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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Audi drops not to subtle paedophile car advert!

367 replies

Knoxinbox · 05/08/2020 10:38

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

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??

OP posts:
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ScrimpshawTheSecond · 05/08/2020 11:18

Agree, it's weird. The pose, the wearing of sunglasses and looking away from the camera, the fact she's leaning against the grille, the banana - all very off.

She looks tiny, vulnerable and like a doll, not really like a human child.

123th · 05/08/2020 11:22

I think the image is fine. But the slogan is weird. If they'd had that image with something about it being cool for kids etc I don't think it would be an issue.

Godwinshelley · 05/08/2020 11:23

It might be generational. Those of us exposed to 80s advertising when 'sex sells' was openly lauded as an appropriate marketing strategy immediately link such imagery to attempts to sexualise a picture. See the 80/90s flake adverts if you really want to see how this worked

SheWhoMustNotBeHeard · 05/08/2020 11:37

This was clearly a publicity stunt to get people talking about the

SheWhoMustNotBeHeard · 05/08/2020 11:43

Bugger, post sent too early...

This was clearly a publicity stunt to get people/media talking about the advert and, therefore, the car. No way was it a mistake. Lots of free publicity.

So many companies and organisations seem to do this: deliberately put up something controversial so it gets attention and apologise after the fact as they run all the way to the bank.

At least PETA are up front and unapologetic about it.

boatyardblues · 05/08/2020 11:44

@Knoxinbox

Oh give over Hmm I am categorically not a paedophile and I instantly thought there was a (not so) subtle sexual undertone
As a naive teen, it took someone to point out the Flake ads were a not very subtle representation of fellatio. Once seen, it can’t be unseen. Why not give the little girl an apple or less culturally loaded fruit*? Or a little boy with an apple? So many questionable choices in that ad. Urgh.
  • Some sex ed classes involve correctly putting a condom on a banana. This is not a stretch.
Lettera · 05/08/2020 11:44

See also this thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3986489-Audi-ad-girl-eating-banana

Sunrise234 · 05/08/2020 11:44

I can’t believe anyone can look at that advert and think sexual thoughts! Unless you are a peadophile where you would see kids as sexual objects anyway!
If a child was walking down the street eating banana would you think that was them being sexual too?

There was also people who said it would increase the risk of kids getting hit by cars as it glamorises running small children over!

MadeleineMaxwell · 05/08/2020 11:45

I thought expensive ad agencies fine-tune every detail of this stuff!

LOL! So much stuff in ad agencies is a 9pm on a Friday night job due to various incompetencies, miscommunication and sheer pig-headedness.

The slogan is also just a quick, cheap, possibly even Google translate jobbie from the German (where it is much more idiomatic).

This ad caused me to suck my teeth quite a lot. But I would go for general human crapness rather than some targeted paedophile water testing thing.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 05/08/2020 11:48

I'm not suggesting it was a targeted campaign for paedophiles. I'm suggesting they were deliberately being edgy and falling back on plausible deniability. It got people talking, didn't it?

Kantastic · 05/08/2020 12:00

If a child was walking down the street eating banana would you think that was them being sexual too?

In your scenario, I'm assuming that the child doesn't have a film crew worth of adults and stylists following them around giving them instructions on how to pose with the banana while taking photographs. If they did I'd absolutely think there was something pedophilic going on.

There was also people who said it would increase the risk of kids getting hit by cars as it glamorises running small children over!

Are you genuinely this dense? They were saying it's dangerous for small children to stand in that position right in front of a car.

NotOutYet · 05/08/2020 12:01

As consumer’s we’re used to decoding advertising images we see. We consciously and subconsciously recognise visual puns, metaphors or simply admire certain elements ie. fantastic, fit & healthy body, expensive, interesting, aspirational elements, and in turn associate then with the product being advertised. Or laugh at a joke, or see ourselves in some way.

This advert was just odd. And it would have been deliberately made that way. So child = family - but no adult in sight. Child right in front of bumper = could be driver of car getting out, leaning on their car with shades on admiring where this car has taken them - but it’s only a child, on their own, standing in a very vulnerable place. Red car = potency, speed, sex - child again is incongruous/ jarring in this ‘advertising’ context. Completely in-tact banana in front of mouth = phallic symbol - not a mushed, half-eaten banana but pristine and about to be bitten by the child - an odd moment, an odd pose.

‘Let’s your heart beat faster - in every aspect‘

When does your heart beat faster?When you’re in love, when your excited, when you’re exercising, when your frightened... how does this slogan marry up with that image?

It’s all round odd. And it would have been created, dissected and scrutinised by teams of designers, execs, directors, photographers, stylists etc. before going out into the wild.

What on earth were they all thinking??

Ereshkigalangcleg · 05/08/2020 12:03

Perfectly put, NotOutYet

Sunrise234 · 05/08/2020 12:09

Are you genuinely this dense? They were saying it's dangerous for small children to stand in that position right in front of a car.

Google it, look at the social media responses this is what was also said.

Toilenstripes · 05/08/2020 12:10

She’s posing, wearing sunglasses, eating a banana. Little girl in front of big red adult car. It jars because she doesn’t belong there.

Graffitiqueen · 05/08/2020 12:15

It's just weird isn't it?! I don't see anything that bad in the photo, but combined with the wording it's hard to see what their meaning was intended to be.

WellIWasInTheNeighbourhoo · 05/08/2020 12:17

Audi / VAG are the company who fitted cheat devices to their cars to trick emissions tests. The CEO went to prison over it. Utterly immoral organisation.

DomDoesWotHeWants · 05/08/2020 12:18

I'm not seeing it. Some people have overactive imaginations, imo.

Don't like a child in front of a car but that's all I see.

YetAnotherSpartacus · 05/08/2020 12:20

Some pointed out that the driver would not be able to see the child in that pose, leaning on the grille

I though the girl WAS the driver.

YetAnotherSpartacus · 05/08/2020 12:21

She’s posing, wearing sunglasses, eating a banana. Little girl in front of big red adult car. It jars because she doesn’t belong there

If it was a boy? Could we see him more easily as the driver?

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 05/08/2020 12:25

The ‘only paedophiles see paedophilia’ thing is tiresome

Its like ‘only racists see racism’

BlueJava · 05/08/2020 12:29

I didn't see anything wrong with the advert - small child looking cute eating a piece of fruit in front of a car. A red car is a car that is red, the banana is a piece of fruit, the car looks nice but doesn't look particularly sporty tbh, animal print is just a pattern on a skirt - says more about those making the observations to me.

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 05/08/2020 12:30

says more about those making the observations to me

What does it say

ptumbi · 05/08/2020 12:31

Makes your heart beat faster? Hmm A female form has been used for decades to sell cars, usually scantily clad and leaning on the car, with or without a phallic symbol (banana, lollipop, dripping ice cream...) Somebody has made a tiny leap into a leopard-print clad young girl/child, plus phallic symbol, leaning on a car. And presumably it will make all the peado's hearts beat a lot faster.

The whole thing is repulsive. I'm amazed that some don't see it, and that is slightly worrying.

TreestumpsAndTrampolines · 05/08/2020 12:31

If you do an advert that's so bizarre, then people are going to deconstruct it in an attempt to have it make sense. And this advert just can't take that - there's too much that flags up when you start examining the individual elements.

and

‘Let’s your heart beat faster - in every aspect‘

What does? The little girl? The banana? That she's standing in a dangerous place? The red car which is parked on a family driveway? Or are they saying the little girl's heart is beating faster? Doesn't look like she's excited to me. And in how many aspects can my heart beat faster?

It just doesn't make any sense at any level, and the individual elements are not just odd, but a tad dodgy.