretty ignorant and offensive
OP posts:
TheWinterOfOurDiscountTents · 19/02/2017 10:55

Thats ok, isn't it?

OurBlanche · 19/02/2017 10:55

You're trying too hard Stealth

ForeverLivingMyArse · 19/02/2017 10:55

The fact they're choosing to declare 'I've got OCD' suggests it's not a complete coincidence the name they chosen for their cake business shares the same initials as a mental health condition.

It's not just an acronym. If a business was call Oliver's Cakes Delicious or something then you could look past the collection of letters.

StealthPolarBear · 19/02/2017 10:55

Would they be offered sive though? If so, why is OCD ok and aids not?

BertrandRussell · 19/02/2017 10:56

"Surely the casual use of the word 'starving' has got to be the most offensive term of all, but it's seemingly.... fine"

Actually, no. In many families, mine included, "starving" is not allowed. Neither is "dehydration" or "hydration"- although I am alone on Mumsnet on that one!

Herdingcows · 19/02/2017 10:56

That's not the name of the cake business. That's just the slogan they are using to advertise

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 19/02/2017 10:57

Would love someone to tell me if "I've got AIDS" woukd be fine and make uou want to buy their doughnuts.

ForeverLivingMyArse · 19/02/2017 10:58

I pull the kids up for using 'starving'

StealthPolarBear · 19/02/2017 11:00

Yep so do I. Does t stop them though, usually 20 mins after their dinner!

TheWinterOfOurDiscountTents · 19/02/2017 11:00

Surely the casual use of the word 'starving' has got to be the most offensive term of all, but it's seemingly.... fine

Well yeah, its not being used in the same context, so I don't see how its remotely offensive, let along the most offensive. To who is it offensive, exactly?

BertrandRussell · 19/02/2017 11:02

I do find the professionally unoffended interesting. What's in it for you, exactly?

StealthPolarBear · 19/02/2017 11:02

And actually I remember my parents telling me off for saying I was starving back in the 80s.

Birdsbeesandtrees · 19/02/2017 11:02

Personally as someone who was hospitalised with OCD no I don't find this offensive. It's just a different use for the acronym to what we would expect.

Not like the company called OCD cleaning Angry

ForeverLivingMyArse · 19/02/2017 11:03

Same Stealth! 'You are not starving Forever, poor children in Africa are starving.'

StealthPolarBear · 19/02/2017 11:03

Bertrand I have an interest in getting mental health conditions - all of them - taken seriously and not undermined.

BertrandRussell · 19/02/2017 11:03

My mum pulled me up about using "starving " in the late 60s!

StealthPolarBear · 19/02/2017 11:04

Right think I'll start my iced doughnut business. Advertising based around a serious physical illness.
Urgh, they really are vile though.

0nline · 19/02/2017 11:07

Funny how OCD seems to be the only mental illness people think it's OK to make fun of and minimise.

Is it buggery.

I have mild OCD and not so mild ADHD.

late MIL had severe OCD and severe bipolar I

Trust me, neither of us are/were heard to have a grumble along the lines of "how come you are all oh so sensitive about all the other syndromes, but take the piss so relentlessly out of the OCD".

If people feel the need to buck against the status quo I'd rather they spent their time/energy challenging the wide spread idea that syndromes are made up, an excuse to drug people into submission and controllable if the person who has it just "tried harder".

Next to that cakes don't even register on my radar.

Not that I give too much time to even the hardcore denialist stuff anymore. I'm too busy trying not to hyperfocus on time sucks and concentrate on the Shit I Have To Do.

In some respects giving a lot of energy to railing against even the decidedly more ignorant and offensive stuff is like shooting myself in the foot. Cos it takes far too much energy and attention away from things that will have a positive impact on my behavoirs and life. The latter offers me a positive impact in real time on my real life. Jumping up and down about slights (large and small) changes fuck all in my life, other than leaving me wiped out having spent all that energy on people who are welded into their position, or backing away slowly cos I am coming across as over-egged, obsessive and lacking in any capacity to perciveve nuance.

I'd rather focus almost entirely on fine tuning the real world strategies that will help me than give more than a cursory eye roll at well meaning but uninformed person, or even an outright areseholy one who is being offensive for the sake of the attention it earns them.

Being an activist is really appealing. But if I am honest it is appealing because it means I can sink into hyperfocus in an area that allows for mucho crisis and drama. Which is sooooo much more attractive than getting to grips with my dodgy ability to deal with the mundane. It's just... the only thing that will work towards a better future for me is sticking to the hard slog of increasing focus on the boring, non exciting shit that offers no opportunities for dramatic gestures and an increasing sense of martyrdom.

Which is a pity, cos I can do a fab line in poor man's Joan of ADHD Arc when given free rein to do so. Grin

Honestly love, if you want to make the world a better place, forget the cakes, look at your life and think where a bit more of your time and attention will make a measurable difference in your/your loved ones quality and enjoyment of life. It doesn't offer the same level of excitement and outrage. But short, mid and longer term will likely have far more of a positive impact on more lives.

Elledouble · 19/02/2017 11:11

It's a bit shit. But I'm not offended.

I have OCD and I'm more offended by the perception that people with OCD just like everything to be clean. People who say "oh I'd like a bit of that OCD, my kitchen is a mess". Would you also like to think you have to kill yourself because you made some small silly mistake? Would you like to worry that you might be a sex offender because you cleaned your baby's genitals in the bath? Would you like to feel like you're responsible for the life and health of the people you love all the damn time?

I haven't really got time to be offended by a stupid cake joke, tbh. At the same time though, OCD sufferers do worry unduly about stuff other people don't see a problem with. So I wouldn't belittle the OP for finding this problematic.

TheProblemOfSusan · 19/02/2017 11:13

I wouldn't say I offended by the name but then I don't have OCD. I do think it's in very poor taste and understand why the OP is offended. I wouldn't buy from them.

Also I wouldn't buy from a designer/decorator that thought it was acceptable to use Comic Sans in their advertising but that's besides the point.

TheWinterOfOurDiscountTents · 19/02/2017 11:14

You can think something is inappropriate, is silly, is in poor taste, all without being offended.

Katy07 · 19/02/2017 11:17

But then if you substituted the Obsessive for autistic for example I would be offended which proves the point the OCD jokes are fair game when they shouldn't be.
But you can't really (to my knowledge) use autistic for anything other than autism-related subjects whereas obsessive is a general word that can be applied anywhere. That said, I might try using "I've got autistic cake disorder" as an excuse for eating too many cakes (though the disorder bit would bother me because I like everything ordered). And then would someone be offended that it wasn't "Cake With Autism Disorder" instead?!!

StrangeLookingParasite · 19/02/2017 11:18

I've got AIDS (acquired iced doughnut syndrome)

I would think it was probably not a very successful marketing slogan.

I do find the professionally unoffended interesting. What's in it for you, exactly?

BR did you mean the offended ones, or the not offended ones? I'm not offended, and it just means one less engagement with something that would make me less happy and achieve nothing.

Katy07 · 19/02/2017 11:19

I've got AIDS (acquired iced doughnut syndrome)
Made me laugh! Admittedly I don't have AIDS, nor am I HIV-positive, but I have had a fair amount of involvement with people with it in the past and I doubt they'd be offended. I know some would be asking for doughnuts afterwards though.

watchoutformybutt · 19/02/2017 11:20

I mean it's not that funny and it's just naff but why can't you just scroll past it and go about your day? People will find all sorts of inappropriate things funny, just let them crack on. You'll be far less angsty.

Swipe left for the next trending thread