"Lisa" ad...Blaming the victim... an update...

So I was really, really pleased to find out a few weeks ago that I am not the only one who is mad about this ad campaign and who is blogging about it. I discovered a wonderful blog called The Hand Mirror (thanks Nikki).
The women on that blog were equally ouraged by this atrocious ad and started writing letters to ALAC and ASA asking for answers and for the ad to be pulled. They of course got basically the brush off from ALAC. The subject raised a lot of discourse on the site and many women came forward to share thier stories.
They started a Facebook group about it, which I encourage you to join.
The latest movement on the subject was that bFM did a whole show on it on their show The Wire. Which I thought was brilliant...
If you want to follow the whole saga HERE is a link that takes you to most of The Hand Mirrors posts about the "Lisa" ad, including links to the bFM podcasts of The Wire which are well worth listening to. Also from that link, they have link to other blogs in the NZ feminist blogsphere that have written on the subject. Check them out...

NOW, here is an interesting development. I was watching an old video tape today. I think it was from around 1997 (there was an ad for Men in Black ;)) and on those old video tapes are old ads. Well one of the first ones I spotted was an ALAC ad. Can you see where I am going with this??
The ad starts with a pair of teenage girls entering a typical wild teen party. They drink, they dance, they flirt, the action start to follow one girl in particular who is shown drinking more and more. She and a young man fall drunkenly into a bedroom, she ends up on the bed, the boy gets on top of her, she tries to fight him off but passes out...the ad shows the boy unzipping her dress at that point the ad pauses then rewinds to a shot of the girl having a drink and the words "Where's that drink taking you?" are emblazoned across the screen.

So again, 10 years earlier ALAC has already done this - created an advertising campaing that single-handedly blames the victim, alienates rape/sexual-assualt victims, and is bloody-mindedly sexist.
I can't seem to find this ad online anywhere or reference to it anywhere on ALAC's site. But after viewing it I remembered it and the other ones in the series (oh there is always a series).

No wonder rape/sexual assault is the most underreported crime in the country with messages like that being bandied about. Who wants to walk into the police station or hospital and here "You were drunk! You were asking for it!!" ?

WTF!! Another fucking thing that has to be pretty?!?!?

I am so annoyed right now. Why? I just saw the stupid Dove Deodorant "sleeveless ready" ad.
Goddamnitt, is there no end to the things we females are 'supposed' to make look pretty to mingle with general society. I have NEVER heard of 'sleeveless ready' before and I have read A LOT of Cosmos. Are thier people that actually won't wear a singlet in public becuase they don't think their underarms are nice enough?
Or is this another clever marketting device targetting womens low self-esteem about their bodies?
So now after my boob job, tummy tuck, botox and lip job. After my mani, pedi and facial. After my high heeled shoes and gym membership I am supposed to fucking make my armpits look lovely before donning after a tank top!???!?

I like my armpits big and bushy so perhaps I am missing something. But seriously. Have you ever even thought about being 'sleeveless ready'??

It is also a let-down as I quite like Dove and the efforts they are making through their Campaign for Real Beauty and their Self-Esteem Fund. But this seems like it really going in the oppisite direction.

Ladies our slef-esteem does not reside in our armpits. Although I did used to be proud flashing around my pits when they were nice and hairy ;)

Lynx Commercials are the bane of my existance

Well not really, but they come pretty close...

Check out this latest one, screening in New Zealand as we speak...



Really? Two otherwise fine women, run into each at speed, EXPLODE and who emerges from the dust...The sexed-up and presumably 'better' version of the two women, morphed into one, hot on the tail of "Scooter-Goober. PUH-leese!! Give us a break. I don't even know where to start.

Even Zach hates this ad.

I just wanted to say too, whoever works for Lynx must waste more time sitting around dreaming up sexist ad campaings then making new products. "Really, just mix the 2 together! Its a whole new smell!". gaaa!

Blame the Victim

A series of 'shocking' ads recently started screening on TV here in NZ. The tag line is "Its not the drinking, its how we're drinking".
New Zealand is pretty well-known for using graphic images and shock-tactics in advertising when it comes to a 'cause" ie drunk-driving, speeding, smoking etc.... (Who could forget this one?)

There is a couple ads in the series that are very hard to watch. The one that I find most horrible is the one entitled "Lisa".
I follows a young conservative looking woman over the course of an evening. In the beginning she looks fresh from the office and tentatively sips on a wine. By the middle her hair is messed and she is skulling wine and dancing. The end shows her being practically dragged down an alley (she can't walk) by a very evil looking man whose intent seems to be to rape her.

here it is for you to check out....



The big problem I have with this ad is that it is victim-blaming. Woman always get the blame for their own rape. Always. They are always "asking for it" in one way or another. Seeing this attitude pervade to every inch of our culture is so sickening to me.
I also think that this ad is cheeky on the heels of the Tea Ropati trial . Here was a woman who was raped. She was brave enough to bring her rapist to trial and he got off. Because she was drunk and 'probably' wanted to.
This ad is just enforcing these horrible ideas that women are the only one responsible for "getting themselves into trouble".

I think the money on this ad would have been better spent on a campaign focused on men who think its ok to rape ! I mean, don't you think?
How about an ad, telling people that if she can't stand up then you can't have sex with her.

Maybe its time we remind everyone what exactly is rape?

No, means no!
If she say no, and you proceed, its rape.
If you start having sex and she changes her mind and you proceed, its rape.
If you are married/partnered/going out/dating and she says no and you proceed, its rape.
If she is asleep and you have sex, its rape.
If she is too intoxicated/passed out, its rape.

Those are just a few examples, but examples I think people need to understand more.

Anyway, I hate that ad and I think it needs to be taken off the air.