In three new ads featuring model Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian lingerie company Hope urges women to take off their clothes before breaking “bad” news to their male partners. The ads rely on the old saw that sex sells, but we’re willing to let that slide–after all, it’s lingerie. But these ads don’t sell lingerie with the [...]
Just in case we hadn’t fully internalized the message that women are most valued for their youth and beauty, Virgin America has introduced a new “younger, hotter” advertising campaign with slogans like “Fool around with a younger, hotter airline” (pictured left) and “Dump your old airline for a younger, hotter one.” 61-year-old Virgin CEO Richard [...]
Last week, the online retailer Zazzle–which “empowers” customers to create custom T-shirts, cards and other paraphernalia–ended sales of a kids’ T-shirt and onesie that featured a pro-eating-disorder message in a scribbled font. The decision came only after the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority banned ads of the shirts for encouraging “an unsafe practice that may result [...]
[Update: It seems the viral video was either a spoof or a potential ad that Always decided not to run. We apologize to Always, but still find the ideas behind the video--whoever made it--pretty offensive. Thanks to Ms. blog commenters for keeping us accurate!] A viral video claiming to be an Always ad for menstrual [...]
Denver’s branch of Goodwill Industries, the thrift-store chain that has always positioned itself as a helping hand to diverse communities across the U.S., recently launched a new series of advertisements with the slogan “The Goodwill Effect.” Riding my bike last week in the city, I came across the following billboard for the campaign: “She discovered [...]
It seems ad execs at Molson Coors were looking for a new way to alienate include women. With only 17 percent of Molson Coors’ sales coming from women, company heads knew they had to do something. But instead of, say, rethinking their exclusively male-targeted ad campaigns for Coors Light (for example), they’ve found a simpler [...]
Summer’s Eve has launched its “Hail to the V” campaign, a new series of print, online and television ads telling women to spend more time taking care of their “wunder down under.” According to Summer’s Eve marketing director Angela Bryant, the campaign is “all about empowerment.” You be the judge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RosLrkIwZA Let me admit that [...]
It’s no surprise when new video games are bloody and overtly sexist. Grand Theft Auto drew outrage when players realized they could not only solicit sex but also kill the sex worker (after she’s done, of course). Recently released Duke Nukem Forever may actually one-up Auto, as it’s a game in which objectifying women isn’t [...]
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along comes “Give Us Your Cash, Bitch,” the frontrunner for the most racism and misogyny ever combined in one political ad. In it, Los Angeles City Council member Janice Hahn, who is running for California’s 36th Congressional seat against Republican Craig Huey, is portrayed as a stripper [...]
What We’re Reading
No Comment: PETA Doesn’t Want You to Wear Your Own Hair, Either
Many of the issues we deal with here at Ms. are very cut-and-dry. Legislation to let a woman die on the hospital floor? Anti. The female orgasm (and woman-positive sex education)? Pro. Affording fetuses more rights than women? Again, anti. Then there’s ending exploitation and cruelty towards animals…Okay, we’re with you there… by exploiting women? [...]