Did you know that more than 80% of women worldwide will face gender-based street harassment at some point in their lives? They—or rather we—will be approached or accosted on the street, subjected to unwanted whistles, cat calls, sexual comments, and lewd gestures in which men “assert the right to intrude on women’s attention, defining her as a sexual object, and forcing her to interact with them.” Charming.
The good news? Last week was actually International Anti-Street Harassment Week, and activists all over the world participated in tweet chats, rallies, and protests to raise awareness about the damage done by leering, stalking, and sexually explicit comments.
This makes it a particularly interesting time for Snickers to have debuted a new ad that features construction workers heckling unsuspecting female passersby (who are apparently real women with authentic reactions, not actresses) with positive comments.
“Want to hear a filthy word?” one builder yells down from a ledge at a woman walking by, minding her own business. “Gender bias!”
“I appreciate that your appearance is just one aspect of who you are,” yells another.
Nice, huh? Comments like these pretty much had me wanting to marry Snickers. Because whoever thought that a chocolate bar company would be a major force in changing pop culture’s gender discourse?
[media url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gjsoSY18kg”]
But then (SPOILER ALERT) the end of the ad put an end to my bliss. And right after all the guys whom I’d just fallen for start publicly calling for an end to misogyny, the words “You’re not you when you’re hungry” flash on to the screen.
Oh. So that’s how you’re going to play this. The builders were only being decent human beings because their tummies were empty. And the minute they eat, they’re going to revert back to sexist, threatening, demeaning cads. Talk about hitting it out of the Totally Offensive To Everybody ballpark.
But wait, here’s an idea: Hey Snickers, since you totally squandered an opportunity to alter the portrayals of masculinity in mass media, why not treat everyone working hard this week to change the gender stereotypes you reinforce to a candy bar? Because that would be sweet—and really satisfying.
Audrey D. Brashich is the author of All Made Up: A Girl’s Guide to Seeing Through Celebrity Hype and Celebrating Real Beauty, a body image guide for teens. Visit her site here.
What a disappointing ad. They could have made something really groundbreaking with that idea, but instead they have managed to be even more offensive.
And weirdly, it’s not even good publicity for them – so, people are nicer when they DON’T eat Snickers? What the…?
you know, i have to say i really didn’t like the ad in the first place. these men are STILL intruding women’s personal space, still ‘forcing her to interact with them’, still interrupting their day and still acting like these women owe them something, still making unsolicited remarks etc etc. i mean, OF COURSE what they’re saying is so, so much better than the absolute sexist, gender-based filth so many women have to put up on a daily basis BUT the point still stands. and the thing is, they wouldn’t do this to men. also, like the point of this article, you can’t ignore the ending. *throws up in mouth* that really is disgusting