Filed under Advertising …

Meat and metaphors

The wonderful Jenna Sauers of Jezebel posted recently on PETA’s attempts to be edgy and arresting in their support of animals at the expense of women, minorities, and basically all people except thin white patriarchy-lovin’ youngsters. Jenna outlined some of PETA’s worst antifeminist offenses — equating women with meat, putting them in cages, building campaigns … Continue reading »

In which I am defeated by a billboard

I hate this ad. I stood waiting for a bus the other day while another bus idled in front of me. It had this ad on the side, bigger than life. I stared at this passive, anonymous woman, done up all ’80s-retro so you can pretend she’s not even in the present, much less someone … Continue reading »

Whom we talk to when we talk about fat

I would really love to ignore PETA, just in general, and their latest fat-hating billboard in particular. But there’s something about this one I haven’t yet seen addressed in the various denunciations of it*: the language. Specifically, that the “lose the blubber” bit is talking to fat people, but the “SAVE THE WHALES” bit is … Continue reading »

The End of ‘Results Not Typical’?

Tari just Twittered about this, and I see Rachel’s already covered it in-depth. I am giddy. Updated guidelines on ad endorsements and testimonials under final review by the Federal Trade Commission—and widely expected to be adopted—would end marketers’ ability to talk up the extreme benefits of products while carrying disclaimers like “results not typical” or “individual … Continue reading »

Read ‘Em

There are about a gazillion things we’ve missed in the last week, so it’s round-up time. First, though, I have a favor to ask of anyone who can swing it. Al’s friend Peter lost his job last July. He and his partner of 20+ years, Ericka, are now in danger of losing their house — … Continue reading »

Pop Quiz

Which Fat Barbie image do you think is more likely to have a positive effect on children’s health? This one (via Jezebel), with the tag line, “Keep obesity away from your child!”   Or, say, this one, with the tag line, “There are 3 billion women in the world who don’t look like supermodels, and only … Continue reading »

WTF of the day: Fling candy bars

Andy Wright at Mother Jones nails everything wrong with Mars’s new candy bars for the lady market so perfectly, I can’t even add anything. I can only quote: Predictably, one of the hot selling points for the Fling bar is that “at under 85 calories per finger, it’s slim, but not skinny. Indulgent but not greedy. … Continue reading »

A Whole New Kind of Headless Fatty

Y’all, this is unbelievable. Yesterday, I got an e-mail from Shapeling Damanique about an ad she saw in a train station in the Netherlands. Writes Damanique (who also goes by Danielle around here): “The idea behind this ad: the fat lady gets distracted by a bag of candy, ‘loses her head’, and people could see … Continue reading »