Audi drops not to subtle paedophile car advert!

[Knoxinbox]

There is no way this was just badly thought through....

I think this comment sums it up

“Let's add it up: Red=eroticism, sports car=substitute for potency, animal print mini-skirt=sex appeal, banana=phallic symbol. But sure this is all just accidental...”

Do you think this was someone testing the waters so to speak about how society might respond to something like this? I’ve read quite a few things on here about how the MRA has as its core aim to normalise paedophilia as just another sexual preference (eg minor attracted person) and this was what immediately jumped to my mind with this ad.

What do you think??

@deepwatersolo

Or a guy designed it who gets off on toddlers in barely coded sexual poses...

Pornhub teaches us that there are many millions of men who do so.

Bewilderness indeed. And yet many people act like such men simply don’t exist.

They designed it to try and reach their target audience which in this case is young families.

So why the banana? And why the strap line...in every aspect ??

They designed it to try and reach their target audience which in this case is young families.

Why would a child standing in front of a car , out of view of the driver be appealing to young families?

Even if you ignore everything else, the safety aspect really bugs me and is stupid.

Whatever the reasons , there is nothing right or appealing about that picture or that screams "Buy me! I'm such an awesome family car!".

Thats without even adding the slogan.

I think sunrise is being purposely obtuse. I give up. Like datun has said, what matters is that plenty of people did see issue with it. Long may that continue. As long as some of us are willing to put our heads above the parapet and call out these issues every single time then hopefully the peodophiles will not normalise their depravity.

That Poppy doll has been all over Facebook and the amount of people who fall over themselves with “it’s just a toy!” And “wow. Paranoid much” is really sickening

So many people are not seeing the problem, then are outraged when there is a problem.

We have to stop it and make it more obvious so any potential problems in the future are stopped earlier on!

@NotDonna

I think sunrise is being purposely obtuse. I give up. Like datun has said, what matters is that plenty of people did see issue with it. Long may that continue. As long as some of us are willing to put our heads above the parapet and call out these issues every single time then hopefully the peodophiles will not normalise their depravity.

Exactly.

As Lang would often tell us regarding safeguarding, it doesn't really matter what the intent of that advert is. It's irrelevant. It's the risk of harm that's the point. If it has a result of lowering boundaries, or normalising the sexualisation of children, it's a safeguarding risk.

If someone can't see that, it's a good job other people can.

What is the potential cost of saying "we see your concern and we'll keep our eyes open even though we see things differently" as opposed to the potential cost of saying "you are paranoid and, worse, your concern marks you out as a paedophile"?

If there's no problem and people are imaging things, there's little to no cost. If there really is a problem, the potential cost of the second is very high indeed.

Late to the thread and apologies if this has already been mentioned but any advertising team, particularly one creating content for a huge client such as this, will have pored over the symbolism of every minute detail. That includes what the little girl is wearing, what she’s eating, how she’s standing... how the strap line relates to all these things: how this then arouses the aspirations and ambitions of people who might then go on to buy the car. They are not selling the car, per se, but selling a lifestyle or a dream to people.

When you consider all this in earnest, it’s an extremely dicey ad, and you really do have to wonder who they think they are talking to.

I think sunrise is being purposely obtuse.

Why is having a different opinion than you being purposely obtuse, a troll, a sea lion...?

There are many other people who share the same opinion as me as you can see on here and SM so you have to accept that your opinion isn’t always right.

Fortunately, it's irrelevant whether people have a different opinion, given both the doll and the advert have been pulled, because enough people recognise that there is a significant safeguarding risk to both.

Fortunately, it's irrelevant whether people have a different opinion, given both the doll and the advert have been pulled, because enough people recognise that there is a significant safeguarding risk to both.

I agree.

I work in child protection. All of my colleagues would say this is deliberately fucked up. Unfortunately we see too much normalising of this type of crap. People will eventually become desensitised to this type exploitation of minors. I'm not sure if someone has said this already but it's clear from the comments that the people who see a problem with this ad are intelligent thinking people and the others are probably have already become desensitised or worse - fail to think at all.

Well said.

For all those saying about the fact it can't be advertised as a family car because the girl is standing in front of it lots and lots of car adverts have used this type of placement. These are two examples both kids bother standing in front of the cars one defo in a 'blind spot'
It's just being advertised as a family car

Exactly Emsi77 you’ve said it much better than I.

@coconutwhip

For all those saying about the fact it can't be advertised as a family car because the girl is standing in front of it lots and lots of car adverts have used this type of placement. These are two examples both kids bother standing in front of the cars one defo in a 'blind spot' It's just being advertised as a family car

Hmmmm but the difference is those children are not little girls (well you can’t tell with the Darth Vader costume) leaning back on the car, holding a banana near their mouth, animal print skirt, with the strap line “makes your heart beat faster, in every aspect”

It’s not “just” being advertised as a family car

My only hope would be that Audi becomes known as the 'paedo' brand and people stay well clear, good cars or not. Would teach them that the viewing public are not a bunch of plebs who can't work out what is going on.

My only hope would be that Audi becomes known as the 'paedo' brand and people stay well clear, good cars or not. Would teach them that the viewing public are not a bunch of plebs who can't work out what is going on.

I wonder if they are suing someone for this (agency)

My only hope would be that Audi becomes known as the 'paedo' brand and people stay well clear, good cars or not.

Good point!
What brands of cars does everyone use which doesn’t sexualise young girls?

I think someone said in an earlier post that they wondered if this was a way of moving society to a an acceptance of using minors as a sexual preference as legitimate as any other.

Women need to take back their instincts for this type of predatory advertising. Women can effect massive change and have huge power especially when it comes to protecting children...we should never allow ourselves to say..oh that's just the way it is today, that is a slippery slope. No way...not ever.

Sorry, for the passionate response but I see this shit every day and when it's on the big screen....subtle my arse

When I saw it the first thing it reminded me of was an accident. I visualise a car hitting a small child so not a good image.

@Emsi77

I think someone said in an earlier post that they wondered if this was a way of moving society to a an acceptance of using minors as a sexual preference as legitimate as any other.

Women need to take back their instincts for this type of predatory advertising. Women can effect massive change and have huge power especially when it comes to protecting children...we should never allow ourselves to say..oh that's just the way it is today, that is a slippery slope. No way...not ever.

Sorry, for the passionate response but I see this shit every day and when it's on the big screen....subtle my arse

Yes this! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Do you know what, my kids have been going crazy in the heat and I’ve hardly slept for the last few days. This morning I’m in a bad mood and I’ve been thinking about this thread again and now I feel really angry.

At first I just thought “yeah, ok” about the posters accusing those of us who can see the issue here as being paedophiles ourselves but this morning I just feel bloody angry about it! How fucking dare you accuse me of that just because I can see the issue here?! It’s so SO dangerous to create an atmosphere where people feel like they can’t openly question things that they have concerns about for fear of being labelled a paedophile or be subjected to criticisms and sideways glances about “what does it say about you that you see something creepy and perverted here? I just see an innocent child because my mind isn’t warped like yours obviously is”. It’s just bullshit.

It’s just like the current and growing awareness about race issues. People of colour are very clear that pretending that you “don’t see colour because I’m not a racist” doesn’t help anyone in fact it actively hinders the cause.

Not seeing and labelling the issue does nothing to protect those who need protecting. In this case we are taking about protecting children ffs.

Those of you who are quick to silence those who express concerns - what does that say about YOU??

I’ve seen the lifelong damage that child abuse does to friends and family. As a PP says above we should never become complacent about this. We should always speak up about things that concern us. We shouldn’t be silent on this issue.

Shame on you who encourage people to ignore their concerns and stay silent for fear of being labelled a paedo. You’re part of the problem. What if that fear stops someone from acting on a suspicion they might have about a child being harmed? They might feel that they’re over reacting, should be more liberal and less judgemental and “snowflakey”. We should ALL play our part in creating a society that does not tolerate normalising the sexualisation of children.

100% agreed