Shaming into Shaving
The other day I saw this ad.
Depending on who you are, you may find it offensive, uninteresting, funny, think people who find it offensive are bereft of humor and too sensitive, or whatever.
I'm annoyed, and slightly angry, with a dash of being offended.
See, one can claim, if one doesn't find it plain funny, that they're being tongue in cheek or satirical. But not really, since they are selling, and intending to make a profit on the product they would be mocking. They would be instead profiting, through exploitation, on the very image they would be, supposedly, calling bullshit on. Therfore, I reject any notion of social commentary or humor in the commercial, and therein lay the offense.
What this commercial instead feels like is when one who hardly knows you insults you and tries to pass it off as a joke. As if you were to say something like "I'm single" and they were to respond with "Of course you are, anyone would find you too ugly, fat, dull, and stupid to give you the time of day," and then call you humorless when you are hurt/angry/bewildered by the sudden insult.
While I feel this way, I'm willing to acknowledge it as a product of stupid advertisers who are perhaps trying to ride the outlandish, bordering on offensive humor line and failing.
This ad however, is a TOTALLY different story.
http://www.wilkinsonbutterflyeffect.co.uk/#film1-watch
I can't embed it so you have to click.
This ad makes me outright angry. Seething even. From beginning to end.
The first scene is the giant billboard asking if you've shaven your legs this morning. Fine, typical ad crap trying to make you feel bad that you don't shave your legs every day and are thus failing in your womanly duty. What. ever.
Next is a guy who doesn't give a shit what the woman wants. On the bus, he's trying to engage in as much PDA as he can, going as far as he can, regardless of the fact the girl is clearly uncomfortable with anything more than some kissing and hand holding.
No ad guys, don't stop there, lets really try and show that girl her place.
Ignoring her verbal plea of "No, Stop It," the guy puts his hand on her legs, exclaims "EUGHWWW" and pulls his hand away as if he's been burned by her invisible stubble (seemingly resulting from only having shaved YESTERDAY morning, and having the audacity to skip it today). Now Shock and horror! So disgusted he throws his burnt by hell-stubble behind him, trying to flick off the disease off his hand and smacks into a woman drinking coffee. She needs it cause she had to wake up early this morning to seek-and-destroy all the hair on her body, minus her scalp.
The poor woman, just being smacked in the face spills her coffee on the man before in front of her, who is now burned. He jumps up in natural reaction, creating a domino effect of people being knocked into eachother and falling. Eventually, this leads to a man eating breakfast, trying to be healthy, choking on his apple.Keep in mind the falling people in the aisle however. They keep flashing to a good looking girl pinned under a man, front to front. She is holding everyone up by being bent over backwards and holding onto seat handles while having this guy on her chest, as well as most of the bus. She's also noticeably been keeping her mouth shut through it all. She eventually can't hold on anymore, collapses backward sending people flying which dislodges the apple from the choking man, which gets spit into the drivers face, who crashes into the original billboard.
Everyone tries to settle themselves, picking up their belongings when a woman glares at the original woman with the stubble from hell. She is very very ashamed with herself (as if it was her fault the asshole A. couldn't take no for an answer, and B. couldn't handle a little stubble on a leg). Embarassed, she pulls down her skirt as far as she can over her legs. While still running her hand on her face, noticeably upset, she gets a text message which says, "Hey, every wished U just stayed in bed?!"
It ends with the words on the screen "Life is smoother with Wilkinson Sword. Free your skin."
This sword will enable you to free your skin from the beast of hell that is female bodily hair! We've shown you what it can do - almost kill a busload of people, ALL BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T SHAVE IT ALL OFF!! If you don't groom yourself severely, as all women should, stay in bed, don't leave the house. Be ashamed of yourself.
I don't shave often. My yearly tally has pretty much been in the single digits my whole life. I don't care for it and only shave when my legs will be bared by skirt or other such device. Sometimes I do it if they won't be seen, because I want to feel better about myself, hoping it will make me feel more put together. But it's all because I'm shamed into it.
I fully recognize that if I don't shave and show my legs publicly I will not be seen favorably by society. It is something women are expected to do. Be delecate. If you can't be bothered to wear make-up all the way to look pleasing and pretty, at least wear make-up to cover an uneven skin tone - especially blemishes. Do your hair. Be slim. Be hairless. Some rules are more important than others. And I really think, while people will judge you for not wearing make-up or having nice hair or being fat, I really think, that on someone they otherwise find unoffensive, that having hairy legs or armpits is one of the more egregious beauty sins a woman can commit. And it's horrible.
No, I don't shave to free my skin. I shave so I may be treated like a human. And it's wrong. Thank you Wilkinson, for making me more angry at the patriarchy than I have been all month.
Click to viewDepending on who you are, you may find it offensive, uninteresting, funny, think people who find it offensive are bereft of humor and too sensitive, or whatever.
I'm annoyed, and slightly angry, with a dash of being offended.
See, one can claim, if one doesn't find it plain funny, that they're being tongue in cheek or satirical. But not really, since they are selling, and intending to make a profit on the product they would be mocking. They would be instead profiting, through exploitation, on the very image they would be, supposedly, calling bullshit on. Therfore, I reject any notion of social commentary or humor in the commercial, and therein lay the offense.
What this commercial instead feels like is when one who hardly knows you insults you and tries to pass it off as a joke. As if you were to say something like "I'm single" and they were to respond with "Of course you are, anyone would find you too ugly, fat, dull, and stupid to give you the time of day," and then call you humorless when you are hurt/angry/bewildered by the sudden insult.
While I feel this way, I'm willing to acknowledge it as a product of stupid advertisers who are perhaps trying to ride the outlandish, bordering on offensive humor line and failing.
This ad however, is a TOTALLY different story.
http://www.wilkinsonbutterflyeffect.co.uk/#film1-watch
I can't embed it so you have to click.
This ad makes me outright angry. Seething even. From beginning to end.
The first scene is the giant billboard asking if you've shaven your legs this morning. Fine, typical ad crap trying to make you feel bad that you don't shave your legs every day and are thus failing in your womanly duty. What. ever.
Next is a guy who doesn't give a shit what the woman wants. On the bus, he's trying to engage in as much PDA as he can, going as far as he can, regardless of the fact the girl is clearly uncomfortable with anything more than some kissing and hand holding.
No ad guys, don't stop there, lets really try and show that girl her place.
Ignoring her verbal plea of "No, Stop It," the guy puts his hand on her legs, exclaims "EUGHWWW" and pulls his hand away as if he's been burned by her invisible stubble (seemingly resulting from only having shaved YESTERDAY morning, and having the audacity to skip it today). Now Shock and horror! So disgusted he throws his burnt by hell-stubble behind him, trying to flick off the disease off his hand and smacks into a woman drinking coffee. She needs it cause she had to wake up early this morning to seek-and-destroy all the hair on her body, minus her scalp.
The poor woman, just being smacked in the face spills her coffee on the man before in front of her, who is now burned. He jumps up in natural reaction, creating a domino effect of people being knocked into eachother and falling. Eventually, this leads to a man eating breakfast, trying to be healthy, choking on his apple.Keep in mind the falling people in the aisle however. They keep flashing to a good looking girl pinned under a man, front to front. She is holding everyone up by being bent over backwards and holding onto seat handles while having this guy on her chest, as well as most of the bus. She's also noticeably been keeping her mouth shut through it all. She eventually can't hold on anymore, collapses backward sending people flying which dislodges the apple from the choking man, which gets spit into the drivers face, who crashes into the original billboard.
Everyone tries to settle themselves, picking up their belongings when a woman glares at the original woman with the stubble from hell. She is very very ashamed with herself (as if it was her fault the asshole A. couldn't take no for an answer, and B. couldn't handle a little stubble on a leg). Embarassed, she pulls down her skirt as far as she can over her legs. While still running her hand on her face, noticeably upset, she gets a text message which says, "Hey, every wished U just stayed in bed?!"
It ends with the words on the screen "Life is smoother with Wilkinson Sword. Free your skin."
This sword will enable you to free your skin from the beast of hell that is female bodily hair! We've shown you what it can do - almost kill a busload of people, ALL BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T SHAVE IT ALL OFF!! If you don't groom yourself severely, as all women should, stay in bed, don't leave the house. Be ashamed of yourself.
I don't shave often. My yearly tally has pretty much been in the single digits my whole life. I don't care for it and only shave when my legs will be bared by skirt or other such device. Sometimes I do it if they won't be seen, because I want to feel better about myself, hoping it will make me feel more put together. But it's all because I'm shamed into it.
I fully recognize that if I don't shave and show my legs publicly I will not be seen favorably by society. It is something women are expected to do. Be delecate. If you can't be bothered to wear make-up all the way to look pleasing and pretty, at least wear make-up to cover an uneven skin tone - especially blemishes. Do your hair. Be slim. Be hairless. Some rules are more important than others. And I really think, while people will judge you for not wearing make-up or having nice hair or being fat, I really think, that on someone they otherwise find unoffensive, that having hairy legs or armpits is one of the more egregious beauty sins a woman can commit. And it's horrible.
No, I don't shave to free my skin. I shave so I may be treated like a human. And it's wrong. Thank you Wilkinson, for making me more angry at the patriarchy than I have been all month.