Photo from missmoveabroad.com
The good news: Costa Rica elected its first woman president, Laura Chinchilla.
The bad news: She’s anti abortion and anti gay marriage.
First World Feminism
A fair question. Two quick answers:
1. Those of us lucky enough to live in the most progressive parts of the world tend to focus on how good we have it, and yet we still haven’t achieved true gender equality.
2. I’m over trying to pitch women’s magazines. I find that if the story isn’t about slimmer thighs for summer, they’re just not interested.
This stuff is important, I’ll try not to make it too dry.
Brands to Avoid Based on their Superbowl Ads
Brand: Bridgestone Tires
Ad: “Your Tires or Your Life” - A man shoves his scantily-clad girlfriend out of a car instead of giving up his tires
Agency: Dallas-based Richards Group
Thoughts: Too bad, because their other ad, “Whale of a Tale,” was actually quite cool.
Brand: Flo TV
Ad: A man whose spine has been removed is shopping for lingerie with his shrill girlfriend instead of watching the Superbowl
Agency: Magner Sanborn and Agency 3.0
Thoughts: The girlfriend as strict mommy characterization is unoriginal in addition to being offensive.
Brand: Dodge
Ad: A man who is used to doing whatever his wife tells him finally gets to assert his power by driving a Dodge Charger (A Dodge Charger?)
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Thoughts: At least give the guy a Porsche.
What would impress me is an ad consisting entirely of text against a solid background that read:
“The following 60 seconds cost us $3 million.”
“Not including talent, production, effects and music, which would have cost us millions more.”
“We thought about doing something dazzling to get your attention.”
“But instead we’re going to donate $5 million to Save the Children.”
“Please buy our product, even though we’re not showing you cars, beer or celebrities.”
<Bridgestone logo appears on screen and fades out>
That would have been original and powerful. It would have been tweeted about by everyone. I would have found a way to purchase Bridgestone tires that week and I don’t even own a car. Instead, I will avoid ever buying Bridgestone tires.
Is it that difficult to make a compelling Superbowl ad that doesn’t insult women? Really, Wieden + Kennedy, no one working on the Dodge account thought that your “I hate my bossy wife” message might alienate female consumers?
Come on, guys. It gets exhausting.
Jezebel’s impressively speedy roundup of sexist Superbowl ads.
Go Saints!
Safe Drinking Water
This isn’t so much a feminist issue as an everyone issue (although everyone should be a feminist). Our clean drinking water is in danger, and the organizations fighting to protect it need our help:
- The 2005 Halliburton Loophole that undermines the Safe Drinking Water Act and what you can do about it
- The powerful oil and gas industry lobby and the activists that take them on
Abortion and the Superbowl
Photo from Change.org
CBS plans to air a 30-second, $2.5 million ad by right-wing anti-abortion group Focus on the Family during the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl audience is one of the largest of any event, spanning all ages and political positions. Last year’s viewership was 151.6 million.
Focus on the Family’s ad, yet to be released, allegedly features the story of football player Tim Tebow’s mother, who continued a risky pregnancy against her physician’s recommendations. The implicit suggestion that pregnant women whose health is at risk shouldn’t worry because nothing bad will happen is dangerous, and the ad neglects to mention that Tebow’s mother fell ill in the Philippines, where abortion has been illegal (even to protect the woman’s life) since 1930 and is punishable with prison time for both the woman and the doctor. Tebow’s mother didn’t so much “choose life” as choose not to go to jail. In other words, the story is a fabrication.
The ad represents a sharp turn from CBS’s usual policy against airing controversial ads during sports events. Citing its anti-advocacy policy, CBS has rejected ads from MoveOn.org, PETA and the United Church of Christ, which welcomes LGBT parishioners.
Things you can do:
- Support NOW’s efforts to urge CBS to pull the anti-abortion Super Bowl ad.
- Sign the Feminist Majority Foundation’s petition of the ad.
Today's 10 Funny Feminist Tweets
@ShelbyKnox I’m not very good with this whole working with other people thing. Otherwise known as life. #activistfail
@emergingmummy Hey, Focus on the Family, I dare you to take your Superbowl ad money and give it to Haiti. @julieclawson #Haiti #Superbowl
@AmandaMarcotte http://bit.ly/cDTAGo This is why I don’t believe in a god, at the end of the day.
@JessicaWakeman Signs you have a messy desk: when you discover the Burt’s Bees lip balm you thought you lost last week underneath a notebook.
@NurtureGirl Hello, hello, customer service - are there controls on this reality distortion field device? I need to adjust it. Yes, it is plugged in.
@elmenzies The janitor is picking up office garbage and I am now ashamed I threw my banana peel in the basket under my desk.
@ClinicEscort Supreme Court to anti-choicer: “Whatevs, you’ve still gotta file your taxes.” http://bit.ly/aatMgV #prochoice
@rustytanton: the phrase “lost my virginity” has always seemed awkward to me. like lost my keys…is my virginity in the car?
@kyraocity RT @baratunde I want to produce a rapper named Lil Debbie who only spits rhymes about corn syrup & partially hydrogenated oils
@JulesyParker Curvaceous So You Think You Can Dance contestant just asked why she was no longer a ballet dancer. Answer: “I got hungry.” Ha!
“ Women sometimes need a little more handholding, or they need their friends to help them make a decision. And by our going in and talking to them and recruiting and educating and training them to either get involved in a campaign or become a candidate, we’re giving them the tools so that they can do that on their own.
Image from clker.com
RNC co-chair Jan Larimer on the Republican party’s efforts to recruit more women candidates
French Algerian Playwright Attacked Over Feminist Play
Photo from mymomsblog.blogspot.com
On January 15th, two men assaulted French Algerian writer, Rayhana, and doused her with gasoline, likely because of the feminist play she wrote and stars in, “At my age, I still hide to have a smoke.” The sold-out show takes an honest look at the treatment of Algerian women, which has led to repeated threats from Islamic extremists. Rayhana was able to escape the attempted homicide and is currently under police protection. She is still performing the show.
Women in Veils
A photo essay of four sisters living in Yemen. Photo #7 is kind of astounding.
