Commercial rant time...

[Convincing John]

You're right, the gender divide for kid's commercials is pretty innocent. There's nothing wrong with it when you have a certain product to advertise that appeals to one specific gender. Some things appeal to one gender, some to another. But some products would appeal to both, which is why you see both boys and girls saying "Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids!" and stuff like that.

Convincing John

 

[Drtooth]

You're right, the gender divide for kid's commercials is pretty innocent. There's nothing wrong with it when you have a certain product to advertise that appeals to one specific gender. Some things appeal to one gender, some to another.

Can I chime in to say most of the TMNT fans I know are women? It's true! Heck, I'm seeing more girls wearing TMNT and Transformer T-Shirts than Care Bears and My Little Pony T-shirts. Let's not forget that classic Sesame Street skit: Guys and Dolls

But some products would appeal to both, which is why you see both boys and girls saying "Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids!" and stuff like that.

Trix ARE for kids, man... you ever try feeding that to an animal, an' you should have to clean up after him. here's something that bugs me... how the heck come he's on the box when they refuse to let him have any?

 

[Convincing John]

Yeah! Guys and Dolls! I remember that song. Herry rocks.

As for the rabbit...y'got me why they put him on the box if he can't get any of the cereal. (The same could be said for the Cookie Crook from Cookie Crisp, I guess).

They did...just ONCE let the rabbit have some Trix. Just once, but never again after that. Kids voted on it back in the early 1990s whether or not the rabbit should finally get a bowl of Trix and "yes" won by a landslide.

Convincing John

 

[RedPiggy]

My commercial rants:

1. Bob. I never really liked the "porn-though-we're-not-showing-anything" commercials, but the REALLY offensive one was the "Santa" one. As if poor mall Santas aren't considered suspicious enough because it entices little kids to sit on some strange guy's lap. I would agree to ANYTHING to get those off the air. I want that sicko smile wiped off that guy's face permanently. *shudders*

2. Any of the "selfishness" cereal commercials. I don't care if you're taking it from a bunny, a rooster, or a leprechaun ... why are we teaching our children it's okay to steal from others or horde stuff and not share?

3. One of those Nutrasystem commercials where a woman boasts that her husband, after she lost some weight, treats her like a trophy wife. Is that a compliment? I noticed after a few runs of that, they tweaked the dialogue slightly, but it's still offensive.

 

[Drtooth]

The first and second ones are what my thread is all about. Risky meds and fatphobia. I HATE HATE HATED those Bob commercials... but at least they didn't spit all over the legacy of a musician against his family's wishes... like the Viva Viagra ads. Really... Elvis's widow and daughter were pretty upset, and couldn't do anything about it... which is a prime example I always bring up when it comes to music rights.

I don't want to get into it, but you can show ads for medicine for that stuff, but you can't have a PSA about it.

Plus, Bob's wife is pretty... ugly lookin'. No wonder.

And I really hate how diet commercials are treated. Sure... sometimes they'll show someone that lost significant weight... sometimes someone that lost over 100 pounds. But usually, they'll talk to aging women with an army of children who lost 10-20 pounds and look like twigs trying to desperately cling to whatever youth they had. One looked especially like Kinkotsuman (or, for people who don't get that joke, Jack Skellington). And they all whine about how they feel so fat. And I think that just makes people with significant weight to lose feel worse about themselves.

 

[RedPiggy]

My favorite are commercials that advertise exercise equipment, where they use super buff bodies ... and you dang well those folks didn't get that way from a product that's only been out for maybe a year. All the before pictures are, or at least appear to be, from the 80s. Well, yeah, after 30 years, you'd expect some results.

 

[bazooka_beak]

^ Oh, those are funny. I'm like "no way you can get LIKE THAT just from swishing back and forth for awhile."

 

[D'Snowth]

Okay, as a fat person, you know what commercials I hate?

AVERAGE PERSON: Hey, what does your special combo meal come with?
CASHIER: Bloated feelings, regret, remorse, self-pity, loss of self esteem, loss of self confidence, loss of boyfriend/girlfriend, bigger clothes, costly gym memberships, airplane seatbelt extenders, diety books, extra-strength deodorant, and a therapist to take care of it all.

Now what is that supposed to insinuate in such a comedic manner? I mean, okay, I can relate with loss of self esteem and self confidence and what not... but things like "extra-strength deodorant"? Is that suggesting that all fat people have bad body odor problems? Or is that the stereotype that fat people sweat 24/7? "Loss of boyfriend/girlfriend"? Um, there are a LOT of men out there who like women with some meat on their bones... if you ask me, being painfully thin that you're literally anorexic because society says that's acceptable is NOT appealing; I was mad as Elmo when the media went all "OMG! JESSICA SIMPSON IS SO FAT NOW! OMG, HOW DISGUSTING SHE'S FAT!" She put on a FEW pounds, she looked like she was at a healthy weight, and here's the media saying that THIS isn't acceptable! THIS is why we have so many fat people out there KILLING THEMSELVES to try to be like 2 pounds at weight just so they will be considered acceptable because the media praises the pencil-thin type. THIS is why fat people are in therapy, but that is NOT funny, like they were trying to poke fun of.

 

[Drtooth]

Snowth.... I could give you a 50 page rant about this subject matter... but here's what I have to say in a much shorter manner...

Making fun of Fatty... oh YEAH... that helps them lose a lot of weight. It DEFINITELY doesn't make them lock themselves in the basement with a box of cupcakes to dull the pain and muffle their sobs.

If Subway wants to go back on the whole If you eat fast food, as opposed to nitrate filled luncheon meats (which both can kill you), you'll gain weight thing, they should go back to that Jared guy. And really, that South Park episode pretty much handed Jared his thin butt to him. Jared ate the low fat turkey sub with NO toppings and had aides help him work out and get to a target weight.

But this is the same crap I expect from a society that LOVES their Biggest Loser show and wants to pull food out of people's mouths because they're somehow disgusted by their appearance... not because they genuinely care about their weight or health. No... they just don't like looking at gross looking people.

It all goes back to what I'm saying... we tell people it's okay if you're almost visibly overweight, but when you're 10 pounds over the "normal weight", you're automatically the fattest thing that ever existed ever. The whole idea is to make people think that if they eat anything besides subs and cereals, they'll automatically be circus freakshow fat, and somehow wind up with ugly polka dot clothes for women and Sidney Greenstreet accents for the men. I assure you... if you eat at McD's once in a while, you will not be hassling Bogart for the Maltese Falcon... indeed you won't, sir! Quite!

 

[D'Snowth]

You are ABSOLUTELY right Drtooth, harping people about their weight doesn't help them lose it any quicker.

I had a doctor for a short time, who actually did harp on me about my weight... I'd come in if I was sick, having some kind of ailment, or even for a rountine check up... and basically, the entire visit was basically like this...

"So what's the matter? Got a cold? Okay, here's your prescription, now what are you doing about your weight?"

That's all he ever wanted to talk about is what I'm doing to lose weight... I swear to God, that'd still be the only thing he'd be concerned about if I was on my death bed taking my last breath.

I switched to a new doctor after a few visits with him, and now my new doctor (he's been seeing Mom for years) is a much better person, he's kind of like a combination of both Hawkeye (personality-wise) and Colonel Potter (as he's an old codger), and he doesn't just harp on me about my weight, but rather, he's actually encouraging, and as such, I was more apt to actually want to make losing weight an effort, and as a result, I eat smaller portions, eat less snacks, and I have starting losing weight, little by little at a time; I know I still have a long way to go, because my most standards, I am far too overweight for someone my age, but luckily, I'm not in any kind of danger, as I'm internally healthy, except for high cholestoral, which will get better as I continue to lose weight.

Still, making fun of fat people in such a manner is VERY harsh; it's actually a proven fact that fat people are harassed/teased/ridiculed/insulted/etc by other "thinner" people that Black people are by racists, and I don't mean that disrespectfully, but it IS a proven fact.