This is the most sensible comment I’ve read so far that doesn’t get caught up in the ‘you can’t portray women like that’ row.

ah now sensible comments like that have no place here

I love people commenting on forums that mock others for having “too much time on their hands”.

What, the puppets? Yea, they’re really sexist. Or do you mean the advert that is over a decade old? Every time a woman complains about one of the thousand sexist adverts, the Diet Coke ad is flung back. It may as well be the Godwin’s law of advertising!

Don’t forget the malteasers ad! Yer man in the nip on the couch – down with that sort of thing! I think people are missing the point here. The fact that we’re discussing these ads means they worked on some level. Simples

Funny how that ad didn’t receive a complaint for sexist portrayal of men seeing as the guy is muscular and topless. It presents an image of what a man should be that most men cannot actually reach. The whole gender debate is pointless really. You might as well complain that Santa Claus is sexist because he goes out and does the work while Mrs Claus stays home and cooks dinner (someone did that actually while complaining that the Swedish tradition of dancing around the maypole was sexist because it was a phallic symbol). While I think the car ad was stupid, there are mitigating factors against the sexism claim. For example, she uploaded the pictures herself. If that’s still sexism then quite a lot of females on Facebook should expect to have their pages taken down shortly eh?

that’s the best comment so far….

By the way I’m not saying I find the ad offensive, I couldn’t give a flying you know what! I would just be curious to see the level of complaints it recieved, if any, or why it was not deemed sexist comapred to these other supposed ‘sexist’ adverts.

What’s sexist about the cbg ad???

Divil a bit ! It’s just that the car was just after bein’ polished ! Deez peeple have no respect !

Sher We all Speak like that in Cork Boy Like

Actually I think you’ll find that Liberalism would allow those ads, what with being Liberal and all. Liberalism does not equal Left Wing. You can have right wing liberals too.

That comment makes no sense whatsoever. Jobs are scarce. Thousands are unemployed. They have more free time on their hands than they want. So it makes perfect sense that people have time to complain about ads. It also doesn’t make sense that they should only be interested in topics less trivial than this just because they no longer have work. And if the solution, when you encounter something that you wish to complain about, is to “just turn the fuc’in thing off”, then why didn’t you just turn your computer off instead of complaining about this?

There were plenty of African Americans who in their time couldn’t conceive of the possibility of freedom from Slavery. Some did not know there was a problem. Likewise, many (both men and women) go around in the blind assumption that we have equality for women and men alike – the reality is we don’t. There is very little equality. When societal conditioning dictates what women should or should not wear is changed to truly reflect what women want to wear and when there is true equality, then perhaps ads like this would be fine. For the moment they simply reinforce the idea that women are the possession of men so they can be ogled over or ignored.

So women are unconscious slaves who don’t know how to dress themselves. You gonna dress all those poor slave girls cos you know what women want……

Jim you are just displaying your own complete lack of knowledge on the topic, as well as displaying the fact that you obviously can not read what I wrote. I never said women were unconscious. I never said anyone was unconscious. I implied aspects of the subconscious effects of society at work, but I certainly never said anything about unconscious. I also never said I would be dressing anyone up. Your comment is entirely laced with sarcasm, unintelligent wit, and smacks of an “I don’t care what happens to anyone as long as I’m personally not affected” opinion. Women in Ireland are not equal. They do not have the same employment prospects as men. They are not paid as much as men. We have one of the lowest W:M ratios in politics in the Western World. If you are a woman your chances of promotion are far less than if you are a man. I mean for God’s sake men still smack women on the bum and tell them “what good little mothers they will make” some day and how they should “go make the coffee like a good little girl”. Those last two statements as well as the smack on the bum were made to my partner who was a car salesperson at the time. Vicariously, I have seen first hand how ridiculously sexist this country is. Ads like that above reinforce sexism and are a classic example of Passive Sexism.

LOL! i’m with you jim. If you think these ads really reflect how society thinks/functions you need yer head examined. Try telling my wife or any of my female friends/colleagues how to dress or act and you’ll soon find out who’s empowered!

If you can’t see the difference there then that just shows how little you know of sexism. People may give out about Political Correctness – but there is a reason it exists. It’s there because there is discrimination and certain groups in society are trying to get rid of these gaps. Many in the status quo laugh at those of us who advocate equality simply because they are not the victim of discrimination (or do not see that they are).

Would you consider it sexist if that was a man instead? I think not

Actually, I found it quite sexist towards men, also. If a company/product thinks they can sell better, just by putting a scantily clothed person in their ad, it insulting to their audience. A bit of intelligence and creativity wouldn’t go amiss. The ad was demeaning to not only women, but men, too.

What’s your problem granny, allow a bit of fun into your life

I was impressed with her think outside the box and can do attitude. I support female entrepreneurs and you should too.

So, because I find an advert sexist and demeaning, I’m a granny? Sorry we all don’t have your charming views, JJ.

Hmm. It was a piece of tongue in cheek fun. People are just too bloody sensitive these days. Sex sells, end of story.

When there is true equality between men and women then perhaps ads like this would be fine. However, as it stands, women are treated as nothing more than sex symbols if their looks allow, and best ignored if they are considered less than attractive. The simple fact is that ads like this reinforce the negative portrayal of women as second class citizens whose sole purpose is to please the eye of men. Women are “seen” as sex symbols and so ads are created to sell based on that. Unfortunately “disabled” people are seen as lesser than those in the “abled” community – would you like it if there were ads which exploited this gap? How about ads showing Africans beating their chests and throwing bananas? We would see these last two as sickening and wrong, yet you would argue that women are different? Again, you are simply reinforcing the gender division. I agree that some of the ads that had complaints made against them were a little OTT, but not the CBG ad.

Cara it’s nice to see people of your age using the Internet. It must have been difficult to adapt to this new technology..

@Brian Ó Dálaigh. Excellent post!! Refreshing to read such an articulate, intelligent point of view!!! Might be wasted on a lot of people on this forum, unfortunately!!!!!

The statistical anomaly stemmed from an as yet unmentioned ad for a breakfast dish : it was the work of cereal complainers : )

Last time I looked Brian we had freedom enshrined in our constitution… Which includes opinions… So we are all allowed to have them. Listening to a condecending twit like you is really offensive. Its people like you that have held back progress down through out history looking for nanny state to solve all your problems for you…. Stop worrying about what every body else is doing or saying and get on with your own life…. Stick that annoying nose somewhere where it doesnt get in the rest of societies way. We’re too busy trying to improve things for ourselves rather than fighting for more rediculous laws to keep the likes of you happy.

Yes, we do have freedom enshrined in our constitution. However I don’t see where in our constitution it states that discrimination is permitted as you seem to advocate. I have a very strong feeling you have never actually read Bunreacht na hÉireann. Typically it’s ignorant people who through the “it’s in our constitution” line at you in an argument. Turning a blind eye and laughing at discrimination is the exact same as doing the deed yourself. The likes of you are known as enablers. Enablers are those that give perpetrators carte blanche to commit crimes.

Firstly, if you find my posts offensive then don’t read them – you did after all state that “we [have] freedom enshrined in our constitution…Which includes opinions…”. This gives me the freedom to express my opinion too and it gives you the freedom to switch off your computer. Unless of course you really do believe that you are high and mighty and more deserving of an opinion than those who are oppressed or fighting for the oppressed.

Secondly, I never stated you were not allowed an opinion of your own, so learn how to read.

Thirdly, if people weren’t so stupid and were able to make educated decisions for themselves that did not negatively impact others then we would not need a nanny state. Would you also advocate scrapping all legislation, because you seem to be of the opinion that all of us without interference from the state are perfectly capable of living without harming each other, without rape, without murder.

Fourthly, you consider me condescending – take a look at what you just wrote. A typical case of “pot calling the kettle black”. At least I didn’t resort to character assassination or personal attacks in my posts. Seeing as how you seem to believe that’s appropriate then I would also assume that you think sexism is fine. Based on the language you used I assume you are a typical 30s-40s white male based on the Irish east coast – probably South Dublin, North Wicklow, North Kildare area?

Finally, learn how to spell and use punctuation. It’s obvious you must have ignored “nanny-state” because you seem to have a lack of understanding when it comes to spelling (condescending, not condecending; ridiculous, not redeculous; society’s, not societies).

Oh I get it now. Just because there is a perception that no one complains about one form of discrimination that then makes it perfectly fine to allow other forms of discrimination. Just because “sex sells” that doesn’t mean we should allow it. Sheesh…if we always agreed with the status quo and never argued for what we believed was right, no matter how uncomfortable that was to either ourselves or others, only landed gentry would be granted the right to vote, slavery would not have been abolished, state-sponsored murder (capital punishment) would still be on our statute books, and we’d all still believe the world was flat.