direct action: faster than usual
Back story, Method is doing some really creepy stuff in its latest ad campaign. I was alerted to it
via Shakesville.
Melissa of Shakesville, not one to sit still for such gobsmacking, bullshit fuckery, wrote Method a letter.
The next day, she got this response.
Incited by their invidious stupidity (I mean really, do you KNOW with whom you have messed? Shakesville's readership is sizable and more easily called to action than your average feminist blog readers), I called out "Rachel," "Katie," and "Anna" at Method with this email:
Dear Women Employees of Method:
I went to the store this morning in need of hand soap and dish liquid. Despite being a long time user and fan of your products, I passed over Method in favor of Mrs. Meyer's and Seventh Generation. Why? Because I'm also a reader of Shakesville, and your latest ad campaign, Melissa's letter and your condescending response to it inspired me to buy a product that can care about the environment and not sell out women in the process.
Ecology and women's rights are not mutually exclusive, as it happens. You want to be eco-friendly? Try being friendlier to women. We "bear the brunt" of environmental conditions, as CNN recently reported. Women are the harbingers and catalysts of change. We are more likely to adapt our eating, purchasing, and daily habits out of concern for the environment, perhaps because--whether we raise children or not--we are more deeply concerned about the planet we leave to the next generation than our male counterparts. Did you notice that bit about purchasing power? I know you did, because you know and I know that women make up the majority of your customers.
Soap bubbles leering at and heckling a woman in her own shower do not amuse me. I have, in fact, never found assault amusing. I receive this same kind of harassment every day while walking around NYC, conducting my daily responsibilities. It's terrifying, actually; it numbs me to a daily terror in which I must acknowledge that I am no match for a male attacker, should one decide to use more than words against me. My home is a safe space where I am not subject to this kind of damaging, diminishing behavior. You advert seems to say that, unless I buy your product, I'm leaving myself wide open to more of the same, in chemical form. Not only is that moronic, it's flippant. I am a survivor of molestation and rape, and to see the mindset of rape culture displayed in a commercial for cleaning products aches. To Method, my suffering is a joke. The abuse of women--our treatment as the world's second class citizen--is just a clever way to illustrate the dangers of chemical residue. You'll excuse me if I don't rush off to protect my delicate self by buying your oh-so-safe products.
As women, you should know better than to shill cleaning products by downplaying our collective disrespect and abuse. Thanks, Women of Method. Thanks for this time honored Uncle Tom move that has once again sold out your sisters.
Sincerely,
Kate
Know what blows my mind? Getting an about face from their PR Dept. about nine hours after I sent my message. Check it out:
Dear Kate,
Thank you for your sincere feedback about our “Shiny Suds” video. It was not at all our intent to offend or promote any form of harassment. We understand the concerns associated with our video and have removed it from YouTube and all other controlled sources.
Method is a group of women and men who care about our planet, but first and foremost about people. The purpose of this campaign was to raise awareness for transparency in cleaning product ingredients, to which we remain committed.
We continue to learn, and we appreciate the fact that you took the time to reach out to us.
Our sincerest thanks,
Rachel
Method public relations
And while I'm not pleased that my message wasn't directly addressed (in faith that women were actually behind the bs responses, I straight dope called them Uncle Toms for gawdsakes), I am quite happy with the end result: THEY PULLED THE AD!!! That, my friends, is some direction action on speed. I wonder how many letters of this sort they received today, and of those, how many were from Shakesville readers...
via Shakesville.
Melissa of Shakesville, not one to sit still for such gobsmacking, bullshit fuckery, wrote Method a letter.
The next day, she got this response.
Incited by their invidious stupidity (I mean really, do you KNOW with whom you have messed? Shakesville's readership is sizable and more easily called to action than your average feminist blog readers), I called out "Rachel," "Katie," and "Anna" at Method with this email:
Dear Women Employees of Method:
I went to the store this morning in need of hand soap and dish liquid. Despite being a long time user and fan of your products, I passed over Method in favor of Mrs. Meyer's and Seventh Generation. Why? Because I'm also a reader of Shakesville, and your latest ad campaign, Melissa's letter and your condescending response to it inspired me to buy a product that can care about the environment and not sell out women in the process.
Ecology and women's rights are not mutually exclusive, as it happens. You want to be eco-friendly? Try being friendlier to women. We "bear the brunt" of environmental conditions, as CNN recently reported. Women are the harbingers and catalysts of change. We are more likely to adapt our eating, purchasing, and daily habits out of concern for the environment, perhaps because--whether we raise children or not--we are more deeply concerned about the planet we leave to the next generation than our male counterparts. Did you notice that bit about purchasing power? I know you did, because you know and I know that women make up the majority of your customers.
Soap bubbles leering at and heckling a woman in her own shower do not amuse me. I have, in fact, never found assault amusing. I receive this same kind of harassment every day while walking around NYC, conducting my daily responsibilities. It's terrifying, actually; it numbs me to a daily terror in which I must acknowledge that I am no match for a male attacker, should one decide to use more than words against me. My home is a safe space where I am not subject to this kind of damaging, diminishing behavior. You advert seems to say that, unless I buy your product, I'm leaving myself wide open to more of the same, in chemical form. Not only is that moronic, it's flippant. I am a survivor of molestation and rape, and to see the mindset of rape culture displayed in a commercial for cleaning products aches. To Method, my suffering is a joke. The abuse of women--our treatment as the world's second class citizen--is just a clever way to illustrate the dangers of chemical residue. You'll excuse me if I don't rush off to protect my delicate self by buying your oh-so-safe products.
As women, you should know better than to shill cleaning products by downplaying our collective disrespect and abuse. Thanks, Women of Method. Thanks for this time honored Uncle Tom move that has once again sold out your sisters.
Sincerely,
Kate
Know what blows my mind? Getting an about face from their PR Dept. about nine hours after I sent my message. Check it out:
Dear Kate,
Thank you for your sincere feedback about our “Shiny Suds” video. It was not at all our intent to offend or promote any form of harassment. We understand the concerns associated with our video and have removed it from YouTube and all other controlled sources.
Method is a group of women and men who care about our planet, but first and foremost about people. The purpose of this campaign was to raise awareness for transparency in cleaning product ingredients, to which we remain committed.
We continue to learn, and we appreciate the fact that you took the time to reach out to us.
Our sincerest thanks,
Rachel
Method public relations
And while I'm not pleased that my message wasn't directly addressed (in faith that women were actually behind the bs responses, I straight dope called them Uncle Toms for gawdsakes), I am quite happy with the end result: THEY PULLED THE AD!!! That, my friends, is some direction action on speed. I wonder how many letters of this sort they received today, and of those, how many were from Shakesville readers...