Want to be prettier? Get an Ugly Girlfriend

Ugh @ the stupid importance the media puts on looks. So exasperating.

I am pretty high right now...but to me, in this state of mind, this is another example of where a "harmless joke" does nothing but make it "OK" to belittle those who aren't fortunate to have born with standard looks of beauty. It also makes those who have, think they are better than someone for genetics.

Laughing at something like this may seem innocent to those who tell themselves it's not meant to be true....but clearly they buy into it which is why they find it funny in the first place.

This may seem unrelated to some, but I get just as upset when I hear guys call other guys a "fag" but insist it's not degrading...it's to be "funny." Bullshit, you are believing it's OK to insult someone with a sexuality preference as if it should be degrading and embarrassing.

I hope this makes sense because although it does in my head, I am not sure it's coming out right.

Oh, and all of you fuckers totally rock. For serious. And Morgan, I totally dig what a good, sensitive person you are. Thanks for writing/cross posting this.

are you sure it's an actual ad campaign? it's hosted on an israeli ad firm's website, and not the actual bacardi web server.

i think it's horrendous, but still.

As with most ad campaigns that are deemed offensive in some way, I don't find it particularly funny but it doesn't really offend me, either. They're not the first ones to make the joke. I remember an episode of Family Guy where someone hired an ugly girl to make Meg look better. Businesses are run by people, and people often make stupid jokes. If they want to stake their company's profits and reputation on a stupid joke, more power to them. I'm not going to buy their product, but if I wrote a letter to the every company whose products I don't buy, I'd be pretty busy.

But at the end of the day, I don't see how using models photoshopped to look ugly to sell a product is any different from using models photoshopped to look sexy. Neither one really has anything to do with the product itself, and they're both symptoms of the same problem. And, as tasteless as this campaign is, it seems to me like it's actually LESS sexist than just showing a faceless, bikini-clad torso with the product super-imposed over it, which describes several billboards I saw driving into downtown today.

I don't know. The entire advertising industry sucks. People should buy things they like.

Gah.

gotcha. thanks for the clarification. the link in the thread was to the ad firm's site.

Yea, i remember those and agree with you.

The marketers at Bacardi don't really seem to be thinkers. I can't even believe this one made it past the cutting board.

This just played in my head..

I totally understand your position. I've been there for a long, long time. I had the belief that "hey, it's just a joke. Lighten up. It wasn't directed at them."

That was a really easy way to see any joke or insult as "playful." The reality is, people WILL laugh at it and whether they want to admit it or not, it's cementing the idea that the difference is significant.

It's like that Snicker's ad that ran during the Superbowl that took a shot at gays. Most of the guys I knew thought Snicker's was weak for pulling the ad because they found it funny. It's funny because most homophobic guys would never want to be seen as gay. It's an insult that starts in grade school. And goes on into adulthood.

Same with the notion of physical beauty or lack of. To make fun of it is just a "light-hearted" way of saying some people are better than others.


P.S. Happy Father's Day to anyone it applies to.

it looks like they pulled the website.

It was like this I bet.

You DICK!

First you made me eL Oh eL with your comment on the Sex Board with your "OMG" post and now this.

That's it....you're blocked!

Update!