Have you guys seen this crap? Apparently I’ve been hiding under a rock, or at least eschewing prime-time network television, because Klondike’s effort to re-brand was going mostly under my radar until recently. Peep this horribleness:
Oh ha! I get it! Women are boring! Especially if you’re married to them! It’s like torture to listen to them! BAAHAHAHAHA! Hilarious. /sputter Oh yeah, and did we mention gay people are just … icky?
It’s a generally-accepted fact that the very last thing a straight man would ever want to be caught doing is something gay-seeming! Although it might be worse to actually care about the person you committed to spend your life with – hard to tell from these commercials.
Sarcasm aside, it is possible to be funny and sell ice cream without implying that women are insufferable bores and being gay is wrong (and straight men can never show affection). This is lazy work, plain and simple. The Via Agency, the ad agency that Klondike hired to put together their re-branding campaign, should be ashamed.
I complained, I hope you do too. Tell Klondike you won’t be buying their products because of these spots. If you’re an advertising nerd like me and you’re opposed to the ads on multiple levels (not only are they sexist and homophobic, they’re unimaginatively so), you can also scold The Via Agency. Humor ain’t hard, people. Wise up or lose business.
Do you think these ads are worse than normal, or just more blatant? And who decided that all mint flavors must forever come in fluorescent green anyway? Technicolor is for TVs, not food. Sheesh.
It's hard to say whether these ads are worse or just more blatant – they're probably just about on par with most other advertisements, they just don't put forth any effort to conceal the sexism/homophobia/etc. that is so often used to sell products.
Does complaining to companies over ads yield anything other than a boilerplate condescending email?
I didn't even get that! But it did make me feel better. Much like yelling at kids to get off my lawn makes me feel better – kinda warm and fuzzy.
A shitty concept distilled down to its shitty core: a fat slob and his whiny, high maintenance wife. Congratulations Klondike Bar, you're dumber than an episode of "Yes, Dear"
It's interesting that you took it as 'gay-seeming' and I initially thought they were poking fun at men for not being able to express their feelings, I guess it's a perspective thing?
Even in the first one? In the second one, it could be taken as homophobic, or just as a feminine behavior that men aren't supposed to engage in (feminine = bad, mmkay?). Given the discourse going on in regards to gay marriage it's hard to take it any other way, though. Either way, dumb commercials. No likey! Would not do much for a Klondike bar. I always liked Eskimo pies better anyway.
I just lu-hove the part in the first where he looks constipated listening to plane Jane wifey then out pops hot cheerleader#1 & #2 with ice cream as his prize. it is remiss of beer commercials just offensive, rather than funny.. Heaven forbid they make the next commercial a mash up–> gay married women… that might be some advertising worth watching. Thank god for netflicks and not seeing a commercial for over a year.
You are so lucky to live commercial-free! This came on while the telly was muted, and honestly the dialogue adds nothing to it. It's odd to me how the wife and the "hot" chicks look pretty much the same – they're all conventionally attractive, the only difference is their outfits and the assumption that women somehow become boring post-marriage.
Rob! You discovered my secret internet home! How are you? Whatchya been up to? Not watching too much Yes, Dear, I hope?
The first one was equally as offensive to men and women. First, it's offensive to women to think that all they want to talk about is interior design. It's offensive to men to think no man wants to listen to his wife.It's lazy and plays on the most basic stereotypes. I'm more offended that somebody thought this was clever or funny and that somebody is getting paid money that approved this ad when they are clearly not qualified for their job.
I'm with you on this. I think it's almost more offensive to men than to women. This cliche representation of men as insensitive overgrown children is getting really old.
I didn't say it was more offensive to men, I said it was equally offensive. You're not agreeing with me if you think it's more offensive to men.
Miscommunication. The word "almost" is operative here.
Gotcha.
This seems complaint oversensitive to me. I can easily see how the first one could be seen as offensive, but I don't get the impression that it's a statement about women. It seems more like it's a statement about bad marriages, and it "just happened" to be the male who is the frustrated, inattentive one in the commercial.The second one, though, I can't really see as offensive. It's pretty clearly not making a statement about homosexuality or men in general. The two men are clearly stereotyped to be "rough-and-tumble" types, and it is true that people with that sort of machismo often have trouble expressing their emotions, especially with other men.
Looks like the Klondike (aka Unilever) comment site is down…
Drat. Let's hope it's because of the volume of complaints they're getting, and not some sinister web machinations!
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You really need to disable anonymous commenting. Think of it as closing the sluice gate to 4chan.And anon, this blog has readers and commentators. So someone obviously cares.