Does this "offend" you? Why/Why not?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Something I came across on another forum which was presented as a joke, and my thoughts on it. Just curious as to the thoughts or gut feelings of others of both sexes. Is it just me? I am not usually easily offended and can find humor in much that is considered un-PC but I guess it is the spirit of it that matters most.

Um, honestly, my reaction to this is, did they do one using a MAN’S bobbing back as a coffee table (or, to use one term for a tattoo on a woman’s lower back, “beer coaster”), with multiple FEMALE hands sharing the beer? :rolleyes:

I’m about as far from a prude as possible (heck, I write some pretty hard-core erotica ) but as humorous as this is in general, it DOES strike me as “offensive” simply because of the implied gender inequities.

No, I’m not “OMG, I’m SO offended!”, lol, but my gut reaction to watching it was to think/feel, ok, some woman is obviously “servicing” some man (or men) and being used as a beer coaster by him and OTHER men as she does so. Comes across as a BIT degrading, imo, more like some cheap porno or teen male sex comedy (again, don’t get me wrong; I can enjoy both if done well. Superbad was one of the best films I’ve seen recently ) than the slogan of “share one with a friend or two” would suggest.

In fact, that slogan itself says a lot; share one WHAT? Beer? Woman? Both? Yep. Doesn’t impart to me, given the visual context, the idea that the female in the scene is one of the “friends” involved. If it did I would feel so much more comfortable with it. As it is, it feels a little, ok a lot, objectifying and demeaning to me. Just my impression.

The implication is that the woman here is merely one of the “things” being shared with “a friend or two”, along with the beer. As opposed to a shared experience between equal friends involving a beer, which I would have absolutely no issue with.

This is merely 1. my honest impression, which I felt compelled to share after viewing this a few times and confirming my imediate impression and 2. a critique of the ad agency involved in the production of this gem and their failure to create something raunchy and amusing w/o potentially alienating half of their client’s market.

I am, as a rule, all for naughty and even politically incorrect, but this ad crosses even MY personal comfort line. JMHO

2

I didn’t care much for the ad, but it wasn’t really offensive, though I did fast forward as it was a bit long… But i went back and saw the sharing.

My take- it’s a single female being serviced by 2-3 people (not quite a gangbang that the youtube video discribes), but still. I didn’t know anything about the situation or why she was being used as a coaster or what not, but in my opinion I didn’t really care. I mean, I’d be surprised if I ever saw that ad on TV, but just from the sheer surprise of it being there and about sex (especially non-vanilla sex like that). But since I didn’t know the situation, since we never have any other cues other than the female’s back, we don’t know if she’s laughing, accepting this with rolled eyes, or reacting angrily.
So in those sorts of situations my mind tends to just blur over it and give the safest options- just assumed she was having consensual sex with 2-3 people (as the guy in the front could be just handing the beer off to the others or actually getting serviced as well, but I didn’t think too hard on that one) and they’re sharing a beer (the same one it looked like too, which to me is a bit more gross but still).

The slogan was meant to ambiguous and that was the only really tacky part about the ad that I rolled my eyes at- honestly, it’s not that clever, and it’s not that funny. That was the best they could come up with? Why not just add the “hurr hurr hurr” at the end and be done with it.

But other than those thoughts, nope, didn’t really offend me, and didn’t really strike a chord with me either.

3

I should add that I am aware this is likely a fake and not anything commisioned or approved by Guiness (or however you spell it, lol, and I have a similar last name, so sue me that I’ve no idea how many Ns or S’s are involved :smack:)

4

Thanks for the input. I agree that it didn’t offend me terribly (why I used the qualifying quotation marks) or move me much either.

Just an example of bad advertising (or freelance attempt at humor).

No, we don’t get to see what her expression or attitude is, but even if she is grinning from ear to ear, the whole tone of the scene (and the text) reeks, to me, of inequity and disrespect.

That was just my gut reaction on seeing it, though as I stated, I am very comfortable with the sexual content and humor overall.

I’m female btw, (should have included that in the intitial post, whoops!) and am interested in the differences in male and female reactions to this, so that info would be helpful :slight_smile:

5

Beer commercials in general aren’t known for portraying the sexes in a fair and equal manner. Personally the one I hated the most was the ad showing the girls having a wine party and the guys having to sneak off into the basement to drink beer. (Can’t remember the brand.) At least the one in the OP made me laugh a little.

I find it silly and maybe immature, but not particularly offensive. Not moreso than any other beer commercial, anyway.

6

I’m offended. Who drinks a stout right out of the bottle?

7

Where does it say that the ‘table’ is a woman?

Kind of an interesting viral, but awfully ambiguous.

8

I could be wrong but, I think the last hand to take the bottle is female.
Which does change the tone of the ad, for me at least.

CMC +fnord!

9

I’m quite feminist as a male, but I didn’t find the video to be demeaning to the woman in any way. It’s a lazy, relaxed threesome. And if you’re happy to take three wieners at once, I doubt that you’re feeling so insecure or uncomfortable with those men that you would care what they’re doing with their hands.

And at the same time that she is being “shared”, she’s getting “serviced”. The video takes the men’s perspective on the issue (since men buy beer), but the closing line could just as easily have been, “There’s no hurry to get all the attention you need.” Or something along those lines.

10

I was offended by the fact that that bottle of beer is gonna spill right over, and that’s a damn waste of some fine beer.

11

Oooh! That’s diiiiirty!

I’d call it about as degrading and sexist as every other beer commercial, just less subtle. And this would be one of the many reasons why I try not to watch commercials. Overall, I’d call it mildly humourous and typically lame for its genre. Not worthy of taking offense however, IMO.

12

I was gonna post something along the lines of “gimme a break…” but you win the thread.

13

I thought it was hilarious, but I’m a dude. The angle of the head of the protagonist seemed a little odd. The last hand looked like a guy’s to me, but , maybe it’s because it makes more sense to me. I think that would be called a foursome.

14

Yes I find it offensive and disgusting. I really doubt it’s real.

on edit: I forgot to say why… well it’s pretty obvious - it’s a crude objectification of women. It reinforces many mens’ attitude that women are objects to be used.

15

I’m not a prude, and I’m offended, yeah, for the exact and obvious reason stated above. Crude objectification of women. This is so simplistic it needs no in-depth analysis. (Obviously a fake and not a Guinness-sponsored thing.) I’m actually surprised that so many posters have sort of defended it or called it no more offensive than any standard beer commercial. Um…

16

I can’t open the link here at work but I have a pretty good idea what it was about. I’m curious though- why the automatic assumption that the men are using the woman? Why assume the woman isn’t orchestrating the activities?

17

Nope, it was probably the funniest ad I’ve seen in a long time.

18

The only real clue to that is that she’s being used as a table. There’s a beer rocking back and forth on her back, and a hand from the right side comes and takes it, and then puts it back down on her. Then a hand from the left side comes and does the same thing. Finally a hand reaches from underneath her.

That’s the only thing that kind of bothered me about it. But the relaxed attitude of the sex in it sets it up as more of a “hey, let’s see if we can all have sex and balance a beer at the same time” than a “I’m gangbanging this chick at a frat party and putting my beer on her.”

BTW, that would never have worked IRL. That beer would have totally spilled.

ETA: I also could see that the “table” could have been a guy. The curve of the ass (and the long hair) suggests female, but it’s definitely not explicitly so. I actually thought the camera was going to zoom out and it would be a guy doing something innocuous, like bobbing to music while lying in bed or something.

19

I’m not offended, in fact I sent that to my Guinness-drinking boyfriend the first time I saw it.

Then again, I presumed an enthusiastic willingness on the part of the coaster, obviously YMMV.

20

I don’t care for the ad.

One thing that makes it odd is that it is so ambiguous. It totally lacks emotion and fun, and that blankness leaves the ad open to interpretation by thr viewer as to if it’s a fun frat party or an exploitation.

Plus it smells of cheap porn.