Ad It Up, Non-Super Bowl Edition
I had grand plans to do some kind of blog post this evening about all the ridiculous Super Bowl commercials from last night, but then I didn't end up seeing any of the game due to business travel. Then I was going to blog to you about how in-freaking-credibly great the new season of HBO's Big Love is -- and, based on last night's episode (that I did happen to catch), it is now starting to break into that upper echelon of HBO series alongside Six Feet Under. (And maybe, just maybe, it will end up being better than SFU, since that show started to creatively lose its steam after the second season, where as BL seems to just be hitting its stride.) But, I have bigger things on my mind.
The height, the zenith, of the advertising world resides in the SkyMall Shopping Magazine. Coca-Cola ain't got crap on the car seat for dogs.
Borrowing Lady Amy's wonderful Ad It Up feature, below are a number of products that caught my eye yesterday while traveling, along with an arbitrary rating relating to the ridiculousness/awesomeness of the product as conveyed by the said advertisement.
Traveling Pet SeatAs the SkyMall blurb states, "Your Dog Can Travel Safely And Enjoy The View." Now, I'm not so sure that you want your dog to see everything, not to mention that your dog just looks stupid in this chair. Then again, it's not a replica Egyptian chair that costs $895.
Then again, there's already an invention that helps you transport your pet. It's called a crate. Put your dog in a crate. Please.
Ridiculousness rating: 2 1/2 Replica Harry Potter Wands (out of 4)
Fishnet and Heels Table
Now you can put stuff on a table in your room AND be sexist at the same time!
Ridiculousness rating: 3 1/2 The Dark Knight Gold Medallions
King Tutankhamen's Egyptian Throne ChairNot to be confused with an actual historical artifact, this $895 replica of King Tut's throne chair is the perfect thing to put in your home when you want to say, "I have no actual taste in things, but I did just buy this chair from a catalogue that I read while traveling on an airplane because I didn't have a Dan Brown novel to read at the time."
Ridiculousness rating: 4 King Tut Chairs
On that note, did anybody see the Super Bowl commercials? Anything notable? Open thread time!
This entry was posted by Unknown, on
Monday, February 02, 2009.
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How the f did pajama guy pull this one off?! 8 ladies vying for his affection, all by wearing equally tacky prints, and one doing the splits in pigtails?! The man is a god. Of pajamas.
nice post! i love sky mall. isn't this lady amy's feature, though? she's gonna kill you...but seriously, i kinda want those pajamas.
I'm gonna kill you!
please explain why the end table with lady legs is sexist. i think i disagree.
it is tacky, though.
A table with "sexy chick legs" suggests that all a woman is good for is serving a man and looking good while doing so. Which is true.
You would never see a table with "gross man legs" - and with good reason!
Didn't see any Super Bowl ads and feel mildly better about myself because of it. I'll wait to see the G.I. Joe trailer when I go see Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
Yeah, but I don't buy into that suggestion. My tables have wooden legs and I don't immediately assume all wood is good for is holding up tables. And some of those wooden legs are ornamental to attract the eye. If anything, these woman legs suggest that women are beautiful. Sounds to me like you're the sexist one, Chris.
"You would never see a table with 'gross man legs'"...
If sold cheaply enough, every frat house would buy one of these.
I was waiting for that. If you don't buy into the suggestion, that's great, but it doesn't mean it doesn't largely perpetuate a suggestion to more misogynist types (aka too much of the world). Cylindrical wood hasn't been socially stereotyped for all of eternity, so of course wooden table legs don't suggest anything.
But ultimately, yes, a table can probably not be sexist. Just like people who argue a book can't be racist, etc. But if people can't relaize that saying that is shorthand for really saying "blindly accepting ____ without proper discourse has a propensity to perpetuate mostly unconsious yet still oppressive and prejudiced social contructs and beliefs" then that's their own problem. It's called efficiency.
If the sexy leg table was the gift that I thought I could give Jerksica for her birthday to piss her off the most, then I say it qualifies as sexist. I was also going to get her the "I Won the Daytona 500" CD that is personalized for the said person's name. I think she'd like that, too.
I would, in fact, love the personalized Daytona 500 cd, and completely unironically. There are several reasons for this. First, I am self-obsessed, so I like anything personalized (i.e. I'm the center of attention). Secondly, I've been to the Daytona racetrack with my Disney co-workers, where I spent a delightful day drinking beer, eating nachos, and visiting motocross displays. I also intermittently fell asleep and cheered incoherently at an actual motocross race. Lastly, I like to move fast. :)
As for the table, I would argue that it is not promoting sexist ideas primarily because of the women serving men issue (although that's true). It is dangerously misogynist in it's promotion of fetishizing and objectifying severed, disjointed body parts. Objectifying the whole woman is almost post-sexist in 2009, a make-shift kitschy wink at second-wave feminsim. But the obsession with severed parts is creepy. Where is the line between horror, admiration, and porn these days?
But more importantly, where is my Daytona 500 trophy?!?
Actually, the line between horror, admiration and porn runs right through the Qualler-Brigitte household.
(Hooray! I got Jerksica to come out of the woodwork and comment!!!)
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