What has got my eyebrows reaching for my hairline is Brendan O’Neill’s opinion in the Telegraph stating that feminists “possessed by Mary Whitehouse” have taken the ad down.
Dude, if you want to see Lucy Pinder so badly she has a website. You can look at images of her to your heart’s content whilst spraying yourself with cans and cans of Lynx.
These, are the bleatings of a luddite, sir. “I propose some self-exorcism. If you have a burning instinct to censor ads that offend you, to outlaw Topman t-shirts with possibly sexist slogans, to close down Facebook pages with daft and OTT male banter on them, then you too might have fallen victim to Whitehouse possession. Have a thorough mental detox, a lie-down, and see if that helps to expel the purple-rinsed one from your being”.
Yeah, what kind of crazed knickers-in-a-twist feminazi doesn’t find rape jokes on a T-shirt or social network site funny? Some people have no sense of humour.
Because the Facebook rape pages and Topman T-shirts don’t really relate to the taking down of this ad, let’s leave that piece of irresponsible stupidity for now. Pity Brendan O’Neill for having such a narrow range of subject matter in which to find humour. It is a dull life he must lead.
Instead, let’s help him. Brendy! It’s 2011! I believe most people are in the know that feminism is A) still sadly relevant and this is made quite clear by your little article. B) Feminist manifestos are usually sex positive and about choice. Mary Whitehouse doesn’t come in to it. People might notice I’ve dumbed it down somewhat for you. Baby steps, guys.
The ACTUAL advert, rather than demeaning to women is kind of embarrassing for teenage boys surely? Many of whom would prefer the media not to poke fun at their sudden lack of control over parts of their body. Anyone going through their teens finds puberty a cruel joke. This ad reduces the existence of a teen boy to little more than a sweaty being who loses it over a woman taking a turkey out the oven.
The turkey image probably being the squinkiest thing in this ad campaign. If this is aimed at teen boys, brr, that’s casting a 28 year old half nude woman in the role of housefrau and by extension mother. What kind of Oedipal theme are we going for here? Wasn’t this about sweating? I stereotype, but so does Lynx and for that matter Brendan O’Neill. The thought of hot fat spitting from the turkey on to bare skin doesn’t please me either.
If anything these Lynx adverts are insulting to boys. I get the joke. I just don’t find it funny.
Squeamish Kate