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LillyBoPeep -> RE: Hello from Vagina Land? WTF? (7/29/2011 8:39:44 AM)
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i don't think the necessity of the product is an issue; of course they aren't necessary, and of course they admit it. =p candy bars aren't necessary, neither are name-brand jeans. advertising works the way it does by shaming people into buying stuff in order to avoid living an inadequate life, or some other wacky line. but they advertise that way because it works.
but i do have issues with the silly commercials being run before harry potter because yeah -- now you've got a bunch of pre-teen girls who think they have something wrong with them that needs to be cleaned constantly -- hey, you can take those wipes on the go to make sure you're ALWAYS fresh! -- and pre-teen boys who probably won't ever really understand it because their parents won't talk to them about it, and they'll perpetuate the misconceptions.
that said, if people are properly educated about potential risks of douches, then sure, they've got the choice to use them. but i think people have issues with products advertised in this way because douches often do lead to more harm than good, doctors generally advise against them, but they're advertised as if you NEED them because your chick bits are really nasty and need to be kept fresh so people don't notice. =p it's a long-standing attitude towards women that many people adamantly believe should change, so they see advertising like this as misleading, offensive and divisive, thus the problem. how many cultures believe you're "unclean" after you have a period? i don't buy into the silly "almighty vagina!" line of thinking, but i do recognize a fairly recurring attitude that female genitalia/secretions/whatever are gross, while men reserve the right to expect to be able to ejaculate all over their partners, piss in the snow and write their names, etc etc. there are no special deodorants for sweaty balls, even though they sure could use them sometimes. =p what about guys with stinky urethral openings? =p should we invent a douche for them, too?
and then when the company throws racial stereotypes into it -- i mean what is even the point of that? it has nothing to do with the product at all, and their response and many of the responses in this thread leads me to believe that people just don't even know what racial stereotyping is. if they think it's funny it must be fine, and everyone else is just "over-reacting." you get a situation where you have white people deciding what is or is not "offensive" to non-whites, and judging non-whites by not responding favorably to their "sense of humor;" you can invalidate someone's entire opinion by just saying "you're playing the race card," even if what they're saying or complaining about is totally valid. those commercials aren't going to be funny to most people like me, because that is NOT how we see ourselves. but what it teaches us is that that is how YOU see us. (note, this is a "general you," not any specific you.) it creates an unnecessary environment of "us vs. them" and for what? to sell a couple more douches? =p seriously?
it's fucking asinine.
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