Am I the only person offended by this?

[kestrel91316]

http://www.upworthy.com/this-is-why-womens-hygiene-companies-shouldnt-let-teen-boys-run-their-marketing?g=3



It's part of a new Playtex ad campaign for some wipie thingies for the genitals.

[yardwork]

1. Apparently not. I clicked the link.

Is it stupidly offensive or offensively stupid? Offensive because it is so stupid? Offensive on so many levels.

[Dorian Gray]

201. I'm not offended by it

though I do find it unnecessarily crass.

[Lars39]

2. good grief

No you're not alone. That is unbelievably stupid of them.

[NMDemDist2]

3. as a post menopausal woman

i cracked up

[leftynyc]

15. Me too

Gotta admit it, I laughed out loud. But then again, I don't look for stuff to get outrageously outraged about.

[NMDemDist2]

24. yup

too much real stuff to get me going, nothing left over for a goofy ad that was a pretty funny play on words

[pacalo]

61. +1000!

:fist bump:

[HappyMe]

28. I laughed at it too.

I can't get worked up about stuff like this.

[robinlynne]

94. me too!

[Flaxbee]

133. "a polished knob always gets more turns"

OK, *that* made me laugh.

Doesn't seem like this is about 'shaming women about their body parts' - this is equal opportunity, keep-your-junk-clean advertising.

In the grand scheme of things, this is not offensive.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. I find all euphemisms offensive.

[WinkyDink]

32. There is a vast difference between a euphemism and crude slang.

EUPHEMISM : the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.

[BainsBane]

5. I can't believe these will ever be ads

They are guaranteed to offend virtually everyone.

[kestrel91316]

40. They ARE ads. The other three aren't so crude and offensive, just tasteless.

Their FB page has thousands and thousands of posts saying how awful it is, mostly from women but a few men have weighed in, too. Not a single work of support from what I've seen.

[JaneyVee]

6. Not scientifically accurate.

[sadbear]

7. You're probably not in their target market.

How the hell else are they supposed to market a product like that? It's not entirely clever, but it could be A LOT more offensive.

[NightWatcher]

8. Nice Beaver

[sadbear]

9. Thanks, I just had it stuffed.

[GliderGuider]

49. OK, that was even funnier than the ad.

But of course it's my inner 12-year-old who's laughing...
Damn, I like feeling 12 again!

[redqueen]

60. It should be, it had better writers. Actual writers. Not ad men (or boys, whichever)

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Naked_Gun

[Summer Hathaway]

116. Note to self:

Do NOT read DU while drinking tomato juice. My monitor now looks like a prop in a slasher movie.

[littlewolf]

150. I had a totally tasteless joke I was going to say ...

but I better not had something to do with needing what playtex
was selling. or something like that .
but I won't say that

[polly7]

135. LOL!

[IMG][/IMG]

[riverbendviewgal]

11. Who will put this up first?

Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Jay Leno, Dave Letterman...

who will be first to show this ad?????

[sadbear]

17. Howard Stern has been advertising this product for a few weeks.

For what that's worth.

[riverbendviewgal]

23. But a picture is worth a thousand words

and somehow you need the picture and serius radio just does not show it.

Is he on TV?

[sadbear]

29. Not on TV.

And not this ad. Just an honest portrayal of the product and its intended use. You can get away with that on satellite radio. TV, with the FCC, is obviously different.

[datasuspect]

12. the ability to be easily offended

is the hallmark of lesser intelligence.

[Orrex]

13. Your post offends me

Hey, wait a minute...

[kestrel91316]

19. So you say. Doesn't make it a fact.

I assume you're a man.

[datasuspect]

30. you hit the trifecta!

lord almighty!

bless your heart.

[WinkyDink]

33. Izzat so? Funny, I always thought resorting to crudity was.

[datasuspect]

34. 10 roger good buddy

[Katashi_itto]

43. I'm offended that your offended... that you find offensive...umm what was I offended about..?

[msongs]

14. "Leave it to Beaver" the story of an adolescent boy named Beaver Cleaver. nothing new here lol nt

[WinkyDink]

21. Not everything is sleazy. This ad? Sleazy.

[Bay Boy]

108. The dirtiest thing said on TV in the 1950s...

June: "Ward, you were kind of rough on the Beaver last night"

[Pharaoh]

183. bwaaha hhaaaaaaaaaa!

How true

[surrealAmerican]

16. I'm more offended by their product than ...

... their advertising. What ever happened to just plain soap?

[EastKYLiberal]

18. Offended, really? That's quite puritan for today's ads. nt

[WinkyDink]

22. Not really, not with language.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. Doubtful.

[babylonsister]

25. Is this for really real? Are they actually using this

in their advertising?


Oh, and...

[Gidney N Cloyd]

26. Be careful where you bathe your Beaver...

[Blue_Tires]

27. Holy shit that's a VERY wet beaver

[Beacool]

155. It's either been in the water too long or it's happy to see you.

[stevenleser]

31. I predict a new advertising firm and new marketing exec in Playtex' near future.

[lumberjack_jeff]

35. Two kinds of ads: effective and ineffective.

Although I might think it's kind of funny (in a 14 year old kind of way), my opinion of the ad won't move product.

The question is if the target market thinks it funny. I doubt it.

[rvt1000rr]

36. LMAO! No, not offended at all,

But, then, I have a perverse sense of humor. Plus, I enjoy a good play on words...

[kestrel91316]

37. I've been looking, and I'm not finding ANY supportive comments on their FB page. LOL.

https://www.facebook.com/PlaytexSport

There WILL be a boycott. Heads WILL roll.

[lunasun]

195. Best comment = Call Playtex consumer affairs at 1-888-310-4290

[Puzzledtraveller]

38. yeah, very uncouth, tacky, gross

not acceptable, especially in an ad.

[Blue_In_AK]

39. Well, now, that's a bit crass.

These ads remind me of the pistachio ads. Same ad agency?

[Lifelong Protester]

41. I find it eyeroll and facepalm disgusting

And in the Ï can't believe we still have to fight this junk" category.

[HockeyMom]

42. Two part offensive

We all get the beaver part, but my take on the "finds more wood" means a man with an erection. Or am I just a dirty old woman? Whatever, it's degrading to women.

[Kalidurga]

44. Rec'd

So you know you aren't alone. The beaver one grosses me out. The other ones are just offensive.

[TeamPooka]

45. I laughed. But I have a sense of humor. nt

[kestrel91316]

48. Men DO find this sort of thing humorous. Especially the 12 yo variety.

Women? Not so much.

[TeamPooka]

50. especially the cranky grandma variety.

[Warren DeMontague]

107. DU DEMANDS BIGGER FONT SIZES ON THE DAILY BINGO CARDS

[datasuspect]

51. i shared this thread with a woman

she found it funny.

i guess she's not a real woman.

or something.

waiting for mom's opinion on it.

wait - mom thinks it's funny too.

oh well.

you can't speak for all women.

[HappyMe]

59. I thought it was funny.

I'm a woman.

[datasuspect]

64. there's someone here to speak for you

and say you don't think it's funny.

only evil men with 12 yo juvenile levels of comprehension think this is funny.

doncha know.

[kestrel91316]

82. I am. But, then, I have a little self-respect.

[HappyMe]

90. Good grief!

Okay then.

[Warren DeMontague]

92. Aha! So only women "with no self-respect" find it funny!

Heavens! Vulgarians! Think of the Children! Twitter! Teens Sexting Beyonce Facebook Sex Sex Cell Phones Internet Smut and I Cant Program My DVR and WHY DO WE NEED BUTTONS ON THE OVEN I THOUGHT THE KNOB WORKED JUST FINE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Gidney N Cloyd]

95. Heh-heh. You said 'knob.'

[Warren DeMontague]

97. Perhaps you've heard of my punk band

"The Knob-Gobbling Hobgoblins From Gobbler's Knob".

[Eleanors38]

207. Quite a mouthful, there.

[JVS]

171. "Teens Sexting Beyonce Facebook Sex Sex Cell Phones

Oh boy! Imagine the advertising campaign when the razor companies and the feminine wipes companies get together and tell customers that maybe a shave and a scrub is in order before posting/tweeting/sending sexually explicit photographs of themselves.

[Warren DeMontague]

182. "In my line of work, it's important to stay hep."

[Sissyk]

102. Wow!

That wasn't nice. Just because a woman can laugh at this ad, you think she has little self-respect? Maybe a little self-reflection is in order.

[snooper2]

66. do beavers find it funny?

I never met a beaver who couldn't take a joke

[Warren DeMontague]

100. They won't find this funny

[Spike89]

166. Too funny!

Sadly, I'm afraid outside the Willamette Valley the joke will be un-noted. It made my day though. I'm from a split family sort of--my Dad had a degree from each school, one brother graduated from OSU, and everyone else are Ducks--I even work for a U of O spin-off non-profit organization.

[GoneOffShore]

68. Check out a lot of the comments on Upworthy.

Particularly the ones from an un-offended Canadian woman.

[Eleanors38]

206. I think the "wood" thing is narrow & uncreative.

[niyad]

202. you know, I have been hearing that same line for decades when I point out that something is

offensive, sexist, annoying, whatever. it's a handy little tool for deflecting attention away from what is offensive, etc., and placing the burden on the person who finds whatever objectionable. after all, it is OUR problem, because WE "do not have a sense of humour", NOT that what is found objectionable is, in fact, objectionable.

but you go right on with that same tired line. I am fairly certain people will continue to use it in the same way, and it will have exactly the same effect (ZERO)

[Xithras]

46. We live in a cruder society today.

You can complain about it all you want, but it'll do about as much good as complaining about the weather.

FWIW, the term "beaver" is crude, but I've never considered it offensive. It's a reference to merkins (basically, pubic wigs) which were once made from beaver pelts.

[datasuspect]

54. never read rabelais, nicht wahr?

crudity has been a part of humor for hundreds and hundreds of years.

[WinkyDink]

112. This ad is not a ribald satire on society; it is itself worthy of a satire.

[kestrel91316]

72. Actually, Playtex is finding out via its FB page that their marketing is a huge fail

with their target: young women.

Complaints about inappropriate, sexist advertising DO make a difference. Money talks, and they have just insulted their base. They make tampons. Sales will now crash as women switch to companies that DON'T feel the need to make crude jokes about their customers.

[WinkyDink]

114. I wonder why they didn't think of depicting a beaver's dam made of tampons.

[Warren DeMontague]

125. THEY ARE DOOOOOOOMED!

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

[Buzz Clik]

47. Just an eyeroll here. Pretty damned juvenile humor.

[appleannie1]

52. No. Whoever dreamed that up and whoever approved it are disgusting. I find no humor in it at all.

[datasuspect]

65. just curious

what do you find humorous?

[appleannie1]

71. A lot of things that don't demean women, gays or the disabled.

[Lurker Deluxe]

120. so ...

Jokes about straight men??

[appleannie1]

160. jokes about anyone. To me calling a woman a beaver or a man a prick or pecker are equally offensive

Everyone deserves respect no matter male,female white, black, whatever their ethnic background or whatever. So yes, I don't find any humor in calling a woman a beaver.

[Lurker Deluxe]

162. about anyone ....

Interesting.

So ... tell me a joke!

[GoneOffShore]

189. Do you hear those crickets?

Because I do.

[appleannie1]

209. Sure do. The only people with anything to say are the trolls and I have to wonder what name they

have for their parents. I sure hope it is not beaver and prick.

[GoneOffShore]

212. The poster asked for a joke -

So, where's your joke?

From Collins English Dictionary

1. a humorous anecdote
2. something that is said or done for fun; prank
3. a ridiculous or humorous circumstance
4. a person or thing inspiring ridicule or amusement; butt
5. a matter to be joked about or ignored

[Pharaoh]

188. Vagina vagina vagina!

Penis penis penis!

These are just words. I really don't understand why people are so like,, Oh I am so offended!!!

Why the fuck are you offended by the name of some body part or the slang or a joke about it?

[DURHAM D]

53. stupid

[Dreamer Tatum]

55. Whales take in enormous amounts of water, seeking small bits of food.

Whereas some people take in enormous amounts of information, seeking small things to be offended by.

[GoneOffShore]

63. You win the thread!

And the wet noodle flail award from the Sisters and Brothers of the Church of The Perpetually Offended!

[datasuspect]

67. you have to be capable of having a well rounded perspective

to not live in a shadow world of moronic persnicketyness.

[lunasun]

56. Nasty = shows who the real dirty pigs are who need to get hosed down

These products are all about selling insecurity
so I bet the crude idiot crowd will love it and buy it up!
There are plenty of ads targeted to males now like this also.
Maybe that pecker one is aimed at men who now 'need' genital wipes- I do not even get who it's target is M or F
but geez sell it if you can i guess is what it is all about........convince you that it is needed one way or another . Trendy tongue in cheek works

[kestrel91316]

73. The crude idiot crowd on DU has already shown up to voice their approval.

[Warren DeMontague]

111. ***

[GoneOffShore]

57. It's a cunningly constructed campaign.

And funny as hell.

And an equal opportunity offender. Because they're targeting men as well as women.

It's the kind of campaign one would see in Europe.

[datasuspect]

62. as a marketing piece

it's highly effective.

[GoneOffShore]

70. And it offended that pretentious little prig on Upworthy - Mordecai something

Who always has his knickers in a twist.

"I'll give it an 8. It's got a good beat and you can dance to it."

[WinkyDink]

117. One can see nude newscasters in Europe. Your point? (And no, your pun did not go

unnoticed. Lamented, but not unnoticed.)

[GoneOffShore]

175. I just see our Calvinist heritage yet again coming to the fore.

[kestrel91316]

176. I'm no prude (just ask any of my 3 gentleman friends). I find the whole "dirty vagina"

and "women are only for woodies to poke" message INSULTING.

[GoneOffShore]

178. Did you look at the entire campaign?

There's one with a woodpecker and another with a brass door knob.

So I don't see it in the same light that you do.

As one of the commenters on Facebook said this campaign is for those who are perhaps "hooking up" after a night of dancing and for both genders. And perhaps some folks don't want to be sweaty for those kinds of encounters.

YMMV

[slackmaster]

58. I'm not offended, but I think it's juvenile and if I were a woman it wouldn't make me want to buy...

...whatever product they're selling.

[KansDem]

69. Looks like an updated version of the "Douche with Lysol" ads of yesteryear...

[bunnies]

101. omg omg omg.

OMG! Thats REAL?!

[KansDem]

146. Here's another...

(Please see post no. 144)

________

[KansDem]

152. One more...

[LeftInTX]

113. Oh my....it probably prevented pregnancy and VD!!!

[KansDem]

144. And resulted in deaths...

The most popular brand of douche was Lysol—an antiseptic soap whose pre-1953 formula contained cresol, a phenol compound reported in some cases to cause inflammation, burning, and even death. By 1911 doctors had recorded 193 Lysol poisonings and five deaths from uterine irrigation. Despite reports to the contrary, Lysol was aggressively marketed to women as safe and gentle. Once cresol was replaced with ortho-hydroxydiphenyl in the formula, Lysol was pushed as a germicide good for cleaning toilet bowls and treating ringworm, and Lehn & Fink's, the company that made the disinfectant, continued to market it as safeguard for women's "dainty feminine allure."

Douching may have been cheaper than condoms or diaphragms and available over the counter in most drugstores, but it didn’t work. In a 1933 study, Tone writes, nearly half of the 507 women who used douching as a birth control method ended up pregnant.

But if false advertising with highly suspect results weren't bad enough, the ads promoted a level of misogyny and female insecurity both laughable and frightening by today's standards. Images of wives locked out their homes or trapped by cobwebs are surrounded by text asserting a woman should "question herself" if her husband's interest seemed to have faded. If her husband is treating her badly, the message was, "she was really the one to blame."

These ads and the product they're hawking are a chilling reminder of a time when most women had limited access to birth control or reliable medical knowledge about contraception. Corporate muscle moved into the void to advertise Lysol as contraception under the widely recognized euphemism of “feminine hygiene,” and as Tone writes, “the strategy won sales by jeopardizing women’s health."

http://www.motherjones.com/slideshows/2012/02/when-women-used-lysol-birth-control/lysol-douche-cobweb

________

[Manifestor_of_Light]

148. My mother had a bottle of Lysol in the bathroom cabinet to douche with. Seriously.

This was in the 1960s when I was a kid. She was born in 1921.



That was when they thought all germs were bad. They didn't know that certain bacteria are good for the body. Like lactobacillus in yogurt.

[mike_c]

74. facepalm....

Groan.

[Remmah2]

75. Given the context, I'm offended.

nt

[FightForMichigan]

77. Someday...

someday, some marketing firm will come up with an ad that suggests men can't get laid because they're unclean and have ballstench and headcheese. Until then, this kind of crap is always only directed at women, and so, yes, it's sexist and offensive.

[Brigid]

78. Disgusting.

Who came up with these -- a bunch of frat boys?

[kestrel91316]

85. Probably.

[yellerpup]

79. Could it that the middle school interns

are writing copy for Playtex? Oh, now I see the headline on the link. Evidently so. This is really ugly AND juvenile.

[Delphinus]

80. OMG!

That's truly unbelievable.

[patrice]

81. It's okay with me, as long as it doesn't turn into some anorexic OCD thing, like other people's

weight and breast standards have.

[Demo_Chris]

83. As a man, I am not their target audience...

I suspect that the ad campaign is highly effective. We are talking (indirectly) about a product that we would never EVER talk about otherwise.

But offensive? First, I do not believe that offense is given, offense can only be taken. It's a personal thing. If one takes offense about this ad it is up to them to say why. What exactly is it that bothered you, and why should anyone else care? I can see three potential things that might inspire one to take offense (note, I disagree with all three):

1. The use of slang rather than the clinical terms
2. The assumption that sex is something women might want

or...

3. Their selection of such an ugly animal. I think going with a cute cuddly beaver might have been better here. But then that's probably the point.

[RobinA]

119. or 4

The reference to the older-than-god but ever present notion that women are unclean.

[Demo_Chris]

167. Every ad begins with the implied statement "You need this, you are not this"

So yes, the ad does say that women who fail to use this product are not taking care of themselves. This is not necessarily a deliberate referrence to the traditional religious based condemnation of women -- though it could be. In any case, whether deliberate or not, odds are good that someone at the company at least considered that message and decided that worked with them rather than against them.

Anyway, very good catch on that!

[Pharaoh]

184. perhaps they should have went with a "pussy" cat instead?

[Demo_Chris]

192. As in "A clean pussy (cat) gets more 'birds'?" Oh my! :P

Do you suppose if we send that to them they would make it?

[deathrind]

84. That is pretty tacky N/T

[BlueJazz]

86. Sounds like something a 6 year old would make up. I take that back. >

A 6 year old dumb fuck.

[GoCubsGo]

87. I think it's rather lame, actually.

What I find offensive is that this is just one more product that we are being sold because we're being told that there is something wrong with smelling like a human being, rather than some perfumed chemical shit. Not to mention that it is yet another unneeded "disposable", one-time-use product on the market to crap up our landfills and sewer systems, and waste our valuable resources, and nobody cares about that. Whatever happened to soap, water, and a wash cloth? The beaver isn't going to find any wood, because all the trees were cut down to make the paper for these bullshit disposable wipes.

[AtheistCrusader]

136. I agree. I think the ad is 'meh' but the product...

Just another way to foment and prey upon insecurities to sell some BS you probably didn't need at all.

[kestrel91316]

88. I find it interesting that most DUers who think this is funny and ok are male.

And most who think it's bad are women.

We still have some blatantly sexist apes on here. And they are probably the same kinds of men who never seem to notice the dried feces between their own butt cheeks when they're trying to seduce some chick.

[Comrade Grumpy]

98. People who don't share your outrage are "blatantly sexist apes"?

Go take a walk or something. It might help you get over your self-righteousness.

[kestrel91316]

127. I'm just dishing out a sexist comeback for some of the cruder remarks.

Some folks can dish it out but they can't take it, I see.

[Warren DeMontague]

141. HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A BLATANTLY SEXIST APE

Oh, never mind.

[mythology]

198. All you've done in this thread is call people names for disagreeing with you

You've called people apes, sexist, idiots and told women that they have no self-respect if they disagree with you. I'm glad that all of those points are still standing. It makes it apparent who you are.

But that's all you have. You call people names and you insult them. That's really rather a sad reflection on you.

We get it, you can't tolerate dissent. But you might want to consider that your own incivility is responsible for the tone of some of the responses you've gotten. If you were half as centered as you think you are, you wouldn't be reduced to name calling.

[Sissyk]

105. Did you not count all the women

in the thread that were not offended for a reason? I saw a bunch. Looks close to 50/50 to me.

[Warren DeMontague]

109. Good grief, what sorts of singles bars are you going to?

[snooper2]

121. and don't forget the sexist beavers...

They need a lessen in couth!

[11 Bravo]

122. I am outraged at your patriarchal and misogynistic use of the condescendingly sexist term ...

"chick".

(And if you are noticing the feces between a guy's butt cheeks, I'd say the seduction process has at least moved into the latter stages.)

[DollarBillHines]

163. I am sitting in my office, laughing out loud.

Frankie the Cat is looking at me with a very quizzical look on her face.

[ghurley]

170. thanks :)

[RobinA]

123. Zing!!!

[Xithras]

174. Explain the sexism in the ads to me.

Jokes about sex are not inherently sexist. Vulgarity is not inherently sexist. Juvenile humor is not inherently sexist. Making jokes about sexuality and sex is something humans have done since we learned to talk.

"Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex, behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex. It may include the belief that a person of one sex is intrinsically superior to a person of the other."

I fail to see how these ads, while crude and juvenile, do any of those things to women. First, two of the four reference men, and don't demean or reference women at all. The other two obviously reference the female gender, but I fail to see how referring to vagina's using two juvenile but common and non-offensive terms is sexist. Technically I have a penis, but there's nothing demeaning about calling it a banana or a sausage. They are simply slang nicknames for the same thing, and aren't words intended to give offense or insult someone. There's a big difference between being juvenile and being discriminatory.

The term "beaver" comes from merkins, and simply refers to a hairy vagina. It's a reference to an actual, historical furry fashion piece that once graced real vagina's. Peach is a reference to a shaved vulva and vagina, and comes from the obvious visual similarity between the two.

Please explain how the use of the terms is sexist. Not "crude" or "stupid" or "juvenile", but actually sexist. In what way do the terms promote sexism or discrimination against women?

[RKP5637]

89. Hmmm ... I wonder if they'll pick up on a theme like this for Tush Wipes?

[temporary311]

91. Not offended.

But don't find it particularly funny, either.

Know what ads do offend me? Those body spray adds aimed at dudes. Know why? Because there are always some idiots out there who think they should spray half the bottle on themselves like the dudes in the commercial do, and the rest of us get to enjoy having our olfactory receptors pummeled by the stench.

[AtheistCrusader]

139. What if..

[Aerows]

93. Dear Lord

Who thought up those monstrosities? A polished knob gets more turns? Is the entire marketing department run by 7th grade boys?

[wryter2000]

96. I know I'm interested in nothing other than getting more wood

Not making love with a man, nor interested in whatever other body parts he might use to give me pleasure. And of course, men are going to check me down there to see if I pass the cleanliness test before making love with me.

Message delivered: both sexes are stupid!

[Myrina]

99. I'm not offended, but ... groan.

... almost as bad as the commercials for 'enjoy the go' TP ("doesn't leave ... clingy pieces&quot and Huggies diapers with the cartoon babies having a pants-filling American Idol-type contest.

What the hell is wrong with Marketers anymore? Out of the really GOOD ideas?

[Warren DeMontague]

104. I think that "enjoy the go" campaign came out of some marketers focus group "how can we make using

the can sound fun?"

You can't. It's fucking toilet paper. People want it to be there when they need it, and they'd prefer it have a consistency somewhat softer than sandpaper. That's about it.

If they could design a toilet paper roll that could jump out of the linen closet and roll over to the bathroom when you call for it, because you've just realized there's no more in the bathroom and you've got your ass hanging out, that might be a remarkable innovation. Beyond that, it has technologically plateau'ed.

[graywarrior]

103. Offensive coz it's so lame.

[Nye Bevan]

106. Meh. I am neither highly outraged nor highly amused. (nt)

[LeftInTX]

110. I'm too old for this. Playtex is marketing them for both:

Fresh + Sexy™ intimate wipes are the before and after sex wipes for men and women that help you get ready for whatever comes next.

A clean pecker always

I can't finish the sentence..

[justiceischeap]

115. Except, of course, if you're a lesbian

Does this ad imply lesbian's don't need clean "beavers?"

[hedgehog]

118. Just as an aside, did Kurt Vonnegut document or invent that particular

piece of slang?

Of course, I came of age in the old, old days, but I first encountered the word in Breakfast of Champions. I had to be at least 19 because that's when the book was first published. I seem to recall reading it several years later, when I was about 25 or 26.

[JVS]

126. No. Vonnegut wrote about "wide-open beavers" due to the pre-existing slang

[forestpath]

124. I find it offensive, too.

[kestrel91316]

128. This thread has been most helpful in confirming what I already suspected about several DUers.

[liberalmuse]

129. I'd rather be the beaver than the wood.

I wonder if men are offended having weird names assigned their body parts as well?

[Warren DeMontague]

132. great, now I'm gonna "El Condor Pasa" stuck in my head all day.

Thanks a lot.

[jaded_old_cynic]

205. ^^^^^^^^^

[Drunken Irishman]

130. Maybe...I think it's funny.

[sakabatou]

131. *facepalm*

[lynne]

137. Not offended but I find it tasteless and -

- a bit immature. Guess it depends on the audience they're targeting.

[mikeytherat]

138. "Remember - when you see an ad, no matter how stupid or offensive: somebody wrote that down.

On paper. More than once. There was probably a first draft. What you're seeing is the best they could do." - Paula Poundstone

mikey_the_rat

[Blue_Tires]

161. It's an entire advertising firm who got a seven-figure contract to create, develop, test, and deploy

the new branding campaign...

That's the scary part...

[niyad]

203. I think about that when I see trailers for the typical "blow-em-up, beat-em-up, special effects,

no plot, no acting" kinds of movies. it was bad enough that somebody came up with the idea, but then, somebody, or lots of somebodies, approved it, and ordered it made, spending all that money, all those resources. and then, they make a fortune at the box office,

[ScreamingMeemie]

140. I was a bit more irritated by Always wishing me a "Happy Period."

Yeeeaaaahhhh....

[Warren DeMontague]

142. That's right up there with "enjoy the go"

The possibilities for these sorts of ad campaigns are limitless, though: "We guarantee you the most enjoyable kidney-stone passing you've ever experienced!" etc.

[reformist2]

143. We live in an anything goes culture, sadly. No maturity, no restraint, no decency.

ps. Thank you to whomever gave me this valentine! <3

[Cleita]

145. Offensive but still funny. I don't think it was meant to be funny.

Somebody needs to send that to Stephanie Miller. She has her own joke spin on beaver references

[Scout]

147. stupid, juvenile, aimed at prissy people

of both genders.

geez, human bodies sometimes have odors. even clean genitals have an odor.

either get over it, or take a shower for cripes sake. or don't put your face down there

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

149. If you ask me, the product itself, and the implication of the ads,

are more sexist than the seventh-grade humor of the ad copy, which seems to have been written by Beavis and Butthead ("Heh, heh, heh, he said "beaver.&quot . And I will admit that my inner twelve-year-old snickered a bit. What's more annoying and sexist is the idea that you have to have a product to clean you "down there" so you won't smell bad; otherwise you'll never get a man to have sex with you. Because your beaver isn't clean. Use our product so your lady parts don't stink, which they would otherwise. That's what bothers me, a lot more than the ad copy itself.

[kestrel91316]

153. Yes, and I didn't make that clear, that the entire concept is a FAIL.

Nobody ever makes jokes about The Holy Cock - it must never be mocked. THAT would be mean. But laughing at women because they have natural genital odor? It's a favorite sport.

[LadyHawkAZ]

194. Ahem. Holy Cock alert:

[kestrel91316]

196. No reference to an icky, smelly animal that needs to be cleaned up.

[Warren DeMontague]

197. "Boys, Be Careful Where You Park That Thing!"

[LadyHawkAZ]

199. The OP had a cute lil wet beaver

Beavers aren't icky. I personally find them adorable and appealing. Apparently you don't? Shame about that...

Anyhow, your complaint was that no one was saying anything about the Almighty Pecker Godly Knob Holy Cock, which a minor amount of research showed wasn't true. Methinks you're working awfully hard at finding stuff to be outraged about.

[Generic Other]

151. Shaming women into believing they smell bad

promoting scented wipes that disrupt the natural self-cleaning mechanisms of the vagina by covering the area with chemicals and fragrances causing inflammations and infections, using artificial scents that may cause cancer, and trying to cover up odors that may be symptomatic of other health problems.

These products were first identified in the 70s as being potentially hazardous.

So yeah, I think it's a real laugh riot. Har har.

[Drale]

154. in my mind the add does its job

Its just "offensive" enough to get a bee in some peoples bonet and then it will be spread and talked about across the internet.

[bigwillq]

156. Yes

I think it's funny.

[UtahLib]

157. I'm embarassed to say that it took me a second to even get it.

The offending factor is the assumption that the reason a woman might or should care about hygiene is that she is constantly on the prowl for "wood".

[Liberal_in_LA]

168. me too.

[woodsprite]

158. I think it's crass, bathroom humor. Since men don't usually buy such products

they may well find they lose sales with the women.

[kestrel91316]

165. Their FB page is blowing up in their faces and they're all too busy

getting drunk at the frat house to notice. The entire parent company, Energizer Holdings, is nothing but a bunch of white guys (and one token woman) on the board of directors and in the executive positions.

[TeeYiYi]

159. Creatively crass...

...and metaphorically, more than likely, true.

TYY

[loyalsister]

164. Not at all

It's disgusting. I have hated "tap that" as a euphemism. There is no redeeming value to any of them.

[LittleBlue]

169. You may be offended, but you'll remember it. Mission: success

Very ham-handed attempt at humor.

Doubt they care though, since most feminine hygiene products are advertised the same boring way, this is more effective. Despite seeing no doubt thousands of feminine hygiene ads, I couldn't tell you about one of them because they all seemed the same.

[kestrel91316]

172. What I will remember is that Playtex and Energizer Holdings are run by a bunch of sexist pigs and

I won't buy a thing from them until they pull the ads, apologize sincerely, and donate some money to Planned Parenthood and a few battered women's shelters.

[LittleBlue]

173. You will, but most won't though

They're wagering that far more women will laugh and it will stick in their minds until the next time they're at the store, or that it will play on their insecurities about that region of their bodies and compel them to buy.

My guess is that they've tested the ad and it played well with women, so they bought ad space for it.

Meh.

[MotherPetrie]

180. Ditto

[llmart]

179. Remembering an ad doesn't equate success.....

The object of an ad, after all is to get people to buy the product. I highly doubt that women are going to rush out now and buy the product just because it's a memorable ad.

I agree with kestral although I wouldn't exactly say I'm offended by it. As a woman I just think it's plain stupid and yes, what I would call 6th grade humor. What's truly unattractive to women is a guy with 6th grade humor

[Initech]

177. Vagina. The word itself is bothersome to some men.

They don't like hearing it and find it difficult to say whereas without batting an eye a man will refer to his dick or his rod or his johnson. - Maude Lebowski

[Glassunion]

187. I like vagina.

Just sayin'

[Pharaoh]

181. There are people who scan the internet

Just to find something they might be offended by,..........hey you'll always win that game. I can find dozens of things in just a few minutes that I am offended or disgusted by...............what is your point?

Personally I thought it was funny. Lighten up Francis!.........

[Glassunion]

185. I just texted this to my wife. I'll let you know when she gets back to me if I'm offended.

[Glassunion]

186. Good news! I was not offended. In fact I got quite the giggle out of the double entendre.

[Pharaoh]

191. bwwaaaahaaa!

good one!

If I had a wife (she would be wife # 3) I would have also likely had to ask her if I was offended

[Sissyk]

190. LMAO!!

Too cute!!

[alp227]

193. Cheap, LCD "humor" for adults whose brains are still in 7th grade.

[smokey nj]

200. It's misogynistic, just an updated version of the ads that used to push Lysol as a feminine

hygiene product.

[Prism]

204. Not much different than Axe ads targeting men

Where the theme is that by spraying yourself with social chloroform, your masculinity increases and women will jump you on the spot. And those guys who don't use Axe? Nerdy, emasculated wimps who women will ignore.

The hygiene market is full of ads about how X product will increase sexual desirability. This seems along those lines, though with a cruder angle. Still, par for the course to me. "You're not sexy or going to get laid if you don't use this hygiene product," is a marketing used towards men constantly, so I'm not quite seeing why the same attitude towards women is especially horrible or particularly sexist.

(I personally blame Axe for telling young men they need to pour that shit all over themselves. As a friend on Facebook said, it smells like "teenagers and shame." Boy howdy.)

[kestrel91316]

208. On both of their FB pages, comments appear to be running about 500:1 against the ad campaign.

This is going to be the most spectacular marketing disaster in years.

Playtex and Energizer Holdings appear to be run by a bunch of drunken 14 yos.

[frogmarch]

210. Ugh. Disgusting.

It’s misogynistic, and on top of that, it's not even a good double entendre. How clean or dirty a beaver is doesn’t affect its ability to find wood.

[Sheepshank]

211. Reminds me of a billboard near here that was eventually removed,

telling weary travellers that they were about to arrive through two small towns offering amenities.
"Fillmore" & "Beaver"

The resulting traffic stops for picture takers proved troublesome and dangerous. The billboard was removed.

[Bettie]

213. I think the message is muddled at best, but I admit I laughed

Though, it wouldn't make me buy the product.

[helveticas]

214. No you're not

I'm a guy and I think it's in very poor taste.

[ismnotwasm]

215. What's offensive

Is the industry bullshit trying sell women 'special products' when damn soap and water will do just fine.

The beaver and wood thing is just for attention. Some will thing it's cute, although no part of MY body looks like a beaver--and some will be pissed off. This equals marketing in today's world.