Sony ad execs have killed their last brain cell

The BBQ Pit
#1

So I’m watching DS9 on spike and an obnoxious commercial comes on. I’m half ignoring it but I wanted to see what it was all about. Turns out it was from Sony advertising some new TV called the Bravia(sp?). The commercial featured a man and a woman using various household appliances. The commercial climaxes with both the man and woman staring at the same tv. then the catchline
“A television for men and women.”
Huh?
A tv for men and women? And here I thought tv’s were unisex. Able to be used equally by both genders. Has there been men and women’s televisions until now? Oh no!, I think my tv might be a chick tv. I hope none of my friends catch me with it. Does that make me a TVvestite?

Commercials are steadily getting worse and worse. I think this one may be the one of the worst ones yet.

#2

I saw one the other day that grated my nerves. It was for some super-duper “cuts anything” knife. They showed it cutting through the usual suspects: wood, tile, brick…and a padlock. A padlock! They might as well have tossed in the tagline, “Buy this, thieves! Don’t let those pesky locks keep you from that shiny new bicycle!” Idiots.

#3

Wow. A confluence of disparate posts.

A friend of mine has got a nice little side busines as a cutler. Recently his cousin, a 15-year-old girl, asked him to make her a knife. When he asked her what sort of knife she’d like, she said, “Just a nice little fishing knife. You, know, for girls.”

#4

Oh, crap. I always felt vaguely embarrassed that my TV was pink and had boobs. Now it all makes sense.

#5

A TV for men and women makes perfect sense to me. It comes with a giant remote and gets 4000 channels. All of them Lifetime.

#6

That commercial irks me every time I see it. I just. Don’t. Get. It.

: head explodes :
Wait! Maybe I don’t get it because I’ve been watching male TVs my whole life!

#7

What I find most amusing is this ad being on Spike, a channel which brands itself as TV for men. Seems to me Sony is missing half its intended customers here :wink:

#8

I’ve always hated those commercials which swear their product is strong enough for male use, but is specially formulated for the delicate skin of women. Skin is skin.

#9

It makes sense to me. It cuts directly to the stereotypes of what men and women want in a TV. Guys want the latest greatest technology, hi-def, 100 channels, DTS sound, HDMI connections, giant lcd remote with tons of controls.
Gals want a picture, sound, and a remote with power, volume up/down, channel up/down. And about 5 channels max.

So what Sony is toting is that the new Brevias are the latest greatest bells and whistles high-tech tv sets but are very, very simple to use.

#10

Sure, skin is skin. I think their argument is that not all sweat is created equal. Whether there’s any truth to that I don’t know, but anecdotally, I’ve been on extended campouts where there were men and women who went unbathed and un-deodoranted for an equal period of time (assuming all the men had bathed the day we left). The men smelled different, stronger and worse after a few days.

#11

A few years ago Secret deoderant/anti-perspirant which had been “Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman” changed to “Strong enough for a woman.” Which was cool.

Now, it’s “Strong enough for <some specific woman that I don’t recognize, but apparently she’s suppose to be tough or something>.” So, less interesting, unless you know whoever their celebrity spokesperson is.

#12

Well, on your TV, is the remote connected to the TV with a cable, so you can’t lose it? If not, you’ve been watching a guy tv. The early attempts at a unisex TV failed; they lacked a remote entirely, but once it was established that the guys were too lazy to get up and change the channels, the women (or small children) had to do it.

#13

I don’t know what you’re complaining about. I think it’s rather neat that Sony makes a bisexual televison set.

#14

When I first saw one of those commercials, it announced the thing about being the first television for men and women in the beginning, and I thought it would be a channel. I thought it sounded kind of cool. You know, maybe interesting shows that both men and women are supposed to like.

#15

Reminds me of a 8 outlet power strip I bought a couple of years back that proudly proclaimed “Windows XP compatible”. You know I had to have it.

#16

Not really; male skin is thicker and tougher; female skin has a finer texture.

#17

Actually, I’ve read an article on this. Apparently it can do all the normal TV functions, but it has this new chip in it that, once you store your credit card number in it, automaticaly buys the most overpriced crap it can find off of the Home Shopping Network.

#18

I saw that TV ad! Spent a few minutes boggling at it in wonder. It’s a friggin’ TV. Shows pretty moving pictures with sound. Hooks into my PS2 and DVD player. And I can even buy cable or tivo or a pair of rabbit ears.

What more does one need from a TV, really?

#19

Yes, but was it Y2K compliant?

#20

See, you didn’t know that that company was involved with law enforcement, did you? The first dummy that tries it will be there for hours, making him a sitting duck for any cop.