No, seriously. DIAF, whomever wrote this homophobic "Man-ifesto"

[rissicat]

Forwarded from adelheid_p,

I'm rarely quite so seriously offended by advertising, but this piece of drivel is a kidney-punch to most of my sensibilities....

http://www.us.dockers.com/season/landing.aspx

As I said in her post. I'm not sure if they thought they were being "clever"... or they're doing this to get attention, like the kid in the classroom who's so dying for attention that even negative attention will do.

Comments

[celes-grant.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'm a bit speechless. Nothing like slipping back into the comfortable mindset that men in control is right and the progression of society is seriously flawed now that we're open to new ideas.

/boycotts

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not about to kick off my work flats and back into the kitchen, either....

Since when does "androgyny" equal:
- Thoughtless and unkind?
- Effeminate?
- Ineffective?
- Anti-society and anarchistic?
- Incapable of parenting?
- Unable to get serious?
- Scared to work hard?
- Not heroic?

Cities crumble and children misbehave

Since when is feminism "emaculating"? My mother raised four sons on her own. Is Levi Strauss intimating that since they had an absent father figure, that they are somehow contributing to the downfall of society at large? The hell?

Our society is NOT genderless, and the only unanswered questions are the ones they're making up to try and sell their bloody clothes. Rawr.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

And I apologize to frothing in response to you. I was still seeing red at the time.

[celes-grant.livejournal.com]

No worries, this advert is really out of line. It's basically suggesting we go back in time and forget all the forwardness that we've come.

Yes, things in the past still sucked even if it sucks today because men being in these positions is nothing special. Anyone can do it, duh :3

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

FUCK YOU.

REAL MEN ARE STILL REAL MEN EVEN IF THEY'RE DRESSED IN PINK AND HAVE WIFES WHO WEAR PANTS AND COMBAT BOOTS.

FUCK YOU.

FUCK YOU WITH A RUSTY PIPE AND NO LUBE.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

It's just the sheer *wrong* factor... argh.

"There are questions that our genderless society has no answer for"

What. The. Hell.

You know what, Dockers? You're trying to *create* a false problem, so you can provide a solution.

Like the reason "Miller" office furniture created "mesh office chairs" to solve the non-problem of overheating. I'm sorry, but that problem didn't exist except in climates where the indoor office temperatures were 90+. Creating a "problem" so you can pose a solution. Very Bush-Administration like, there.

Worse yet, you avocate gender division, not diverstiy. LOSE.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

You know what, Dockers? You're trying to *create* a false problem, so you can provide a solution.

Oh, they're not even doing that. They're appealing to a fear of insecure men in an attempt to sell pants.

[xanath.livejournal.com]

::chokes:: Good God, what idiocy. Yeah, and back in the day women couldn't have their own bank accounts, polio took out little kids every summer, and blacks sat on the back of the bus.

Dockers needs a punch all right, but in a much different location than the kidneys.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

(snickers) Yes, true. And I'm sure they're going to get it.

The public has a way of frothing about stupidity.

[kadrin.livejournal.com]

I think both? AND THOSE HUMOURLESS FEMINISTS AREN'T GONNA BUY DOCKERS ANYWAY RIGHT BECAUSE THEY'RE TOO REAL

Yes, I agree with this post. There must be a fire.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

It's just so damn insulting to BOTH genders that I'm stunned someone green-lighted it.

Have these people never is their lives taken a "respect at work" course?
(Unlike me, who they were practically sending me every year until I shaped up.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

That sounds interesting. What did you used to do?

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

*grin* To be honest, I'm not sure how I achieved that dubious distinction. But the accounting firm that I work for now was sending me to the "required" course every two years for a while. I really think it was a bookkeeping error on their part. (My last name probably distracted them. It is sort of unusual.)

After the third time, when they invited me, I declined to lose another 4 hours of my life and provided them with the dates of the other classes. At that point, the invitations ceased.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

That almost sounds like you were going because of a clerical issue, not anything you did in particular.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

Actually, while the latter amuses me (and I do have a reasonably rough and straightforward manner), I expect that that former is the real truth... Doesn't make for as good a story, sadly!

[iapetusneume.livejournal.com]

The amount of things wrong in that ad is really startling. Most of it was enough to raise blood temperature. (Some of it was facepalming.)

Some of what's wrong here isn't just homophobic, though. The thing that struck me the most? Saying to get away from the salad bar. This might be because I knew everyone else would attack... well... everything else, but this is one of the many reasons that there is an obesity problem in America. There's cultural conditioning that veggies are bad, and (for men) it's not a manly thing to eat them. I know plenty of men who eat vegetables and like them, thank you very much.

(Yes, I picked that point because the other ones were covered.)

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

*GRIN* No, I agree with you - I even found that disturbing.... I mean, I make a really, really awesome quiche. If Dockers had their way, 50% of the population would never learn that fact.

In all seriousness, though. Yes, the "values" they're proposing are ridiculous, trumped up stereotypes that rarely contribute anything to better understanding and harmony.

[360high.livejournal.com]

Actually Dockers is reacting to the fact that they're considered "girly pants" by anyone that doesn't have taste. I know this because my husband wears Dockers and all my redneck family roll their eyes, claiming that he's dressed like a sissy, that he should be in real man jeans!

Yeah, they're hicks.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

Dockers are comfy, and your family can roll their eyes all they want. I'm betting that most of the eye-rolling is more because it's pretty damned hard to find something to complain about your husband about, typically. He's kind, thoughtful, a hard worker, smart, and takes good care of his family.

Wouldn't it be darned nice if your ruby-throated relatives could say the same?

[velithya]

If it makes you feel better something I noticed after reading all of that drivel: [SHOP MENS] [SHOP WOMENS]

After giving men the spiel about how they should wear the pants, they then give them the opportunity for those pants to be women's.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was a strong reason that I suspect them of trying to draw fire to gain attention....

[velithya]

I suppose the old "any publicity is good publicity" is still in play in someone's head.

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

...is there a chance this ad is supposed to be poking fun at that ultramacho attitude? It does read kind of tongue-in-cheek: cities crumble and little old ladies are left without help crossing the street? Oh noes - civilization will collapse if Real Men don't wear these pants!

Not that it really works, mind, but that may have been the intent, rather than actually advocating the ultramacho attitude.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that did occur to me, too. Getting attention by being the class clown/jerk. I also think Wen is right, in that it's trying to recapture/redress the "dockers are worn by sissies" perception.

Unfortunately, that style assumes the reader audience has the subtlety to recognize sarcasm/irony and respond to it appropriately. And history has repeatedly told us that general audiences simply do *not* have that capacity.

[m-steelgrave.livejournal.com]

A jackass in pants is still a jackass.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

♥!!