Is this advert offensive to women, or am I being overly sensitive?

[Italiangreyhound]

Is this advert offensive to women, or am I being overly sensitive?

I'm quite sick of the bloody tune as it's got in my head! Don't like the lyrics.

The Fifth Harmony - Worth It video show lots of women in potentially powerful positions writhing around and shaking their backsides, it just makes we think that it's so posed for men!

So back to the advert for that money company, when it's actually men in the advert I think rather than being 'for women' it's just still 'for men' by kind of laughing at women, sort of 'hey look a large builder and a big-bumed business man can do it better than you ladies!'

Or am I just being over sensitive!

you see men doing similar and it highlights just how absurd it is.

That's how I responded to it too.

I was talking about the other videos, the beauty and the geek one and the burger one, Lumpy.

I don't think very many people are going to be attracted to an average looking man striding around wearing a prosthetic arse. That makes it more like when men on a stag do wear fake breasts and mock women, rather than the geek and burger videos which are direct equivalents of ads of women being sexy.

Lumpy, I'm talking about equivalents.

A man 'sexily' covered in Doritos is equivalent to a woman 'sexily' covered in Doritos.
A man 'sexily' eating a burger is equivalent to a woman 'sexily' eating a burger.

Those videos were matched frame for frame.

There is no advert/ music video in which a fairly unattractive middle aged women dances around wearing a prosthetic arse and people widely claim to find that sexy, is there? Most people would find such an ad or video ridiculous.

I am sure it is horses for courses that such a video exists somewhere in porn, but in everyday life we don't see it. The advertising exec says the video was inspired by 'Beyonce's Butt.' Well, that prosthetic arse guy is not the male equivalent of Beyonce, so there is something more going on here than just comparing men and women.

And yes, the Hawkeye Initiative makes complete sense, because people are creating equivalents. It allows us to think about what is sexy, what is demeaning and absurd, and how much of that is tied up in ideas about men and women, because the poses and costumes are direct equivalents between the sexes.

'Same with the money advert. How many music videos etc have women dancing just like those men and nobody bats an eyelid. Then, seeing men doing the same, it highlights just how overly sexual it is.'

I think we're going around in circles and I do appreciate you taking the time to try and explain your perspective.

There are no popular videos where women dance just like those men. The equivalent to that video would be if I got a big prosthetic dick, stuck it down the front of my pants, went around thrusting it at people in a video and then claimed I had based the whole hilarious thing on 'Jimi Hendrix's cock.'

I'd be called an insane sexist racist idiot.

We are in total agreement on the Hawkeye Initiative!

I agree with you almond The advert is not equivalent to videos with women dancing like that. I also found it very aggressive which added to the general ugliness.

Thanks gals and guys. I think the hawkeue thing is funny too.

My take on it is I totally get the message you're so money supermarket, you can just do a dance off in the street because you feel so 'epic' but I never spotted irony in the strutting and I guess that either makes me very dumb (I am prepared to consider that) or maybe we just have gotten used to men doing all this stuff and we've gotten so used to women doing it we forget how seriously stupid it is.

Italian, I was confused by your OP and more confused by your update!

I can't see in what way it could be sexist. It's just a piss take of this type of thing and very funny and very well done too. I was so not expecting this ad when I saw your thread title. I groaned and expected another Audi type advert! Thank goodness it's not that.

I can't really imagine forgetting how stupid some of this is though - whenever I see it, I find it stupid.

Is this advert offensive to women, or am I being overly sensitive?

This is not an either/or situation. You are really asking two questions.

Is this advert offensive to women?

From the answers on this thread, it looks like it is offensive to some posters and not to all posters. If you assume all posters are women, which may or may not be true, then, it is offensive to some women and not to all women.

Am I being overly sensitive?

I do not think so. You can find the advert offensive, and be the only person in the world to find it offensive, without being over sensitive. It is just how sensitive you are I am sensitive, even hypersensitive about some topics. I am not "overly sensitive". I am just the right amount of sensitive for me.

Whether this advert is, for example, sexist enough to warrant a complaint to the ASA being upheld, I have no idea. From the responses on this thread it looks as if you would struggle to find universal support for a campaign for a boycott. That does not make you overly sensitive. That just makes you, you.

Oh, for an edit button.

...how sensitive you are. I am sensitive...

WriteforFun1 Re "Italian, I was confused by your OP and more confused by your update!"

Not sure I can make it any clearer, I find the idea of men dancing around like women in a dance off quite offensive because it seems to be suggesting this is how women act. BUT posters have suggested this is a parody, and as such it is a jokey piss take. I guess I find sarcasm (and this is maybe the visual version of sarcasm) sometimes confusing and actually sometimes it kind of backfires.

Re "I can't see in what way it could be sexist." Well that was what I was asking.

Re "I can't really imagine forgetting how stupid some of this is though - whenever I see it, I find it stupid." And normally it's women who are dancing around like that, looking stupid. So maybe the ad is saying isn't this stupid, so stupid we have women doing normally and now we have men doing and look how stupid it is (parody) or it could be (kind of what I thought) look we can do it even better than women!

erinaceus Re "You are really asking two questions." I was asking if I was being overly sensitive to think this advert was offensive to women. As just one woman I can't really judge if it is offensive to women (plural, not all women).

Re "That does not make you overly sensitive. That just makes you, you." Thank you, it is always nice to be me but I guess my own appraisal of myself is that I am sometimes too sensitive (by my own standards) and I still hate that bloody song!

Italian that makes me understand better, thank you.

I hadn't thought of it as taking the piss out of women or implying that's how women act generally, no. I thought it was just taking the piss out of the kinds of pop videos essentially, and I'm glad someone's taking the piss because I find them ridiculous.

With that said, it does now strike me that anyone who takes those videos seriously could be offended by this ad. I don't know the song so can't comment there.

I think for parodies to work there either has to be a sense of sympathy underlying the parody or there is a political and social point. I the first category are say French and Saunders film parodies of Gone With the Wind or Lord of the Rings. In the second category there are say Spitting Image.

These adverts, to me , fail on both counts. I find them aggressive and ugly and I get no sense that they are trying to make any political/social commentary statement which brings me back to their just being mocking.

Lass, you find them aggressive and ugly but they are parodying a style that is aggressive and ugly...so that's why they are too IYSWIM.

Also if they are just mocking those style of videos, then that's still funny...? Well it is to me.

This advert makes me smile. And I don't think the guy with the arse is average looking atall. I think he's lovely.

When the first one came out with "arse" dancing down the street, the one with Sharon Osborne in, it was a bit shocking but I assumed it was a piss take of Beyonce in Crazy Right now or whatever it is called.

I think there's something just essentially 'woman-hating' about it and I can't quite articulate why. I think the guy with the big arse is actually quite attractive facially and I can't help but admire the fact that both men are good movers and dancers. The ugly thing about them is the cartoon-esque female impersonation elements. They impersonate the offensive, grimacing, porno faces found in graphic videos and recreate a world where women are supposed to hate each other and be in competition with each other for men's attention. I think its the aggression that I don't like - it makes me feel uncomfortable.

The ugly thing about them is the cartoon-esque female impersonation elements. They impersonate the offensive, grimacing, porno faces found in graphic videos and recreate a world where women are supposed to hate each other and be in competition with each other for men's attention. I think its the aggression that I don't like - it makes me feel uncomfortable

I agree. Even more so for me as I find the suited bloke facially really, really unattractive and the expressions he pulls make him more so.

This might help explain why I don't like it:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35240987

Apparently Ellen also made a parody video of these kind of music videos recently, where she got a little black girl to put on a fake arse and pretend to be Nicki Minaj.

I don't find the adverts offensive from a feminist standpoint: I think they are all good and confident dancers, and the fact that they are "normal bloke" body types is kind of a body-positive message. They are using a dance style that currently exists, and I am far more troubled by that dance style when it is done by women, who are being objectified in a way that "Dave" is not.

The prosthetic butt troubles me more: I think you can lampoon a style popularised by Beyoncé without resorting to physical stereotypes about black women.

RiceCrispieTreats "... the fact that they are "normal bloke" body types is kind of a body-positive message. They are using a dance style that currently exists, and I am far more troubled by that dance style when it is done by women, who are being objectified in a way that "Dave" is not." I'm not sure the larger man is really 'doing' all those dance moves!

This ... www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35240987
is so sad. How awful for any person to be treated as a freak and shown on display like this. Sadly, I think our modern life does this to a lot of people, who allow themselves to be revealed and viewed ridiculed in the pursuit of fame!

I think there's something just essentially 'woman-hating' about it and I can't quite articulate why.

Yes, that is what I felt.

and

The ugly thing about them is the cartoon-esque female impersonation elements. They impersonate the offensive, grimacing, porno faces found in graphic videos and recreate a world where women are supposed to hate each other and be in competition with each other for men's attention. I think its the aggression that I don't like - it makes me feel uncomfortable.

Totally right!

Re "Also if they are just mocking those style of videos, then that's still funny...?" It's not to me. And I guess I am still not completely sure it is mocking them, I think it is easy to say something, or do something, and then say 'only joking'. I think they are just trying to sell their product and perhaps will just do it any way they can!

Re "...you find them aggressive and ugly but they are parodying a style that is aggressive and ugly...so that's why they are too IYSWIM."
For parody to work we need to know what it is. Think 'airplane', no one would mistake that for a genuine disaster movie! The fact some of us are not sure if it is parody means - it is either parody, or not parody, or very bad parody!

So I agree These adverts, to me , fail on both counts. I find them aggressive and ugly and I get no sense that they are trying to make any political/social commentary statement which brings me back to their just being mocking.

Whrn I first saw the big-arsed businessman advert, I assumed it was a follow-on from the previous series "you're ssoooo MoneySupermarket, it's epic...". I don't remember all the scenarios, but the common theme seemed to be people doing ordinary things, but feeling like heroes (or some other version of out-of-proportion good) for it, because they've got their insurance/credit card/etc sorted out. I just assumed this guy was feeling so good about his finances, not even wearing heels and a fake arse is going to dim his mood.

I'm loving all the "if a man did this" pages, however. Perfect.