That beautiful scene of what’s about to be full-on group sex inside a Calvin Klein billboard? It’s been yanked from New York City’s SoHo neighborhood, much to the chagrin of commuters. In its place is, uh, this much “tamer” creative, which shows we’re more okay with exploiting women when there are no men around. Both billboards are examples of how sex certainly sells, but also how it sometimes makes all of society act like prude Quakers who get all bent out of shape thinking about intercourse, when billboards promoting grotesque violence are perfectly fine. Thankfully, then, that isn’t the only bit of sex marketing to come our way of late.
Here’s one entrant from Burger King (now showing only in Singapore, perhaps), which is not suggestive nor exploitive at all. Notes Copyranter: “Nice misogynistic touch making the woman look like a fucking blow-up doll.” Awesome! Who wants to bet the lady model had no idea how they’d be positioning her in the ad?
But the fun isn’t over, kids, because we wouldn’t want to leave you without these Dark Dog energy drink ads blanketing France’s tram right now. Copyranter translates the copy: “Clearly viewed on the Internet. Choose your size on darkdogcity.com.”
Calorie-free, we’re assuming.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Matt
I could understand the Calvin Klein ad in a magazine but not a billboard. It’s much too racy for that, so I think it’s good they removed it. As far as the woman in the bikini goes, I don’t see that as exploitation. Some women walk around like that on the beach, unlike the Calvin ad which is not something we would see people doing in public. Regarding the other ads: kind of odd but I’m an American.
galefan2004
For starters, there is no chagrin by the people the commuters that that sign was yanked. People still have kids in NYC, and kids should not have to see that trash.
My guess is that woman with in the BK advertisement knew EXACTLY what was going on. If women would stop selling out for the establishment, strip clubs would cease to exist. In many cases, women are MUCH more misogynistic than men will ever be. Women are just hard on each other.
The adds for darkdogcity.com are simply creative, but also in France. The rest of the world doesn’t share Americas obsession with blocking all signs of sexual innuendo.
Robert
@galefan2004: Irony: paragraph 1 vs paragraph 3.
KD108
@galefan2004: Strip clubs aren’t women just selling out to the establishment. Some women are left with few options other than this work because of lack of equal pay, opportunity, skills etc. created by a patriarchal misogynistic society, or they’re exploiting patriarchy to their own benefit because they don’t have the means to dismantle that system of oppression. I agree that misogyny is often perpetuated and internalized by women, but you can’t make ridiculous blanket statements implying that women choose to victimize themselves as if that’s the cause of misogyny and that men don’t play a major role. Strip clubs aren’t the problem (nothing wrong with a naked woman dancing around IMHO… you pay to see clothed dancers and art exhibits don’t you) its the misogynistic attitudes toward them and the women who work there that are. They also wouldn’t exist without patrons now would they 😉
I agree with @Robert about the irony between your first and third paragraphs. Its funny how women’s sexuality is trash and men’s is creative innuendo…
Seeing women as sexual beings isn’t trash or misogyny… it only becomes that when women are reduced to a purely sexual or submissive function in service of men and seen solely as objects with no inherent value other than as the property of men.
timncguy
as far as ads having sexual overtones, just watch the current set of ads for “Quiznos” with the oven talking in an overtly sexual male voice to the young male employee.
The oven “wants it” and just can’t wait for the guy to give him the new slender foot long Quiznos sub.
In one ad the sexualized oven even makes the male employee repeat his line until he gets it “sexy” enough.
That ad couldn’t be any more gay!
galefan2004
@KD108: It is not irony. The adds in France don’t show sexual contact of any kind let alone a threesome. The average kid doesn’t look at someone’s crotch and automatically think about their dick. However, the average kid can make out a guy and a girl kissing inappropriately when they see it. I have no problem with the woman in the bikini.
There are ALWAYS options. The woman can learn to budget. The woman can realize that having children out of wedlock in most cases doesn’t give the children a very good life. The woman can realize that the dude that will say anything to get into her pants will leave her the second he finds out she is pregnant. I get tired of people trying to play the victim 100% of the time. Yes, some men treat women like garbage, but the majority don’t. Women use their sexuality like a tool. They use it to get things they want. They use it to get out of things. They use it to attack men. Then they blame the men because the man might respond in an unfavorable way and blame it completely on the man.
galefan2004
@timncguy: That wouldn’t possibly have anything to do with their target market now would it? Seriously, with the exception of a few (mostly models and body builders), straight men are less likely to eat subs (Quiznos) than hamburgers (BK).
KD108
@galefan2004: First, they clearly blur the image of the energy drink in the crotch area (explicitly saying “hey, a penis would usually be here and get blurred”) in the French Ad, and people make genitalia inherently sexual. Sex isn’t wrong or something to hide from kids for fear of corrupting them… that’s a disservice to children altogether and avoiding the topic can lead to poor decisions and being unable to recognize abuse. We need to stop being so prudish about sex… that’s how most of us got here and get off anyway.
Also, I don’t even know where the hell you came from with all of your “choices” and your apparent assumption that all strippers are women who have sex with any and every man and don’t use birth control (clearly ignoring the prevalence of lesbian strippers… but that’s another topic in entirety). Women use their sexuality as a tool because other tools have often been made inaccessible and it is ingrained into women that their sexuality is the only tool they have (and the only thing they’re good for). Patriarchy serves to exclude women from economic and social systems of power and constantly reifies the ideals that women are to be beautiful, sexual objects above being intelligent, competent, independent humans in their own right. There is far more to misogyny than being abusive and demeaning to women, and to say that just because all men don’t “treat women like garbage” doesn’t mean they aren’t misogynistic or use their male privilege against women. This is beginning to get pointless since you clearly seem to have some issues with women (or strippers at least), at least in my honest opinion.
galefan2004
@KD108: Yes they blur the image which means MUCH more to an adult than it does a child. A child that isn’t already filled with sexual innuendo isn’t going to look at that picture and think sexually. Its not as blatant as an open mouthed kiss between one girl and three guys. I never said sex is wrong; however, if a parent wants to talk to their children or not about sex is their choice. It isn’t a choice left up to a billboard advertisement (or you) to make.
I came up with my “choices” as an argument against your…but, these poor women have no other options. Every time that argument is used it is talking about a single mother who I’m supposed to feel sorry for although she couldn’t control her breeder habit. I never said all strippers were women. I was friends with some really decent guys that took it off at the clubs. I also said they slept with every man or that they didn’t use birth control (just out of curiosity though, can you name me a birth control that is 100% affective at stopping unwanted pregnancy and STDs).
How can you even go there with all other tools have been removed from women? That is complete and utter crap. Lets be honest, women who are brainless use their sexuality because it is all they have. Women that have brains use their brain because it is far superior to their sexuality. I had a couple professors in college that used their brains to break down that glass ceiling and get to where they were, and if you even remotely tried to use this “sexuality is all we have” argument on them they would crucify you.
If “patriarchy serves to exclude women from economic and social systems” like you claim then explain Oprah, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and every single other strong woman that got to a position of power. They got to these positions because both men and women supported them getting there. Stop trying to make it an “us versus them” diatribe of stupidity when it comes to gender equality. The truth is, it hasn’t been an us versus them since 1920 (and even in 1920 it was an all male legislature that gave women the right to vote).
You misjudge me. First, I was raised by a single mother and I am very respectful of women’s rights. Second, I love strippers and I was not even the one that went there, you are. Third, I have always been a strong supporter of women’s rights and I have always been bashed for it by people like you. In my opinion, this truly is getting nowhere because in my opinion you are one of those radical feminist that blames men for everything that ever happened wrong in your life and is content to play the victim instead of working through that victimization to claim the power that rightfully is yours (and here is a hint it has nothing to do with sexuality like you claim it does). The problem with women like you is that when you see a man that is willing to support women’s issues you shit on him and tell him to go away because only women know what its like to be a victim.
Raised Quaker
little quibble: quakers are not synonymous with puritanism. in fact, according to an analysis by the BBC:
“Quakers are non-judgemental about sex, which they see as a gift of God. Their attention is focused on the way in which it is used in human relationships.
‘Sexual activity is essentially neither good nor evil; it is a normal biological activity which, like most other human activities, can be indulged in destructively or creatively.’
Towards a Quaker view of sex, 1963”
Rudy
Wow, gay men jumping on the censorship bandwagon in a nation that not only continues to deny us equality but where fifty percent of the population believes torture is a good thing.
marius
@Raised Quaker:
Puritans and Quakers are/were very different as you say. No intention of derailing this, but Quakers were hanged in Puritan Boston as heretics
And, don’t people know what to expect of a Calvin Klein ad by now. They are meant to be provocative and controversial. Mission accomplished.
(The group ad doesn’t even look erotic to me. One of the guys is comatose and the another indifferent._
afrolito
Moronic comments from the usual suspect(s)…..how surprising.
That Calvin Klein billboard was a joy to behold, as I walked by it everyday. Too bad they gave in to a few prudes, and took it down.
Americans are so stupid and childish about sexuality.
M Shane
Good writeup Queerty.
Quite a discussion. It appears that in the first place that, in the discussions related to mysogyny, no one takes into account that male iunlike female stimulation is visual and that women have forever taken advantage of that vulnerability in men. in the workplace and elsewhere.. Stripping is a highly paid and not necessartily degarding profession; straight women like being looked at by men, and get really crabby if not. As Samuel Becket so knowingly remarked once about a woman “she would use her.. as her trump card[when necessary]. The same is probably true of men, if possible. We use sex more than we so prudishly are willing to admit for manipulation, and denial leads to a lack of humor.
I fail to see anything improper about the ‘kissing ‘episode in the Klein ad. People kiss al the time on the street. I’m not sure that prepubesant kids would know what to make of the Klein ad;their puritain parents, who just don’t get enough themselves get upset.
p.s. The current ‘marriage’ rampage is no more than a guilt driven reaction prompted by the myth that AIDS was caused by the sexual licentiousness of gay men. A handy delusion breed by Andrea Sullivan and B Bauer to get their Catholic prudery whistleing through the caverans of empty heads.
KD108
@galefan2004: Kids most likely aren’t going to “get” either billboard, it’s the parent’s who’ll take offense and go for censorship, and they would in either sexualized ad which makes the disparity between the French ad and the CK one false entirely.
As for strippers (which we will deem as female from here out since that’s what was implied in your initial post about women selling out to the establishment thus keeping strip clubs in business), they chose that profession but it’s not your place to assume that they’re selling out to the establishment. Some women FEEL as if they have no choice because SOCIETY reinforces that they only have value as sexualized objects and that’s the only way they can function. Are they misguided in their thinking, yes, does it make their feelings invalid, NO. Some women are empowered by stripping by playing the patriarchal system designed to keep them powerless and gaining financial freedom… does it reinforce the system, maybe, but at least they’re benefiting from it instead of suffering under it.
Just because people overcome patriarchy and “break the glass ceiling” doesn’t mean it’s not there. Just because we have a black President doesn’t mean that racism doesn’t exist. The women you mentioned are the exception and not the rule, just look at the number of female CEOs, Senators, Representatives and other positions of power… it is overwhelmingly dominated by men because we live in a system that places value on whiteness, maleness, heterosexuality and Christianity and you get worth less and less as you go down the line.
You misjudge me because I don’t identify as a woman and never identified myself as such in my posts. I’m not saying oh woe is me, I’m playing the victim. As for your teachers, if any one of them denies the existence of patriarchy and the role it plays in upward mobility in society and employment for women (although it can be overcome) and that in society women are still not treated as or seen as equal to men, they’re damn fools. I’m pointing out that the systems in place are stacked against women although things are getting better. People have control over their own destinies and I won’t let biology or anything else be an excuse if I don’t succeed. My point is that you are ignoring the systems in place that serve to keep women objectified and submissive to men in your statements. Women have power and can be empowered, but you can’t deny that the patriarchal system that we live in, that socializes women, encourages them to internalize misogyny and it encourages men to act out misogyny. It’s not an us versus them and not all men are misogynistic, in fact some men are feminists and realize their own male privilege and work to counter it… I personally think the idea of a gender binary is false and people should just be people… that doesn’t change that “women” as a group have been and are marginalized even if there are numerous examples of people surpassing that.
Maybe you should go back and read my comments a little more slowly (and read yours since you think I brought up strippers when that was in your original comment) so you can at least try to understand what I’m trying to say… and I’ll take being a radical feminist as a compliment thank you very much. I’m not shitting on you, I just feel like you saying that women are selling out and on the whole are more misogynistic than men is misguided and isn’t “supporting women’s issues” as you seem to think it is.
David aka Mr. Manpower, Sex King
I can’t believe that they have that Burger King add…
It’s hilarious, and that sandwich looks great (I wonder if it has bacon?)…but this seems to be a sign that the world is ending…what have we come to, to sell a damn burger?
I write a sex blog for men, and update it a couple of times a week. Pass by and take a look; this was today’s post:
“Can Penis Enlargement Exercises cause harm to your Erections?”
Thanks!
jason
My theory is that the Calvin Klein “group sex” ad was considered offensive because it included a male-male interaction. Note how the man lying down on the couch has his head lying in the lap of the man who is kissing the woman.
I personally find that a lot of Americans have a bisexual double standard in that they accept the female-female interaction far more than they do the male-male one. There are two main reasons for this, which I will now dicuss.
One reason is porn. Porn has normalized female-female by including it in nearly every porn movie whereas male-male is excluded. Male-male is included only in a handful of porn movies, being the gay or bisexual category. Male-male is thus marginalized.
Another reason is women. Women are great big hypocrites. They exploit double standards in order to gain privileges. Secretly, many women prefer the bisexual double standard because it’s a means of privilege-obtaining. It’s similar to prostitution.
Therefore, the blame should be laid at the feet of the porn industry and women in general.
dantalion
i just want to mention, that sandwich is delicious actually.
kane66
I get the whole group sex, BK ad & Woman on the beach. The group sex and BK are the ones that would offend me. what I’d like to see perhaps from Calvin Klien if they’re gonna do (group sex like that, eww, no) perhaps a man on the couch siiting with his Botfriend on his lap (his arms around the one on the lap) or something like that. I don’t know I’d notice it. comments?
osocubano
Children shouldn’t have to see adults being affectionate, but it’s OK to show them people killing each other.
Matt
@osocubano: That’s not the point.
The picture is depicting a woman lying on one guy, kissing another guy, and the guy on the floor is having some fun of his own. It’s obviously hinting at group sex and totally inappropriate picture for a public place.
It would be equally inappropriate to have a billboard depicting people killing each other. I don’t think that would be up very long either.
Calvin Klein is one of the masters of publicity. He did it with Brooke Shields over 20 years ago, and he’s still doing it in 2009.
Matt
@jason: If the ad had one man and three women in similar poses it would still be inappropriate for public display. But it is true about straight porn. Just about every movie will depict two women going at it, but the men rarely will touch each other even in a three way, unless it’s something more extreme.
galefan2004
@Rudy: Make no doubt about it, I do not support censorship. I just think there is a difference between a book in a library and soft core porn on a Times Square bill board.
osocubano
@Matt: Oh, there was a point?
galefan2004
@KD108:The congress just passed a law for equal pay regardless of sex. That means that the “glass ceiling” just got shattered. The new trend is introduce female CEOs to companies not to stop them from advancing to the position of CEO. Women think much more rationally than men and its becoming obvious that that benefits the work force.
The facts are that a woman can be anything they want to be, and they just have to work for it, perhaps they need to work a little harder, but they can achieve their goals with that hard work. We have come along way from the times that women weren’t even able to work outside the home.
I never said that my teachers deny their struggle. I never said I deny that women have to struggle harder to get ahead and to get into a position of power. What I said is that they would make the argument that when you use your body instead of your brain to get ahead you don’t get ahead at all. I don’t think that any of them made the argument that strippers should get off the poles, but at the same time I’m not sure they would support the notion that some women have no choice but to use their body to get ahead.
You have a point about socialization of misogyny. However, everyone (rather you want to believe this or not) is socialized differently. Society has some play, but parents are the real agents of socialization.
My father didn’t beat me when I played with barbies and dressed up in my mother’s heals and dresses (well hell my mother never even wore dresses), but I realize that that happened to some people.
My mother bought me barbies when I wasn’t interested in playing with trucks. She taught me that a woman can be anything they ever want to be. Maybe that was a doubled edge sword because I can honestly say that I was socialized to respect both sexes and consider them equal. I left the christian faith because they did not teach sexual equality way before I left them because I was gay.
Ok, so you want to argue socialization of women to believe that they are lesser than men. The truth is, that the parent MOST directly related to the socialization of the child is the MOTHER. That means that mothers socialize their daughters to believe that men are better than women. I’m not blaming the woman for that because they were socialized by their own mother not to believe that they are better than or equal to men.
I think we need to change the socialization, especially the religious aspects that makes this whole concept of women being lesser than men possible. We need to teach parents to think about the messages they send to their children. I am not saying that men are not more culpable when it comes to misogyny, but I am saying that women are partially to blame. The entire society is to blame, and we need to work together as a society to correct it.
Truthfully, if you don’t think that men are completely to blame, that any woman that decides to stay home to be a wife and a mother is just a victim of society, and that because men are completely to blame they have no place in the sexual equality movement, then you are simply not a radical feminist.
galefan2004
@jason: I don’t agree. Porn has introduced female-female relationships because it is requested. However, the main stream porn movement has been to introduce men to newer concepts that are traditionally seen as pseudo gay activity.
I don’t know how you can over look double/triple anal/vaginal penetration without thinking that it brings men out of their comfort zone. Touching another mans penis with your own while receiving pleasure from a woman’s opening is certainly controversial. So is the inclusion of men receiving rim jobs from women which has been introduced in porn to help male porn stars appeal more to their gay fans. For that matter, before the 1990s, the focus in porn was on the woman entirely with the man serving as a prop penis (they might as well have just used dildos). After the 1990s, the trend has been to focus much more on the males in straight porn movies than ever before, and now the focus in on hot guys in porn.
Also, you are COMPLETELY off to blame women in general. Do some women use their bisexuality to get ahead? Sure. Teila Tequila anyone? However, I don’t think that the majority of women behave anything like that.
galefan2004
@osocubano: HUGE difference between being “affectionate” and being an exhibitionist.
KD108
@galefan2004: that last paragraph (Truthfully, if you don’t think that men are completely to blame, that any woman that decides to stay home to be a wife and a mother is just a victim of society, and that because men are completely to blame they have no place in the sexual equality movement, then you are simply not a radical feminist.) was really confusing… do you think that I’m saying men are to blame or men aren’t and which one would make feminism more radical?
I think if a woman chooses to be a homemaker that’s perfectly fine, its only when that is mandated by society and she would face negative reactions if she decided to work outside the home that I see a problem. I also feel that the discussion of women working outside the home as a feminist issue kind of racist and classist considering that poor and minority women have been working outside the home for quite some time because they could not afford not to and they were relegated to domestic and secretarial work. Second wave feminism tended to focus on making white middle-class women “equal” with their white middle-class male counterparts and hopefully that will change now. I also believe that men can recognize their own male privilege and become feminists. Socialization and human interactions are a big part of what creates and promotes misogyny and patriarchy so we need ALL gendered bodies to work to dismantle oppressive systems. Maybe that does make me less radical… I’m ok with that…
As for the glass ceiling, it just legally disappeared, but we all know that won’t change the hearts and minds of some people to believe that women are equitable to men. They just legally have to pay women the same for the same work as men now. My point is that women and all minorities often have to work harder to get to the same place as white men because of the undeserved privilege they get by virtue of being white and male in a white male dominated society… these struggles can be overcome, but that doesn’t change the fact that the existence of these struggles in the first place, just because of who you were born, are inherently unfair.
Using sex as a weapon is futile considering you can’t use the tools of patriarchy to dismantle it, but when you can’t see the other tools you have you gotta use something, and I’m not going to knock women for doing that. I feel like more people need to empower women to not feel that they have to use their bodies in a sexual manner to gain economic freedom whether it be directly (sex work) or indirectly (flirting with your boss for a promotion). I feel that if women could be seen as full humans and not just dismembered parts of their anatomies for the purpose of pleasure that anyone can just consume for a certain price, then women who strip or do other kinds of sex work could be seen as legitimate and not as exploitative.
On a somewhat unrelated note to this post (not the article)… I feel like 5 year olds just aren’t going to get any of the ads above, and since they (usually) don’t see their parents having sex, but they do see their parents kiss, they wouldn’t think anything of it. Its the parental reactions that are going to make them think something is wrong with the picture. As for 10 and 11 year olds, they probably already get the gist of the French and American ads if they have internet access or friends who do, and parents should probably be starting the process of making sure their kid is informed (whether they choose to tell them abstinence is the only way or give them the rundown on safe sex) so they don’t get into any trouble or situations they can’t handle. We don’t live in a society where sex is an acceptable explicit topic of an ad (for the most part) so the ad was a poor choice, but I just wish we’d stop being so squeamish about sex.
osocubano
@galefan2004: I wouldn’t know, I am an affectionate exhibitionist.
Lamesy
Gale, you sound EXACTLY like that guy who’s always on here harping about how he marched in his sibling’s gay pride parade once, so now us fags should thank him and quit bitching about equal rights. Are you that guy?!
Your disclaimer is hollow: “I support women’s rights – now quit the cockteasing you unscrupulous whores.” You may not exactly have anti-woman attitudes, but you have issues with sexuality itself, in tandem with the male tendency to hypersexualize women. Maybe that’s why you see a female whore every time you turn around, yet your male stripper friends are real stand-up “decent guys.”
kudos, KD108, for banging your head against the wall that is galefan’s worldview.
jason
Galefan,
The incidental touching between men in straight porn movies is just that – incidental. It is NOT an interaction in the same way that women are permitted to interact with each other in the same movies.
Straight porn has distorted human sexuality by constructing a bisexual double standard. This double standard is contributing towards discrimination against the male-male interaction.
JNYCA
Seriously. I am not a prude at all but BK needs to cool it. This ad is trash, but the really REALLY bad ad is that tv spot for children with women shaking their butts to “i like big butts” by sir mix a lot which somehow has something to do with sponge bob? It’s f-ing creepy to do a porn ad geared at children. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nopKDuydRo
Joanaroo
Hi JNYCA! I agree about that BK commercial with the butt shaking. They showed that here on the Philly stations for a short time then yanked it. I was shocked that it was targeting kids. It’s like the Old Spice one with the centaur (half-man/half-horse) that originally showed a woman who stated in so many words that she appreciated her man was hung like a horse, then she was dropped from the ad.
Vaishu
36/Female/Bangalore married interested in strong vivacious sex. working in reputed multinational company in electronic city
ito-do-zapp @ hp.com
email me ito-do-zapp At hp.com