As we begin Pride Month...
Hey Smartwater™: your recent “stunt double” ad is seriously f*cked -up.
Dramatis Personae:
Actor, sitting next to
Stunt Double: Clothes and hair like actor's, but actor is plain and short; stunt double is tall and handsome.
Doctor
Set:
Medical Clinic, Waiting Room
Actor: I'm smart. I let my stunt double do the dangerous stuff.
(Actor and stunt double take simultaneous swigs of Smartwater.)
Doctor: (Approaches from behind.) Mr. ___?
(Doctor flourishes clamp of the type used to castrate male animals. Close-up of clamp.)
(Stunt double looks dubious, but gets up and follows doctor.)
Actor: (Calls out to doctor, not looking) Do we get a lollipop after?
Well, ha-dee ha ha.
I'll leave aside the numerous examples of stereotyping going on in this ad.
(The castrating doctor is a woman. She's also Asian. The good-looking guy is dumb....I could go on.)
Surely we can all agree that sexual violence against women is intolerable, not to mention unsuitable for an ad meant to sell a product. How, then, is sexual violence against men any different?
On top of which, we're supposed to find sexual violence against a man's body funny? He's cute and dumb; therefore, he deserves it?
As we all know, men never experience sexual violence. Therefore, it's OK to laugh about, right?
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Considering--as a friend and colleague recently pointed out to me--how much "recyclable" plastic never gets recycled (Gods help us
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I recently saw that add for the first time. Good to know I'm not the only one offended by it. Wasn't planning to buy Smartwater