still more comercials
Ok, don’t know why I have been so obsessed with commercials these past few entries. Might be because I don’t own a television and I so rarely see any.
Anyway, there are two French public service announcements on the line up this time. http://www.devilducky.com/media/30912/ and http://www.devilducky.com/media/45030/
There are lots of problems in both of these spots. And I will get to the main issue shortly. But first let me clear out some of the less anoying problems.
First there is the reenforcement of negative stereotypes. Black men have a giant penis. Gay men play with dolls as kids. But it gets worse than that.
There is also the preachyness about relationship types. Its almost an insult to call a couple ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ but instead of being rightly criticized, the ads hold this unrealistic idea up on a pedestal. That somehow the happy marriage with a house in the suburbs is the happy ending everyone should want and that all other relationships are somehow less meaningful than that one extreme. Heck, the first one even shows the woman at the end walking in the rain looking longingly at other “committed couples†as if that was something to be envious of.
But whats really offensive is how they portray BDSM in both cases. The first has the lead character facing a man in a leather mask, chest harness, and sex toys. The second involves a heavy thick rubber glove clearly implying a kinky undertone. In each case the main character is seen fleeing for their life after this encounter.
This is just another of the commercials hateful stereotypes. That somehow if your involved in BDSM that makes you someone who should be fled from. That anyone into BDSM is unstable at best, and dangerous at worst.
How can they get away with painting BDSM in such a negative light?
Duh! Its fairly obvious how they can get away with it. Cause the “use a condom to prevent aids†message cancels out everything else. As I pointed out with the IKEA commercials from the last entry, media portraits of BDSM as positive are accused of being negative toward BDSM almost out of habit. But a commercial that actually is portraying BDSM as a negative gets a free pass.
People stick their heads in the sand and ignoring actually negative portraits of BDSM like in these two French commercials. As long as it serves a “higher good†then its ok to bash and degrade BDSM as much as you like.
That is realy the most offensive thing about these ads.