A billboard I spotted here in Denver yesterday.
![[Image: 6030268155_229cb56ace.jpg]](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6135/6030268155_229cb56ace.jpg)
Is it wrong to find this offensive by
cmdrjlc, on Flickr
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"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
Well, the only thing wrong I could see being is the implication that either "he" got rid (i.e. gave to goodwill) of his action figures because he got a girlfriend; or he got a girlfriend because he got rid of his action figures. I guess the assumption is that any guy with action figures are not "man" enough to get a girlfriend. It's not really obscenely or obviously offensive, but it certainly isn't a 'clean' ad.
I think it's a case for Your Mileage May Vary, but I think they could have done better.
---
The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."
>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI
Looks to be another case of Let's Make Fun Of The Geeks to me. Insulting and generally insensitive, but hey, since no gays or blacks were mentioned it's not hateful, right?
That was sarcasm, in case you missed it. Yes, I find this offensive. And pretty typical.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
I could go on a long rant about how offensive I find the whole concept of looking for offensiveness when it's obviously not intended that way -- really, what advertiser *wants* to offend anybody? -- but I won't.
Instead: No, not offensive. Thoughtless, perhaps. Maybe. Kind of amusing, in a I-shouldn't-laugh-at-that kind of way. But not offensive.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
I have to concur with Spud on this... I personally infered that he gave the action figures to Goodwill BECAUSE he got a girlfriend, not the other way around.
Which to me takes a lot of the sting out of it since he clearly wasnt a serious geek to me. (nor the inverse, really... no serious geek would ever consider giving away his collectables just to get a girl)
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by
Echo's Children
I chose to take it humorously 2 ways:
1) He got a girlfriend, who secretly donated his Action Figures.
2) He sacrificed his action figures to the GoodWill god who magically granted him a girlfriend.
Wiredgeek Wrote:I'm thinking of Ops and Uni.. I wonder which one of them has more action figures..
On hand at the house, or total? Because I've still yet to bite the bullet and get the rest of the collection shipped halfway across the continent, so, I think I miiiiiiight edge her out there.
As to whether it's offensive? Enh. But then, I admit that I've had this particular hide toughened over the years, so maybe I'm just thick(-er) skinned?
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
I'm pretty thick-skinned on the matter, having dealt with this kind of attitude for more than 30 years, but frankly, I find it a) tiresome, b) unoriginal, and c) offensive. Whether or not that opinion of its offense translates to other geeks is entirely their lookout; I don't presume. I get very tired of the "Let's make fun of a social minority" type of humor, whether it's in advertising or sitcoms. Every time I think people have figured out that people are just people, they trot this shit out and no one says "boo" about it.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
It seems pretty clear to me that the ad is saying (in essence):
"Dude got himself a girlfriend and doesn't want his toys anymore. He gave them to us. You want?"
Where is this offensive?
If, on the other hand, you're *looking* to be offended, you could read it as an attack against geeks or those who like action figures. But I had to reread it several times to come to that conclusion, and it's flimsy at best.
They could have conveyed the message better, more cleverly; I fully admit this. But nowhere does this strike me as mocking any social minority.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
I'll admit, my skin is probably thinner than most, but I also don't hide what I am, and I've got a bunch of geeky friends to hang out with anyway.
On the other hand... BEST case this shouldn't be funny at all. I certainly don't find it that way.
On the gripping hand, I do work in the printing industry, which is involved in communications... and you have to be careful upon who you step with a given ad. This doesn't clear that particular data point with me, even if it's in jest. Leave this sort of thing to professional comedians, please.
--
"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
Dilligaf.
People's skin is too thin these days. Only reason to get offended is if you think you can get some cash and fame out of the court settlement.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Sofaspud Wrote:It seems pretty clear to me that the ad is saying (in essence):
"Dude got himself a girlfriend and doesn't want his toys anymore. He gave them to us. You want?"
Where is this offensive?
Turn it around. Instead of "He finally got a girlfriend. We got his action figures." make it "She finally got a boyfriend. We got her romance novels." Would they be able to run that in the same place they ran the actual billboard?
If yes, then there's nothing offensive. If no, then they're both offensive.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Behold, The Mirror Test!
Use it frequently, use it often - in any gender specific statement, media, situation, joke, ad, subtext, context, text message. If you swap the genders, does it still amuse or entertain?
No?
OK.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
I still fail to see how the provided, mirrored, example, is in any way offensive.
I never said it wasn't dumb (either direction).
As I stated, I think that you'd have to be looking to be offended to find this offensive.
Look, I know from offensive, okay? I know how to tell if something is truly offensive -- to someone besides myself, even! And the only way this particular example comes up smelling offensive to me is when I deliberately assume it's malicious and targeted.
If they'd said "He finally grew up. We have his toys."? That'd be offensive. (Or substitute "she", works either way.)
If they'd said "Don't be this guy. Give us your old toys." while showing a picture of some sad anorak clutching his mint-condition boxset, that'd be offensive.
*This* ad demonstrates a good thing -- guy (or girl!) found him/herself an SO -- the ad implies after a long search, even -- and considers them more important than his/her action figures, so gave them to Goodwill.
How is this offensive, again?
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
I think at least some people are seeing "He finally grew up" as being implied. Which leads to the offensive.
Maybe *I'm* making too many inferences, but my mind is taking it and producing "He got rid of important parts of his past after getting/in order to get a girlfriend." (I can come up with several reasons to keep around one's old toys as an adult, including with the idea of passing them down to one's future offspring. But if someone is keeping them around directly for themself, I read that as them having some more direct personal significance.)
That isn't so much offensive as kind of creepy.
-Morgan.
There is another factor. There's a profound implication that having a loving relationship is somehow incompatible with having a collection of what most people view as "toys".
--
"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
Quote:There's a profound implication that having a loving relationship is
somehow incompatible with having a collection of what most people view
as "toys"
Nope... not going to go there....
Quote:Behold, The Mirror Test!
I think a better comparison than "romance novels" might be, "She got a boyfriend, we got her collection of Victorian porcelain dolls".
But to be honest, I'm not sure I see the offensive anywhere in this either. Stand-up comedian level snark, maybe, but offense? Not so much.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Rev Dark Wrote:Quote:There's a profound implication that having a loving relationship is
somehow incompatible with having a collection of what most people view
as "toys"
Nope... not going to go there....
You _completely_ went there by saying you weren't going to go there.
It also caused me to think, after reading Bob's comment:
"Victorian porcelain dolls" is _that_ what they're calling them these days?
Porcelain in such a context strikes me as a spectacularly bad idea.
-Morgan. Although far from the worst I've run into, I'm sure...
Barbies didn't quite seem to be the same type of toy, so...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
