Have you ever been offended by advertising?

[Sparx]

The most recent clearasil ad really rubs me the wrong way. Its the one with the two girls in a science lab asking about the latest in acne fighting technology, and when the "scientist" tells them that one of the problems those battling acne face is Hyper pigmentation, one of the girls says, "hyper what?" and he repeats himself, like she's stupid. Then, after he's done speaking the girls say, "Keep up the good work, Mr. Science." and walk away.

So have you ever been offended by advertising? What ad was it, an why did it offend you?

 

[bananda]

i dont like lynx ads. they are all about sex. i wouldn't be so offended except that they are shown in childrens viewing hours.

there was also an ad for jeans that was on the side of a building. there were no jeans in the picture, just a naked girl. you couldn't see anything, but kids would see that picture.

im horrified by the sexualisation of children.

 

[aquarhapsody]

i dont like lynx ads. they are all about sex. i wouldn't be so offended except that they are shown in childrens viewing hours.

there was also an ad for jeans that was on the side of a building. there were no jeans in the picture, just a naked girl. you couldn't see anything, but kids would see that picture.

im horrified by the sexualisation of children.

I agree. So much sex being sold to children these days, it's disgusting.

Even my 7 year old brother, thanks to the internet, knows things that no kid should know, and gets him in trouble.

But as for offensive ads....
I saw one that was for some soup, and it was....suggestive. I can't exactly describe what she was dupposed to be doing on here, but it was not for anyone under the age of 13.
It was on 7:00 TV, and it was totally out of the blue.

 

[dancer067]

Its interesting to me that you made this thread because I was just thinkning about this the other day
I'm offended by pop culture. I think its awful that 5 year olds everywhere are walking around singing "brush my teeth with a bottle of jack;when I leave for the night I ain't coming back" And that all singers have to do is basically show up, say the owrdds to their songs, and let computers and song writersdo the rest, and earn a gazillion dollars for being out too late partying. Its ridiculous. They don't even seem like they do it for music, its all for fame and money. It might be the exact opposite of this but the way pop culture portrays it is ridiculous. And take Kesha for example, Her music isn't even subtle about sexual references like say AC-DC is. Blah, Blah, Blah, is a lot more risque than You shook me all night long.
But The music is catchy and has a good rhythm to it, so you buy it on i-tunes and just play into their schemes. I'll admit that i'm a victim of it, and have Kesha on my i-pod. but lately I've stopped listening to them beacuse I've been thinkning about this argument a lot latley.
Not really advertsing but, close enough. Just my opinion. Not quite fully developed, but I'm just stating my opinion

 

[Queenofspoons]

i dont like lynx ads. they are all about sex. i wouldn't be so offended except that they are shown in childrens viewing hours.

there was also an ad for jeans that was on the side of a building. there were no jeans in the picture, just a naked girl. you couldn't see anything, but kids would see that picture.

im horrified by the sexualisation of children.

I live in the US and Lynx is called Axe here but they use the same ads, and their still very offensive here, the real smell of the stuff is a chick repelent XP .
I also find skittels ads to be creepy, thought the candy is good...

 

[Babyjustrun]

I don't usually find advertising offensive. It would have to be incredibly racist or homophobic to upset me. I mean as far as sexist advertisng, I mean it would have to be more than a joke. If it's just a joke that I know they don't mean, I don't really particularly care. That would be why Axe commercials have never bothered me. They're ridiculous, and silly, but it's not going to offend me that the commercial makes women out be sex crazed maniacs by the smell of deoderant...

 

[life of the party]

I live in the US and Lynx is called Axe here but they use the same ads, and their still very offensive here, the real smell of the stuff is a chick repelent XP .
I also find skittels ads to be creepy, thought the candy is good...

oh i was wondering what lynx was xD
and omg no axe is not a chick repelent! i love that smell


and i don't think that any commercials have offended me before. except when they enforce gender roles like a woman making dinner for her husband or something. that bothers me a lot sometimes.

 

[m!ssemmx0]

Its interesting to me that you made this thread because I was just thinkning about this the other day
I'm offended by pop culture. I think its awful that 5 year olds everywhere are walking around singing "brush my teeth with a bottle of jack;when I leave for the night I ain't coming back" And that all singers have to do is basically show up, say the owrdds to their songs, and let computers and song writersdo the rest, and earn a gazillion dollars for being out too late partying. Its ridiculous. They don't even seem like they do it for music, its all for fame and money. It might be the exact opposite of this but the way pop culture portrays it is ridiculous. And take Kesha for example, Her music isn't even subtle about sexual references like say AC-DC is. Blah, Blah, Blah, is a lot more risque than You shook me all night long.
But The music is catchy and has a good rhythm to it, so you buy it on i-tunes and just play into their schemes. I'll admit that i'm a victim of it, and have Kesha on my i-pod. but lately I've stopped listening to them beacuse I've been thinkning about this argument a lot latley.
Not really advertsing but, close enough. Just my opinion. Not quite fully developed, but I'm just stating my opinion

This is why I don't listen to modern music anymore. I haven't listened to the radio in forever, because the music is just so horrible. It has no point, and it's all sexualized crap. Thank God for my iPod, or I'd go completely insane.

 

[WDWtraveler27]

There's an advertisement in el paso that says "ask a Mexican" and it has a stereotypical Mexican with a moustache, sombrero, bad teeth, and dirty looking. Oh and it's for a new feature on our local newspapers website or something ._.

 

[LondonUnderground]

This is why I don't listen to modern music anymore. I haven't listened to the radio in forever, because the music is just so horrible. It has no point, and it's all sexualized crap. Thank God for my iPod, or I'd go completely insane.

amen to that sister.

 

[LittleMissMusical]

do the old navy comertials bother you? some of my friends are really upset with them. they think they are telling girls to be fake. like in one the girl blinks or something like that. i just think they are spoofing america's next top model.

 

[Babyjustrun]

do the old navy comertials bother you? some of my friends are really upset with them. they think they are telling girls to be fake. like in one the girl blinks or something like that. i just think they are spoofing america's next top model.

They only bother me because they're not funny, and they're trying way too hard to be funny.
Other than that, no.

 

[Sparx]

I think the axe ads are ridiculous, but I've never really been that offended by them.
Pretty much everything about Abercrombie and Fitch offends me.
Hardee's ads from a couple years ago were really offensive.

I don't think that most music is offensive however. I remember being five or six and singing Mambo #5. I had no idea what it was talking about, I just liked the song. And I still like it now that I understand it. But I don't think kids getting caught on catchy songs is a bad thing. They don't understand the lyrics, and they don't take it that seriously. And for older kids (7+) it opens up a lot of talking experiences with the parents and children about why certain behavior is unacceptable. And music has always been suggestive in some aspects or another. Elvis wasn't allowed to be shown on television below the waist because he was so sexual.

 

[Princess victoria]

I've never been offended by a commercial or music. It just doesn't bother me. I see no point in being offended by something like a commercial honestly. I've never been offended by pop culture either.

 

[SNES]

Axe ads are so riduculous. They would never make me buy Axe. I still do though, but the commercials are so stupid, although kinda on purpose.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

Never been offended by a commercial/ad, but some of the ads on Oxygen Network scare me. I generally only watch America's Next Top Model on there, but every other commerical break there's a commerical for KY-Intense. I understand it's a women's network, like Lifetime, but it's like every few commericals, there it is.

 

[DramaQueen]

no, can't recall ever being offended by an ad or anything like that. nothing comes to mind, i'm sure there have been ads that have made me go but not offending me.

what was it that offended you about that commercial shelby? the fact that the scientist talked to the girl like she was stupid, or the fact that she was snarky with him?

 

[Sparx]

no, can't recall ever being offended by an ad or anything like that. nothing comes to mind, i'm sure there have been ads that have made me go but not offending me.

what was it that offended you about that commercial shelby? the fact that the scientist talked to the girl like she was stupid, or the fact that she was snarky with him?

I haven't been able to find the commercial online but the undertones are INCREDIBLY sexist. There are two beautiful girls who can't manage to understand two words, and are only worried about if this magic cream will make them more beautiful.

Another problem I have with it was that it was a science related word that these girls were too stupid to pronounce. Science and technological related fields are incredibly hard for women to break into in the united states, and when women do work in these fields they're only paid 70 cents on the dollar that their equally qualified male counterpart makes.

There is also a phenomena of girls in middle school who will enter (roughly) the seventh grade and make straight As in science and math and all of a sudden they stop producing these grades. They start claiming they're "bad at ____" and hate it. Fast forward two years, less than ten percent of female high school students are interested in science or math related fields. In college more than 90% of library science degrees are given to women, while less than 5% of engineering degrees are given to women.

Acne typically plagues those in middle/high school, and typically females are more concerned with their appearance than males, and to aim an ad like this at young girls who are about to (or going through) this social phenomena simply reinforces the idea that they have that women aren't good at math or science.

If the scientist was a woman, or if they didn't question the hyper pigmentation line, or if they didn't call him "mr science" I wouldn't have had any issues with this advertisement. But a company as massive as Clerasil knows what they're doing with an ad like this, and its not acceptable. I've emailed clearasil's parent corporation with my opinion over this ad, and I'm waiting to hear back from it. The last time I was involved with an advertising dispute, there was actually a rapid and positive reply from the company. I'm interested to see if the same will happen with Clearasil.

 

[bananda]

I don't think that most music is offensive however. I remember being five or six and singing Mambo #5. I had no idea what it was talking about, I just liked the song. And I still like it now that I understand it. But I don't think kids getting caught on catchy songs is a bad thing. They don't understand the lyrics, and they don't take it that seriously. And for older kids (7+) it opens up a lot of talking experiences with the parents and children about why certain behavior is unacceptable. And music has always been suggestive in some aspects or another. Elvis wasn't allowed to be shown on television below the waist because he was so sexual.

a lot of older music is more subtle than modern music though. and while young children may not understand it, i personally find it hard to believe that they are not being impacted in some small way by lyrics like those in "blah blah blah"

but when i listen to music i used to love and watch old tv shows, i pick up on so much stuff i didn't know was there when i was a kid.

 

[LittleMissMusical]

I don't think that most music is offensive however. I remember being five or six and singing Mambo #5. I had no idea what it was talking about, I just liked the song. And I still like it now that I understand it. But I don't think kids getting caught on catchy songs is a bad thing. They don't understand the lyrics, and they don't take it that seriously. And for older kids (7+) it opens up a lot of talking experiences with the parents and children about why certain behavior is unacceptable. And music has always been suggestive in some aspects or another. Elvis wasn't allowed to be shown on television below the waist because he was so sexual.

i had the disney version where they put the characters names in... g rated!!!! xP