Reebok Ad Rant
December 11, 2009
by Constance Holmes
|The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
Every now and then, usually when I’m least expecting it, I am hit in the face with an ad campaign that absolutely stuns me with its misguided offensiveness. That happened last week when I was watching Vampire Diaries with my girls and had the latest Reebok Easy Tone ad campaign shoved in my face. If you are lucky enough to have missed this series of ads here is how it was described by the Parents Television Council:
One Easy Tone ad featured a woman clad in sports bra and exercise shorts talking, as the camera continually strayed from her face to her rear. “Are you listening to me?” she asks, as the camera zooms in on her derriere, which supposedly was made more shapely by the shoes. The newest ad is far more explicit: throughout, the camera is literally inches from a woman’s bra-clad breasts. Voice-overs suggest that the breasts are conversing with one another, complaining about the fact that they are no longer ogled due to the fact that the woman’s “stupid butt gets all the attention now. She’s so tight now, so round, so pretty!” “Make your boobs jealous!” blares an announcer.
Here’s one of the ads:
If the goal of this ad was to make me TIVO everything I watch so I can skip all the ads and boycott Reebok, it was successful. These ads are offensive to me on so many levels that I don’t even know where to start, but I’ll try.
- I exercise for fun and my health but this ad states women exercise to gain male approval of their bodies.
- This type ad implies that female sexuality doesn’t exist in the absence of male approval which strikes me as outrageous.
- During this entire ad the camera is ogling a woman whose face is never shown. I don’t ogle women and I don’t like being forced to do so by a commercial. It is beyond creepy.
- Why does Corporate America always go with a male view of sex even when they are trying to sell to women? I am not a prude and I don’t care if Corporate America wants to use sex to sell to me. But I am a woman and I am attracted to good looking MEN not women. Figure it out!
- I am sick of the male generated cultural concept that female sexual fantasies consist of how best to conform to male sexual fantasies and standards. This idea is old, it’s stale, and it was never true. Women actually have their own very rich and often very visual sexual fantasies.
Women are 52% of the population and it is said we make 80% of all purchasing decisions. Is it too much to ask that Corporate America stop offending us with their advertising? Here is an idea which Corporate America can use to stop the negative branding and lost sales caused by these misguided ads. Next time the marketing department comes up with a new ad (as if T&A advertising is new) test it out on a group of actual average women before you pay to run with it. Do not ask a bunch of old men what women will think. Do not ask gay men what women will think. Do not even ask a group of women who make money from telling corporate men what they want to hear, to tell you what average women think. Ask women what they think of your advertisements. Then listen to what they tell you and act on it. How hard is that?
Oh thank Goddess! I did not see that one.
And after your description, I won’t be watching it here either.
Gag me with a soup ladle.
I was creeped out and turned off by this ad in so many ways. i’ll never look at sneakers the same way again. I don’t even think I can ever get a pair again. BTW Way to give men permission to ogle the next woman in running shoes and work out clothes.
Ditto on the gagging SYD. This is one of the worst ads I’ve seen in years, very creepy indeed. They really think this ad will make WOMEN want to buy their shoes? Ugh!
Women are really going backwards. I was recently noticing how Palin has been reduced to a pair of legs and how Michelle Obama is just a pair of arms. As a woman right now, you get to be a skin color, a body part, a uterus, or apparently a rear end, but forget full human status. We have been completely disembodied.
I have to laugh about this ad though, because if you are really hearing voices coming from your boobs, the patriarchy has finally driven you insane. You don’t need new shoes, you’re going to need some professional support.
I watched it muted. The whole time, I thought it was a lingerie commercial. Not once do we see the woman’s feet.
Does this call for an action alert? To protest Reebok:
http://www.reebok.com/US/custo.....contact-us
Thia it’s surprising that these neanderthals truly believe that a woman’s goal is to have herself a shapely ass and a pair of boobies to get attention from the men.
now are they trying to sell their fantasy, or shoes?
if men were really paying attention to what women want, they would -go away-
I’m just stunned that an ad campaign aimed at women would be so blatantly sexist. It’s flat out insulting. Are the ads aimed at men in the hopes that, as a holiday gift, they’ll buy the shoes that are never shown? Reebok should fire their ad agency. This is just stupid, stupid, stupid. And as a fitness consumer, I’m scratching Reebok off of my list. Pigs!
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“Why does Corporate America always go with a male view of sex even
when they are trying to sell to women? I am not a prude and I
don’t care if Corporate America wants to use sex to sell to me.
But I am a woman and I am attracted to good looking MEN not women.
Figure it out!”
This is apparently more challenging for them than goddamned nuclear physics.
Because there is a complete disconnect. They do not grasp that they are speaking to the very audience that they are insulting. Totally imprisoned by their world view. Let’s stop buying Reebok products–pockets and bank accounts are the only areas were some folks have nerve endings.
I’ve met some talking boobs in my life, but none of them were ever attached to women.
thanks for the web site. just told them that i am not going to buy any reebok products for my family any more.
samanthasmom,
Bah-da-boom. That was a good one! Obviously, there are a lot of boobs working at Reebok.
Janis wrote: “Why does Corporate America always go with a male view of sex even
when they are trying to sell to women?”
The reason is simple, Janis. Men write the ads, men approve the ads. As much as women do not want to admit it, boys and men STUFF THEMSELVES WITH ONLINE PORN. They are now being raised with a pornographer’s view of girls & women. That’s the new (misogynic) norm. Most women haven’t woken up to this, because the world of porn isn’t our world. But it’s our reality because we live with the effects of it.
I’d like to see some prominent female athletes come out against these Reebok ads. Dara Torres? Martina? c’mon, we need strong female role models calling this out.
O/T but the Rifqa Bary case just had a horrifying developement: The CAIR attorneys representing her muslim parents want all the Christmas cards sent to her SEIZED! This has been the only communication allowed to this 17-year old Christian who is facing possibly being returned to her parents by the Ohio court, despite threats made to her by her father and the obvious potential danger of being “honor-killed” she’ll face. We were all horrified about the beheading of the Aasiya Zubair Hassan in Buffalo last year. Will we stand by and wait to see if this will happen to Rifqa?
Will we do nothing because we “don’t want to get in any issues involving Islam”?
Are we that cowered already?
I’ve seen nothing on this site about the Rifqa Bary case and our silence (“the silence of good men”) is allowing CAIR to escalate their attack on Bary’s freedom. Will our silence ultimately enable the taking of her life? Do we want to wait to find out?
HELLO? CAN I HEAR MORE THAN CRICKETS ON THIS ISSUE?
Scroogle Atlasshrugs for details!
“the silence of good men” refers to the quote about evil. Evil can only be enacted when good men remain silent, paraphrased.
Will we remain silent and leave the fate of 17-year old Rifqa up to our notorious patriarchal justice system?
Will we simply turn our heads because it is conveient to do so?
Is someone here DOUBTING that what Rifqa says is true?
This is the REAL THING, women. Who are we REALLY? What do we stand for REALLY? Are we only feminists when we can complain from a safe distance???
Or do we have the wherewithall to take stands on REAL ISSUES THAT IMPERIL REAL WOMEN?
Annie -
I was under the impression that since she is almost 18 the courts were going to just make the motions until August, but that she wouldn’t be sent home. Has something changed?
Thia, Rifqa will not turn 18 until August 10th. CAIR is already attempting to tighten the screws: They just made a motion to SEIZE any mail being sent to her and STOP any further delivery of mail.
In effect, they’re attempting cutting off every contact she has to the “outside world”(I don’t know what she’s doing about school). She already has no phone or internet access..
I don’t know what gave you the impression “the courts were going to wait…” – her parents CAIR lawyers are taking active measures to restrict Rifqa’s freedom even more. Rifqa herself lives in uncertainty.
This is a time she should be applying to universities and putting her all into one last high school year. Instead she’s being shuffled around and isolated. Can we count on any court to do the right thing by her? Can we afford to remain passive bystanders on this issue?
[...] Could this be any creepier? Does this remind anyone else of the recent creepy Reebok ad? I know I keep using creepy as a descriptor, but until the hair on the back of my neck goes down, [...]
[...] also at The New Agenda: Reebok Ad Rant Terry Tate and Reebok: Knocking Governor Palin Unconscious (this is [...]
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