I sent a letter to Y108 - the radio station I heard the ad on - and told them that this ad was sexist. I told them that it suggested, due to the lack of a counterpart advertisement with the genders reversed, that this product was only for men and that the "dumb blonde" stereotype applies only to women. I told them that reducing women to objects - in this case, a bottle of beer - is nothing new, and that reducing humans to objects is a huge step in justifying violence towards them. My letter was quite direct, but not unkind. I told the folks at Y108 that I'd been listening to their station for a long time and I told them that I appreciated that their morning show was less offensive than other morning shows targetted to a young demographic. This is what I got back:
Dear Kelsey [sic],
Thank you for the note in regards to Y108. We appreciate all listener
feedback and do take all said feedback seriously.
Thank you for the kind comments in regards to Ben & Kerry. They work
very hard, are very talented and we’re glad to hear that you do enjoy their
show.
In regards to the Red Baron beer commercial you heard on Y108 – we respect
your opinions in regards to your interpretation of the commercial. We are
certainly sensitive to the content and messages of the commercials we air. We
subscribe to the Canadian Standards Broadcast Council and do follow the codes under which all broadcasters adhere to as set out by the CBSC.
People will interpret songs, spoken word content and commercials in
different ways.
We will certainly review the Red Baron commercial as per your
request.
Thanks again for the e-mail Kelsey and for listening to Y108.
Respectfully,
Derm
All I could pull from this response was "People will interpret songs, spoken word content and commercials in different ways." Different ways. Different fucking ways? Ok, well I guess it's absolutely ok, then, for you to just broadcast whatever you want and relinquish responsibility for the acutal real-life repercussions of your sexist crap, because people will interpret things in different ways. Right. Why even bother adhering to the CBSC? If people interpret things in different ways, then maybe we should just scrap the CBSC all together? Because, you know, people who are completely offended by -isms should just lighten up, right? People who have to deal with the consequences - EVERY DAY - of being consistently reduced to a collection of body parts, a cock-sheath, or an object, should probably just learn to interpret things differently? If I were to tell you that you were a complete asshole who exhibits utter disregard for women, could you please interpret that for me?
I took a deep breath. Maybe Derm is just a total weiner. Maybe my letter didn't explain things as thoroughly as it should have. I sent a second letter, this time to Y108 and to the Brick Brewing Company. It was a longer letter and it explained in more detail - with citations! - why this ad was completely unacceptable. I referenced scholars who had studied sexist advertising, and I said - even more directly this time - that I wouldn't listen to Y108 or drink Red Baron beer until this ad was pulled. I didn't hear back from Y108. This is what I recieved from Brick Brewery:
Dear xxxx,
Since 1984, Brick Brewing Company has been a proud, supportive community member in Kitchener-Waterloo. For over a quarter century, have been committed to being more than just a brewer of great beer, we’ve also supported thousands of great cultural, charitable and community organizations and events throughout Ontario. It has been our goal to connect with our community and consumers, whether it is through the great charitable and community organizations and events that we support, or through our general advertising, we’ve taken great pride in letting Ontario beer consumers know about our products and our company. So much so, that we ensure that all advertising is approved by all regulatory boards, including Advertising Standards Canada.
We regret that you feel as you have outlined within your note below and
value all consumer input. We will take your comments into consideration when we
develop our future advertising concepts.
Thank you for your interest in Brick Brewing Co.
Sean Dennis
Director of Marketing
Oh... Mygod, I thought. Did Derm Carnduff and Sean Dennis get together and write these letters over a luncheon so that they could borrow each other's material? Why can no one just say "Fuck, you're right - this ad crosses the line and we're sorry that we've offended someone." Even if the ad wasn't pulled, an admission that the content was sexist would have gone a long way. Even if the ad stayed on the air and one of these guys had admitted to me that they saw where I was coming from and that yes, the ad was insensitive, I would have felt a little better. But no. Because people have come to believe so strongly that sexism doesn't exist, that people - even those who flagrantly exhibit sexism - won't admit to being misogynist. It's totally ok to debase, violate, catcall, harass and stereotype women... but "misogynist"? Not I! Sexism can be wriggled out of with enough mansplaining and "what about the men?" People, especially men, will fight tooth and nail that they didn't do anything wrong without for a second stopping to consider their privilege as men. As it stands right now, this privilege runs so thick that they can afford to blindfold themselves to the casual, pervasive, everyday sexism that they live with, perpetuate, and - to some degree - enjoy. It is a privilege to be able to think that feminism is dead. It is a privilege to believe - misguidedly - that we live in a post-patriarchy.
So then, a few weeks later my friend Megan saw an ad that offended her. She, too, wrote a letter to say that the ad was offensive and that until it was removed from stores, she would no longer be a patron to this company. This is what she got in response:
Dear Megan,
Thank you for your email about our current store window marketing campaign.
We are sorry to hear that you are unhappy with our new 'Pants' campaign. We
appreciate knowing how our advertising is being received and comments from loyal
customers like you are valuable. We have several different campaigns a year
and each is designed to target various segments of our consumer base. We
regularly evaluate our ads for effectiveness and reach to ensure our advertising
is appropriate for our customers and our brand. We have forwarded your valuable
comments to the marketing manager responsible for these decisions.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us. If we may be of further
assistance, please contact us
Sincerely,Tylerann
Customer Service Consultant
...So is it just a stock response? Is there a text book out there called "How to thinly disguise your dismissive attitude when responding to complaints of sexism"?
So here's where I run out of ideas. What do you do? When you see an ad that is so offensive that it makes your skin crawl, what do you do? When you write letters that are met only with benevolent dismissal, where do you go? I thought that taking my complaint to Advertising Standards Canada would yield some result. That was in June - it's now the end of August and I've heard nothing.
It's discouraging, to say the least. We live in a time when not only can ads like this pass censors and be accepted as appropriate, but that as a society, people can't admit to their own biases, prejudices, and privilege. It's depressing that it's somehow seen as more acceptable to deny, argue and fight your way out of an accusation of sexism than to just take the high road, apologize, and actually learn something from it.
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