Posted on 11/16/2001 1:18:49 PM PST by disclaimer
Introducing The Gripper, says Hefty, with memorable advertising like all companies strive to achieve. The commercial promoting this new product compares the garbage bag to the Strong, Dependable Type of man - only to toss him in the garbage in the end. I saw this commercial several times and, as a strong dependable man that I am, I was insulted. Ill remember this Hefty ad since it offended me, but I can take it like a man and so I will.
Ill avoid Hefty (PACTIV Corporation) products just like I wont step foot into a Hallmark store since they feature male-bashing cards to make a buck on jaded women. Welcome to the club Hefty. As a matter of routine, Ill make sure none of my investments include Pactiv stock (NYSE symbol PTV) since they are the owners of the Hefty brand and obviously dont know how to address an the entire product market.
I do have to wonder why such a company would introduce a new product using a commercial that denigrates any of their potential customers. Makes me think Hefty doesnt value investor money enough to maximize returns on their investment. So, I make sure Im not giving them any of my investment money. Im sure Im not the only one with some business sense thinking this. Why would any company choose to introduce and promote a product by associating it with a negative message?
Heres a transcript of the Hefty "The Gripper" ad that ran during the NBC evening news on November 13th, 2001:
Actress 1) If I had a man like Hefty
Actress 2) If I had a man like Hefty
Actress 3) Hed always be coming up with new ways to impress me
Female Voice) Introducing Hefty The Gripper. The first kitchen bag with the stretch and grip top so it hugs the can and wont slip
Actress 3) oh, and hed know how to hold on tight
Actress 1)
then he wont cave under pressure
Female Voice) Nothing is made like the gripper. It stretches, grips, and stays put so it can take it like a man.
Actress 3) and when Im done with him
Actress 1) (shown dropping a bag of trash into a garbage can)
Actress 3) Chow baby
Actress 2) Bye bye
Actress 1) So long
Female Voice) The Gripper new from Hefty. The strong dependable type.
Hefty must have female chauvinists running amuck in the marketing department or they must have determined that targeting dysfunction women is worth alienating balanced women and men. Funny, I though we all need garbage bags but I suppose Hefty knows the market best. Maybe they figure men will just take their insults like a man and buy Hefty bags just the same.
Pactiv is an international company and I have to wonder if they have a Hefty product ad targeted toward the Taliban men since they dominate their culture. The Hefty brand doesnt seem to mind associating themselves with chauvinistic women so denigrating a gender to advance their product shouldnt be a problem. With a name like The Gripper, Im sure they can come up with plenty of ways to denigrate women and get that male Taliban market share. Go to it you creative Hefty marketing geniuses.
If men had the same political clout as the Hispanics do, Hefty would be out of the bag business.
Hefty's advertisement portrays a deliberate and direct denigration of men. It's a stretch to say that the Taco Bell Chihuahua belittles Hispanics, but the advertising campaign was pulled nevertheless due to the political clout of the Hispanics.
Did you find the Hefty advertisement funny? If so, would you explain why?
You give us men too much credit. As a class, we don't even have the same polital clout as chihuahuas.
Actress 3) and when Im done with him
Actress 1) (shown dropping a bag of trash into a garbage can)
Actress 3) Chow baby
Actress 2) Bye bye
Actress 1) So long
Yeah. That's it.
I saw this one commercial for diapers a year or so back-- the minivan that had the sopping wet nipper in the back was driven by the dad, whereas the minivan that had the comfortable dry kid was driven by the smirking mother. Hmmmmmm. So does that mean that with the folks who knew enough to buy "Oops-I-Crapped-My-Pants" (hilarious SNL skit, btw), the guy was changing diapers? Hmmmmmmm.
Not at all. I'm in total agreement with you - the ad is obnoxious.
But the jokes on Hefty, 'cause I do the shopping in my house. And I'll be using GLAD.
86% of congress are Men?
That sounds about right.
It's impossible to make the case that the above statistics are a conspiracy on the part of the "evil patriarchy" when women outnumber men both among the electorate and among corporate stockholders.
If men in politics use their power to keep women down, the following stats say we're doing a pretty lousy job:
This would not be a problem if your wife has a nice can.
Whenever I see examples of it I put it through my reverse strainer to see if it would be acceptable to the average woman. Most of the time, if the roles were reversed, you would be called insensitive and sexist. The absolute circus atomsphere that surrounded the Wayne and Loraina Bobbitt trials comes to mind. It was OK to sell T-Shirts that expressed approval of Loraina whacking off Wayne's whacker. But one could only imagine if the rolls had been reversed and Wayne had mutilated the genitals of Loraina.
Some time back I came across some pre-printed Post-It notes with the message: FIRST, GOD CREATED MAN. Then he had a better idea. I wrote on one of the notes: He decided he would make someone with just half a brain. It was not funny to the owner of the notes and, to this day, we don't speak.
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