I keep seeing this ad pop up on my Facebook feed.
It’s two ladies sitting in an auditorium. One in front of the other. The lady behind notices the tag is sticking out on the shirt from the lady in front. So with out saying a word, she stuffs it back in.
The lady in front then turns around to say “thank you”.
Every time I see this ad I think to myself: “WTF lady?”.
I had this experience in real life.
A nurse I had never met walked up to me in the hospital and without any preamble, reached up and started monkeying with the neck of my scrub top, explaining that the tag was sticking out.
So yeah, kind of creepy.
“Touch not, lest ye be touched.”
I’d be creeped out. If I felt a touch on the back of my shirt I’d move, turn around and glare.
Yeah, I think it’s very weird (and potentially risky, unnecessarily) to do that to a stranger. I’d only do it to a member of my immediate family. Anyone else, it’s “Oh, hey, did you know you have a label sticking out?”.
What is it even an ad for?
Can’t speak for other cultures, but I consider that boundary-crossing behavior, so it would feel inappropriate to me.
I would never do that without saying something first: “Your tag is out - would you like me to tuck it in?”
It’s a promo for a Hulu miniseries Mrs. America with Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly in the '70’s. As the younger woman turns around to thank prim Schlafly for fixing her tag, Cate Blanchett slightly recoils as she notices the young woman’s unshaven armpits.
I wouldn’t do it to a complete stranger, but I admit I’d be tempted to. I have done it to female co-workers that I don’t “know”, usually telling them what I’m doing before I do it. I’ve never gotten anything but a a giggle and a “thanks” but I’m careful about who I do it to. One of the other Art Tour Guides; sure. The head of HR; not so much.
I can vaguely recall having had it done to me, though not by a total stranger. Didn’t bother me at all, except I was slightly embarrassed for walking around with my tag hanging out. Admittedly, I have a broader set of boundaries than most so I try to treat people how they’d like to be treated (as opposed as how I’d like to be treated).
Eh, maybe file this under “It was a different time.” Yes, this behavior would not be as acceptable today, but in portraying a 1960’s/70’s southern woman of culture, it would be the neighborly thing to do.
And, in the context of the drama being advertised, it is an action that is revealing of character. She is supposed to be a woman of high morals, so seeing something out of place, she corrects it. And as others have pointed out, the moment is also revealing of character as the younger woman moves her arm in a way that exposes her armpit hair, which evokes horror in Schlafly.
It’s creepy, sort of like removing lint from someone’s clothing.
I’m seeing an opportunity for a whole new genre of horror movies.
The promo is currently one of the more popular ads on YouTube right now for those of you that wish to see for yourselves. I found the scene a bit weird, but of course Phyllis Schlafly very well probably never actually did that in real life, whereas for purposes of the movie it sets up the above mentioned “armpit scene” in which her subsequent reaction seems to contribute to the point about her that the movie is trying to make, and I suppose that makes it “normal” by Hollywood standards. Chances are it’s no creepier than whatever is being shown in the theater room next door.
By the 1970’s I had managed to teach my own mother not to do that to me.
A total stranger, with no warning? 1970’s or not, I’d probably have jerked away and glared at her. Possibly yelping while I was at it.
I was a child in the 70s, and maybe behavior directed at children was different, but it happened to me all the time. Having you tag out was a much bigger faux pas :dubious:then, than it is now. I can remember being acutely embarrassed at being caught with my tag out. :o
Creep. Get consent first!
I tend to wander around in my own little world so I don’t think I would notice someone’s tag and wouldn’t touch it if I did. But I wouldn’t mind or be offended if someone fixed mine, it is not a big deal.
This sort of thing is absolutely asking for trouble if you don’t notify the stranger first and tell them of the situation.
I had this situation years ago. On a metro escalator, I noticed the guy in front of me had his backpack open, unzipped, and things could very well fall out. But I told him his pack was unzipped, and then he said, 'Oh OK, can you zip it back closed for me?" and I did. We have enough tales of groping/pickpocketing/thievery in society already to make any unsolicited help highly inadvisable.
I’d only do it to co worker or family member
I wouldn’t be creeped out if it were done to me. I’d say ‘thanks’.
As i said, I wouldn’t be creeped out, but my brain would go into ‘full-sensor mode’. With the person and my surroundings. Is my wallet still there?
Phyllis Schlafly made her name telling other women how to lead their lives and expressing her disapproval of women who led lives differently from her. Tucking someone’s tag in, without asking permission first, seems like some gentle character-building: she 100% didn’t have a “live and let live” attitude, and felt entitled to violate other people’s boundaries in order to enforce her social norms.