First thing - look atthis ad, here. It is for Toronto’s CFL football team, and reads “Home is where the heart is. It’s also where we hurt people.”
Sorry for the small size, it’s the only link I can find without further context to it. There’s a better one in a link in the spoiler, but it’s part of an article about it. It appeared in Toronto subway stations and bus stops.
What is your reaction to it? Like it? Offended by it? Don’t care either way?
The reason I’m asking is
[spoiler]because of this article, which says that the Toronto Argonauts have pulled the ad over complaints (and a city councillor’s letter) about it being offensive to victims of domestic violence.
Based on comments in other articles, it seems that most people think that pulling the ad is stupid, that there isn’t anything offensive about it, etc. However a lot of those comments seem to be made by football fans, and a few of those comments are kind of misogynistic.
I’m torn about my reaction to the ad. I’m a huge CFL fan - though not of the Argos! - and love football as a sport, so I get the message they intended. They are advertising the first home game of the season, and want their team to be perceived as rough and tough. But “Home is where the heart is” is a phrase that has a lot of other meaning to people, and the generic 'we hurt people", with the last two words in frilly letters …well, I’m not really offended, but I can completely see why it would be taken badly by some people. I don’t think it’s a good ad, and I can see why people wanted it pulled. [/spoiler]
What are your opinions on it? I think this could be a source for an interesting discussion about messages in advertising, or something.
ETA: I put this in IMHO instead of the Game Room or CS because I want it to be a discussion about the ad, not the sport. I also felt that I’d get a broader range of opinions here than in other forums. Mods, move it if you feel like it!
It’s another example of political correctness run awry. Really, who the heck cares enough about an ad for a football team to get worked up enough to complain about it?
I’m not fan of football. This ad has absolutely nothing to do with victims of domestic violence. The only common denominator is that in the English language “home” can be used for a place where one lives, and can also refer to the field location of the team’s games.
Don’t think it works really. It lacks the humour and wit that can make something risque acceptable, but it’s not even risque or outrageous enough in the first place to require the humour defuser. So it’s just sort of a lame statement, undercut by a vague sense of distaste - not enough to jump up and down about but honestly who connects the idea of home with hurting people?
Busy Scissors hit it spot on. In an ad like this, you can “cross the line twice” - that is, go so far over that people forget to be offended and laugh instead. This was just stupid.
It seems vaguely distasteful to me, just from the standpoint of promoting football by advertising that players get injured. I mean yeah, it’s a violent game, and people watch it for the violence. But certain things are better left unsaid. Just like, you don’t promote an auto race by advertising the possibility of a crash.
However, it would not have occurred to me to connect the ad to domestic violence.
I’m with Freddy, I think football has for too long promoted the idea of violence towards its own players as a selling point for the game. If you can’t enjoy a game without blood, broken limbs and concussions, I think you have a serious problem.
I in fact saw the ad on the subway (I live in Toronto), and my main thought was that it was sorta tasteless to promote the violence of the sport, even in an obvious attempt at a (rather lame) joke - but never did I connect it with domestic violence.
In short, what Freddy said.
Not really funny, not really offensive, not really a big deal, not really a good ad.
I did. Until I read further, my first guess from just reading the text was that it was like the players wearing pink for breast cancer awareness - an anti-domestic violence campaign.
I think the ad is rather stupid (it utterly fails to deliver the “we’re going to put the hurt on our opponents” meme in any kind of fun or clever way). I think relating what is obviously a pro football promotion to domestic violence is even more stupid. But I do believe that if the goal in my first sentence had been achieved, the silliness in my second sentence never would have occurred.
Before looking at the ad itself and reading the OP in its entirety, I thought it was a public awareness campaign about domestic violence and the football team was getting involved to speak out against it.
Seeing that it’s not about that at all, I’m not offended by it, but the concept of “home is where we hurt people” is pretty stupid. I can see how some people would get upset by it.
The tenor of the ad is an expression of the tough guy football mentality. The purpose is to sell tickets to those who are interested. Others won’t pay much attention to it beyond noticing the football and turning away.
What antigen and elfkin477 said. I thought from the description in the OP it was going to be a PSA about football players being against domestic violence…like those ads they run around the Superbowl asking guys to please not beat up their wives and kids if their team loses.
However, I volunteer in the YWCA safe house so I work on a weekly basis with domestic violence survivors (and sometimes, perpetrators) and not only would most people not automatically connect this obvious and heavy-handed ad to whatever-it-was football team, I imagine most DV survivors are reality-based enough to be able to separate an ad from a real threat.
At least, that’s what I get from our residents and clients…they are a pretty tough and gritty bunch, generally speaking. Reality TV shows are the overwhelming choice in the Safe House TV lounge, and many of these shows involve domestic violence, marital issues, legal/marital/relationship disputes, etc. I can’t recall any resident or client mentioning they’ve been unhinged or upset by a TV commercial or reality show.
Would never have connected it with with domestic violence, and anyone who can look at that in context and end up there probably has some mental issues.
That said, it’s a stupid ad. Not as stupid as the recent series of BC Lions ads depicting effeminateobjectsbranded with other teams’ colours and logos, but still pretty stupid.
I don’t see that this sort of thing can plausibly said to encourage violence against women, but I would think there would be more potential for offense there than with “Home is where we … hurt people.”
It certainly reinforces the perception that football is a game best enjoyed by the Hurr Durr-est of the herp derp, which would be off-putting if were possible to be put off a sport which compares poorly with curling when it comes to boring you into an effing coma.
I could see why they might think that (If they try really hard), but I would never have gotten there on my own. I think there’s the tiniest, smidgiest possibility of taking offense from the ad, and I guess that’s enough.
I had already read the headline and a blurb from Google News when I looked at the ad, so I was predisposed to viewing it as potentially offensive, and so of course, once it’s pointed out to you, you see how it could be, but I still didn’t think it was that bad. Awkward and vaguely distasteful and just not very good, but “offensive” wasn’t the word that came to mind without having had it suggested first. I think a more clichéd line, such as “and also where we bring the hurt/pain” or something that’s more obviously a sports expression might have gone over better. “People” more strongly implies “men, women and children” and that’s not a great image. I think the ad doesn’t succeed in specifically promoting the first home game of the season, either, because that little banner in the top right is so small.
It’s been interesting to see people’s reactions to it here. Thanks! If you have any other comments, or examples of weird ads like this, feel free to post them!
