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Was in the store and saw this candy:
"YORKIE: IT'S NOT FOR GIRLS"
My daughter was offended. Me, too. And I'm thinking, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
Look, I don't want to be all 'there's no difference between women and men' but I do think stuff like this - the girl in the crossed out red circle - isn't helping with treating everyone equally. It isn't helping with people understanding gender is more expansive than just male and female. It isn't helping at all.
If you believe wikipedia,
Special versions for use in British Ministry of Defence ration packs read It's not for civvies. In 2006 a special edition that was for girls was sold, wrapped in pink.
Which I think makes me even MORE offended.
Aside from the original milk chocolate bar, several variants are available, such as "raisin and biscuit" flavour, "honeycomb" flavour, and Yorkie Ice Cream. So I'm curious - since when has liking a particular flavor been gender-determined?
How about defining ourselves by ourselves and our likes, rather than what we're not or what we don't like?
Am I making too much of this - or do you, too, want to call this out as wrong?
Namaste,
Lee
8 comments:
I totally agree with you. I'm surprised they haven't received more backlash.
YES!!!! The first time I saw these in Scotland I took pictures and asked the checker what the heck they were about. I was a bit wound up.
Everyone laughed at me... and I was reminded that Americans are too earnest and have no sense of humor.
Whatever. I still think they're offensive and stupid and refuse to eat them.
Ugh. Maybe 7-year-old boys who've had gender stereotypes drilled into them will grab for a Yorkie. Otherwise, I don't know anyone who'd buy into that kind of marketing.
It's meant to be funny and also manipulates women into buying Yorkie bars by making it seems as though they are rebelling by buying the bars. Something like that, anyway. I don't think about it that much. If I want one, I'll buy one (without going to extremes like the girl in this ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcjlzSod0CE)
Their latest TV ad is also over the top and ridiculous: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJVWjCVnVzU But a lot of ads are these days so it just blends in with everything else. Background noise while we take the opportunity to go make a cuppa or something.
It's just meant in fun and I know that it kinda doesn't help gender stereotypes but anyone that protests about it is just going to be seen as taking it too seriously. They honestly don't mean that it's only for men. They're just trying to draw attention to their product like any other ad and I don't even think it's the most sexist ad out there anyway.
I think the reason they've been getting away with advertising it in such a way for so long is because most people just don't seem concerned with gender issues, at least not in the UK. We're a pretty apathetic country and if we make a sexist joke like this, it doesn't necessarily mean that we believe what we're saying.
I think it's just British humor and now I think it's funny. When I first saw these in the store ten years ago, I was incensed, and my Irish girlfriend just laughed at me. The sad part is, it wouldn't be possible to make jokes about this stuff if this kind of crap wasn't already real.
I'm sorry, but this is nothing. If you want to confront inequality, look at some more serious things going on like a girl being shot in the head by the Taliban because she wanted an education or something along THOSE lines. Yorkie does advertising, don't be so offended. It's like us gays getting offended by everything, it's pathetic. Just give it a rest. If you didn't think about being offended so much, you would probably lead a happier life.
Am British, this has been a thing for years and year - hate it. If it's meant to make me rebel and buy the chocolate that's not for me then *slow hand clap* well done Yorkie, I've been silently boycotting since I saw the ad the first time. And I never boycott, but I figure a petty thing like this is just what that strategy was invented for.
The problem isn't that anyone thinks this manufacturer is seriously trying to ban women from buying its product. But the "just a joke, just being clever" thing is the whole problem.
After all, what's the joke? Why is it funny? It's because women "can't handle" the product. Or because women are "always getting their knickers in a twist" over being excluded from something. "You know women. Sheesh. So emotional! They should just get over themselves."
It's belittling, and the belittling is the cornerstone of the joke, and that's why it's offensive. No, it's not one of the most serious offenses on the face of the planet. I couldn't even waste much energy being angry about it--I mean really, I couldn't care less about the product itself. But then I saw the same old "just a joke" defenses being proffered, and what I do care about is challenging that faulty logic, because that same logic is used elsewhere to justify much worse offenses.
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