Posted on 06/22/2004 2:31:47 PM PDT by Clear Rivers
By Kate Santich | The Orlando Sentinel
You've seen him in TV commercials. He's the guy who can't open a pickle jar or take care of his kids, the husband raised by wolves, the balding, portly fellow who leaps for joy now that a pill has solved his impotence. He's the one scalded by hot coffee and hit in the crotch with a bowling ball, though he doesn't seem to mind.
In the powerful dominion of television advertising, this hapless, sloppy, beer-drinking punch line is the modern American man.
And critics say he's getting more than his fair share of abuse.
"If anything like this was happening to blacks or women or Jews, it would be considered a moral crime," says Warren Farrell, a California author and men's rights advocate. "We're being flooded with advertising in which either a male is being hit by a female, or the man is simply the jerk."
Farrell, author of "The Myth of Male Power," is one of a small but growing number of men -- and a few women -- protesting what they consider sexist, stereotypical and even mean-spirited ads. Male-bashing, they claim, is the last politically safe perversion.
"At this point in time, if advertisers served up women the same way that guys are treated, it would be world war," says Steve Feinberg, chief creative officer at the Seiden Group, a New York ad agency. "Advertising has cycled its way through that. Right up through the early 1980s, (the message to women) was 'Spend all day obsessing over whether you have the right toilet bowl cleaner, because that's how you define yourself.' But you can't do that anymore."
Late last year, a 40-year-old New Hampshire engineer and father named Richard Smaglick launched the Society for the Prevention of Misandry in the Media -- misandry being the seldom-heard counterpart to misogyny. Among his first efforts was a boycott of the clients of advertising giant Saatchi & Saatchi because of a spot it produced for Wyeth FluMist. In the ad, we see Mom laid up in bed, felled by the virus, and Dad in charge of the household -- much to the glee of the kids, who march off to school in a snowstorm dressed as if for a luau. Alas, poor Dad can't manage his own children.
On a Web site for the Men's Activism News Network (MANN), readers have compiled a list of companies to boycott for their allegedly male-bashing ads. Ironically, the list includes perhaps the ultimate macho-man vehicle, the Hummer, which aired a spot showing a woman behind the wheel and a tagline that read: "Threaten men in a whole new way."
Imagine the fallout, a man said in a post, if the roles were reversed, and a man were encouraged to "threaten women in a whole new way."
It's a point well-taken, says Matt Campbell, one of the site's administrators. "To get a sense of why there is a group of men finding the state of affairs so outrageous, just switch the gender roles for a minute and see if it would still be funny. Imagine having a laugh track when a woman's genitals are attacked."
Ironically, most of the offending ads are created by men.
"They think it's their way to be feminists. They think women want to see men as dogs and pigs, and everybody can have a good laugh," says Barbara Lippert, critic for the trade publication Adweek.
And if there hasn't been an outcry until now, some advocates say, it's only because men who complain are labeled wimps. Their masculinity is questioned. But until large numbers do protest, until companies are hit in the pocketbook, they're not likely to change.
That's one area where this stuff has been disturbing.
"I think I worked 30 hours last week ..."
"MAN! You're killing yourself. We need a vacation."
I love those commercials. I dunno I don't get the same vibe from them, since it usually the mother makeing fun of them.
Actually they act a lot like many guys I grew up with in rural Connecticut, so I'm not sure it is just directed at Canadian guys.
You'd be better off with a router than a stringed network.
With really short hair...
No Ma'am. They were even respectful in the naming.
Ray: "But Mom, my agent says that if I want to have a future in hockey I really have to be dedicated and focus on my game."
Mother: "Your agent? Who's your agent?"
[total silence for a few seconds, as Ray and Dooger look at each other . . .]
Mother (pointing at Dooger with an air of disbelief): "If Dooger is your agent, then I'm a nuclear physicist."
[Mother turns and walks out of kitchen . . .]
Dooger (quietly): "Dude, I thought you said yer Mom was a secretary."
"I'd guess homosexuals, actually. The same ones that are convincing women they need to look like pretty little boys."
Yup. The same ones that constantly cast homosexuals as the level-headed, clear-thinking, good-natured, intelligent individuals in the sitcoms. Their job being to correct and teach the stupid straight guys some important life lesson about sensitivity.
I'd like to see a sitcom portraying the reality of the gay lifestyle. Bet that wouldn't generate many laughs.
That is great.
"Awesome shots, awesome start, you're looking great out there" [Melrose]
"Douger, to your awesome saves out there" [Clement]
[everyone drinks heartily]
"First period starts in five minutes" [Ref]
[stunned looks all around]
"To the end of our losing streak!" {Espo]
LOL! That one rocks. Reminds me of hockey practice last Friday ...
I've got a router. Keep it out in the garage by the table saw. Not too hot for FReeping, though. Makes an awful lot of noise.
Or becoming gay.
"Or becoming gay"
Just kidding.
You win.
Excellent!
The other day I walked up on an office conversation, about the same time one of the young women in our company made the statement: "Women can do ANYTHING a man can do, usually better."
"Cool" I interjected, "How about replacing the water bottle in the cooler, over there. It only weighs 40 pounds."
She got red in the face and left, everyone else laughed at her. She has not spoken to me since, nothing lost. I am happily married.
Semper Fi, USMC 1970-1981
I just LOVE when girls say that crap. "Women can do anything a man can do!"
I usually say, "Fine. Why dont you go out and register for the draft, and then when you're done with that, take me to dinner."
I've adjusted to being a WHAM.
White, Heterosexual, Able-bodied, Male.
Whenever the weenies get in trouble they call us.
This is not new.
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