One my way home, I came across this blatant ad in the subway asking me if I am still a virgin. Curious, I stopped and decided to call the “help” line listed. It turned out that the billboard was promoting the new film “Virginity Hit” which comes out this Friday. Produced by Will Ferrell, the movie is described on IMDb as “Four guys, one camera, and their experience chronicling the exhilarating and terrifying rite of passage: losing your virginity.”
Well, if the hotline says anything about the film, it definitely won’t be providing any useful advice for people who have not yet had sex. After asking whether you are male or female, the voice gives the following advice: if you identified yourself as female, it explains that all we ladies have to do is lower our standards and we can have sex easily, adding that there are tons of guys who want to have sex with us because “[guys] have no standards so just lose yours.” Classy.
For a male, the advice is to stop playing video games, take a shower, do some sit up and push ups, and memorize “those vampire movies.” Yup, apparently it’s that easy guys. But in my view, the hotline’s advice really takes the cake when in response to those who choose the option of wanting to stay a virgin, an abrasive voice says: “HANG UP NOW. THIS FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES.”
Ugh here we go again with the formulaic “nerd gets laid” scheme which ends up in some stereotypical and offensive attempt. And guess what? Surprise surprise, I bet in this film he DOES lose his virginity since according to this hotline us girls are so quick to lower our standards. Although this advice for women is made out to be so appealing for these prototype nerds, the reality is that females get slapped with a huge SLUT card if they chose that route–see the film Easy A (which I can’t wait to see) for more information. I guess Ferrell’s film sees no need to explain that part.
However, though insulting, The Virginity Hit promo was also inspiring in some way as it got me thinking about how great it would be if these ads actually did promote a sex education helpline. After all, it caught my attention so what if the billboard ad asked “Have A Question About Sex?” or “Wanna Lose Your Virginity?” followed with a number to call for free safe sex information. An ad that gets young peoples’ attention but actually gives them safe and sound information anonymously so that they know how to protect themselves. If such an ad exists, let me know as I would love to link to it! It’s time we challenge ridiculous so-called humor such as this billboard with something actually positive and beneficial.
After reading Tracy Clark-Flory’s recent piece featured on Salon.com, Why I do not “(heart) boobies”, I started to think about the impact of messaging in the non-profit sector. In the article, Clark-Flory points to the somewhat objectionable ways certain activist campaigns reach out to their audiences. With a focus on breast cancer awareness, the article intelligently dissects the objective messaging many breast cancer prevention organizations are using by focusing solely on breasts or “boobies.” As she writes, “Not only are women reduced to their breasts, but men are reduced to their love for breasts — as though they will only pay attention to the cause if presented with a pair of luscious, jiggling tits.” While the advocacy campaigns utilized by many organizations certainly create awareness about breast cancer, questions are raised as to whether the attention is on the disease or the body part.
Raising awareness is obviously the main goal of an advocacy campaign, but clearly an organization must keep in mind the message it is putting forth about its mission and goals. Attracting attention by being sexy, bold, and creative messages can truly have a positive impact, but it can also taint the reputation of an organization. While gaining viral awareness and building up a large group of supporters is a key factor in succeeding, it is critical that organizations do not lose sight of the original mission at hand while staying true to their core values and beliefs. However, without some sort of creative advocacy campaign many potential supporters may remain in the dark about a certain cause.
A prime example of the effectiveness of one of these questionably sexy advocacy campaigns was the “Protect the Skin You’re in” campaign, originally launched in 2006 by Marc Jacobs, to raise awareness about skin cancer. The campaign featured nude pictures of a variety of celebrities including Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell and Victoria Beckham. While the sexy tee shirts raised over 1 million dollars for the NYU School of Medicine’s Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group (IMCG), many questioned the use of naked silhouettes of celebrities, many of whom sport a bronzed look, to speak about skin cancer.
Just as Clark-Flory pushes readers to look beyond the objectification of breasts, in the fight against breast cancer, I think the same must be done in other advocacy campaigns. Non-profits serve an immensely important role in society, thus the way they convey their messages must be done in an intelligent and effective way. It is critical that they take into account the ways in which different audiences will interpret their messaging and make sure to keep in line with their mission and values, while also creating a successful way of communicating. This is not an easy task, but with dedication and strategic thinking, positive and robust advocacy campaigns are possible.
That’s right…The Ladies of the Daily Femme are taking a long weekend to get some sun, master some grilling techniques and we mean business. We will be back to our regular schedule bright and early Tuesday morning! Happy end of the summer and enjoy your Labor Day!
I had the chance to check out Second City this past year during a trip to Chicago and was excited to see the place that helped catapult some of my favorite funny ladies including Tina Fey, Amy Sedaris and Amy Poehler. However it might have been a “bad night” or the fact that they pack people in like sardines and I ended up squished in between two people with horrible odors coming from them, but I have to say I was by no means on the floor laughing. I found it particularly disappointing that the women on stage seemed to score low on the “funny index” compared to the men. Was this another example of the time old cliche that women just aren’t funny? I knew they had some funny ladies somewhere hiding and after doing a bit of searching online, I found some incredible skits on the ‘The Second City Network’ including these two videos that are titled “Advice for Young Girls From a Cartoon Princess.” You know us ladies at the Daily Femme, we LOVE to parody Disney and their barrage of stereotypical female role models so this was particularly entertaining. Check them out and for the record, my favorite might be when Belle says “Desire is when a man wants you soooo much that he is willing to yell at you and beat down your door and tell you if you don’t eat with him then you don’t eat at all…it also kinda means he wants you to be skinny!”
Oh hunny! Next time I go to Second City, I am requesting this type of comedy STAT.
It’s certainly not news that coerced pregnancy and lack of reproductive choice are major components of violence against women, both domestically and globally. But an often overlooked component of reproductive coercion is the prevalence of forced pregnancy in ostensibly consensual relationships, such as marriage and long-term partnerships. Time magazine ran a piece recently that discusses this horrific component of domestic violence. One study released this past April suggested that “as many as 75% of women between the ages of 18 and 49 who had a history of being in an abusive relationship also reported some form of reproductive coercion,” such as a partner refusing to use condoms or removing condoms during sex, threatening or intimidating a woman who uses birth control or seeks out an abortion, and sometimes “[telling] them he wants to leave a legacy or have them in his life forever” by impregnating the woman against her will or without her full consent.
These studies had some encouraging news, however, in the form of significantly decreased risk of future coerced pregnancies in patients at family planning clinics who were given advice about contraceptives such as the IUD and Depo-Provera, both methods that are not easily interfered with by non-medical professionals and that are also among the most discreet forms of birth control. Also, the clinics that offered advice about contraception and about healthy relationships and domestic violence showed significantly increased likelihoods of women leaving abusive relationships, possibly because of the realization that their relationships were unhealthy and violent after discussing coerced pregnancy at their family planning checkup. As horrifying as articles like this one are, they can hopefully galvanize people to be aware of – and take concrete steps towards eliminating – violence against women in all its forms.
After a brunch that involved some of the best sourdough pancakes I have ever had, I decided to take a walk in my Brooklyn neighborhood when a small sign in the window of a women’s clothing store stopped me in my tracks. The sign was small enough to go unnoticed and yet with a message so offensive that it hit me over the head like a ton of bricks. It said “Your Husband Called and Said You Can Buy Any Thing You Want.” (Check the sign out below)
Um, Excuse me? Last time I checked, women represented a majority of the workforce and made 80% of consumer purchasing decisions so what’s this about husbands calling to approve what their wives may buy?! THAT is supposed to get me to buy their clothes? And judging from the shop window alone (the store was closed) it seems to be focused on the under 40 female crowd–what a great message to send young women. Ironically, the store’s name happens to be ‘Paper Doll Boutique’–well someone may want to remind them that women are not malleable paper dolls who only do what their ‘men’ tell them and we can buy our clothes just fine without our husbands’ permission.
The lady blogosphere offers perfect examples of how-to and how-not-to market pads and tampons to the womenfolk. Starting with the what-not-to-do, we have Exhibit A over from Salon’s Broadsheet. Looks like Stayfree is taking a cue from Old Spice and trying to create dream men who can smoothly sell us maxipads. Take a gander at A Date With Trevor above. The viewer arrives at Trevor’s house to find the blond bombshell vacuuming (oh! he’s clean!). Then he shows you his medical degrees (smart, too!) and takes his shirt off (love those pecs!). But next, Trevor pours “messy liquid” — his euphemism for period blood — on three types of maxi pads neatly arranged on top of his piano.
And this is when the date would end.
Really, Stayfree? Are women so hunk hungry that we’d buy something for which he really knows nothing about, except that it can get “messy”? Not so much.
Now, over to Jezebel for a little lesson in how-to. British design students Kyle Tolley and Sarah Graves came up with perhaps the perfect feminine product packaging. It’s clean, it’s simple and it’s upfront. There’s no mention of “messy liquids”, just a simple box that says it all.
And that’s the mindset feminine product marketing should emphasis, in my opinion — that menstruation happens. Period.
Contributed by Kate
