Inasmuch as the Dos Equis Guy commercials feature Formulaic Beer-Commercial Fail (about which I've previously vented here), this is still a good quote:
(On pickup lines:)
There's a time and place for them.
The time...is never.
You can figure out the place on your own.
I have made a decision. I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right-wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. ... Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy. ... Can any of us imagine having a public referendum on whether slavery should continue, whether segregation should be dismantled, whether voting privileges should be offered to women?
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damned_colonial.
Dudes are always wringing their hands and saying stuff like
I AM COMPLETELY BEWILDERED BY THE FACT THAT THERE ARE SO FEW WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY
or
I CANNOT FATHOM WHY MORE WOMEN DO NOT GET INVOLVED IN STARTUPS
CLEARLY, AN IMPENETRABLE MYSTERY!
and then they post or retweet stuff like this:
<startupnorth> RT @hnshah: 5 ways engineers are like hot chicks http://kiss.ly/cfVvO8
Gee there, dudebros, I wonder whatever could be the problem?
Have I ever mentioned how much I like Japanese Beer Commercials? Actually, I shouldn't go so far as to say that. I don't actively dislike them like the ones we have here in North America. Why? Because almost without exception, they don't follow the Western Beer Commercial Standard: Guy in a Bar with Hot Women Draped All Over Him, or some other formulation that clearly shouts "Drink our swill and you'll get laid, stud."
( See the video spots... )Yeah, taste isn't the only reason I don't buy North American macrobrewed beer.
So, I and several thousand other people noticed that you released an iPhone app called "AMP UP before you score":
What the fuck?
How could anybody on your marketing team sign off on this?
Do I even have to start to address why this is Not Cool?
I'm a member of your target audience. Leaving aside the core issue of how this campaign blatantly objectifies and demeans women, I'm outraged at your implicit assumption that I'd find it amusing, and disgusted at the notion that it might endear me to your product.
As for your "apology": you will excuse me if I find it lacking, seeing as you are contrite enough to offer a half-hearted defense of your iPhone App, yet not contrite enough to actually remove the thing from your website or the iTunes App Store.
I've been a loyal consumer of your products up until today; it should go without saying that I won't be buying them any more. No matter how gross other energy drinks are, I'm sure they'll be easier to stomach than sexist bullshit.
ETA: I got a response back from Pepsi via email on Thu, 15 Oct. They thanked me for my "candid and sincere" feedback, noted that the app was available to users 17 and older who "choose to opt in to the experience", said that it was designed to be "entertaining and appeal to a select audience of AMP energy drink consumers", and that it was "apparent [I] was upset by this promotion" -- but they didn't apologize.
I've been meaning to write this up for a while, but certain events impelled me to try to get it out while it still has a slight pretense of timeliness.
( That thing you said... )
Two things about Mark Shuttleworth's remarks before I go on to talk about the bigger picture.
First: what he said (that Linux is "hard to explain to girls") represented a lapse in judgement, or at least phrasing; it wasn't a deliberate and calculated exercise in dumbassery à la CouchDB. That particular choice of words didn't seem like something Shuttleworth would be particularly invested in, which is why I can't understand why it seems to be so hard to set things aright with a simple "I misspoke; it's not cool to cast all women as technical novices; I'll try to do better in the future."
Second: what floors me even more than Shuttleworth's remarks is the reaction that's come from the community. When you can't even say "Hey, you know, I think we should talk about the issue of sexism in F/OSS" without a crowd of people telling you "OMG, you're blowing things out of proportion, there's no problem, STFU" -- that's a pretty good sign that there's a problem.
I complained to the owner of a paintball field about the banner graphic on their website; it features a bikini-clad woman covered in ersatz paint splotches. This kind of thing is common in the paintball industry; I dislike it because I think it portrays women as "scenery" instead of serious players, and because it tells me that the business in question thinks I'm a dick with a wallet instead of a thinking customer.
I got back a reply from the female co-owner of the field saying
I am sorry that you took offence to the banner. It was suggested by my graphic designer who I respect and whom is female. The girl in the photo plays paintball at Double Tap on a regular basis.
...which puts me in the rather, uh, unusual position of telling a cadre of women to knock it off with the women-unfriendly sexist stuff. O_o
