Comments on: Sugar in the Raw delivers a sweet insult http://www.about-face.org/sugar-in-the-raw-delivers-a-sweet-insult/ Wed, 05 Jun 2013 08:05:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Mandy http://www.about-face.org/sugar-in-the-raw-delivers-a-sweet-insult/#comment-3081 Mandy Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:52:03 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=8975#comment-3081 What bothers me most is that this guy's thoughts are narrated by a female voice. If it had been narrated by a male voice (since it's the man thinking this stupid $hit!) then I think it reflects more on how thoughtless and inattentive men can be--okay, so I am stereotyping a bit here myself.... but honestly, how many men do you see in the natural food section or any section of the grocery store?! After nearly 2 years of living together my male partner can remember what my main dietary likes and dislikes are (I am not a fanatic diet type, but I am a health nut... so I don't eat sugar, gluten, etc.) and my food tastes and options are sometimes complicated and limited, but he still has to call me from the grocery store at least twice even when he remembers the list. If they made this commercial about the guy not remembering whether the woman he is shopping for prefers natural Stevia or sugar, so chooses to buy both it would be better and get the same point across: that Sugar In The Raw now has 2 natural sweetener options. However, then we would be writing a post on another blog about stereotyping men. So how does a company make a "politically correct" commercial or advertisement that successfully gets people's attention, makes them remember the product or brand because the ad got their attention, and then successfully increase their visibility and sales? I am not being facetious, seriously how would that look and be successful? Although I absolutely agree with this post and love About-Face, what the rants are essentially doings giving the company and product more visibility and free advertising... which is exactly what they're after! as they say in Hollywood, "there's no such thing as bad publicity." Now due to their "Bad Commercial" they are getting more attention than they would if we were to just ignore them and also choose not to buy their products, thus decreasing their sales. So how do we fight back if the advertisers are just happy people are talking about this (even if it is because we hate it) since this is exactly what they're after? If this advertisement did not elicit some strong emotion in the viewer, whether positive or negative, then the viewer would probably forget about it instantly and the advertiser would not have succeeded in shocking us enough to get us to pay attention to them, their brand, and their product. I'm not trying to make an argument that we shouldn't be outraged and voice up about it; but questioning things in a more philosophic manner as something to think about; and to possibly reconsider our approach toward trying to get advertisements like this one (and SO MANY OTHERS) to stop because this approach just might be adding more fuel to the fire and creating an unwanted backlash of more and more sexist, stereotyped, "shocking" ads. Any thoughts? What bothers me most is that this guy’s thoughts are narrated by a female voice. If it had been narrated by a male voice (since it’s the man thinking this stupid $hit!) then I think it reflects more on how thoughtless and inattentive men can be–okay, so I am stereotyping a bit here myself…. but honestly, how many men do you see in the natural food section or any section of the grocery store?! After nearly 2 years of living together my male partner can remember what my main dietary likes and dislikes are (I am not a fanatic diet type, but I am a health nut… so I don’t eat sugar, gluten, etc.) and my food tastes and options are sometimes complicated and limited, but he still has to call me from the grocery store at least twice even when he remembers the list. If they made this commercial about the guy not remembering whether the woman he is shopping for prefers natural Stevia or sugar, so chooses to buy both it would be better and get the same point across: that Sugar In The Raw now has 2 natural sweetener options. However, then we would be writing a post on another blog about stereotyping men.

So how does a company make a “politically correct” commercial or advertisement that successfully gets people’s attention, makes them remember the product or brand because the ad got their attention, and then successfully increase their visibility and sales? I am not being facetious, seriously how would that look and be successful?

Although I absolutely agree with this post and love About-Face, what the rants are essentially doings giving the company and product more visibility and free advertising… which is exactly what they’re after! as they say in Hollywood, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Now due to their “Bad Commercial” they are getting more attention than they would if we were to just ignore them and also choose not to buy their products, thus decreasing their sales. So how do we fight back if the advertisers are just happy people are talking about this (even if it is because we hate it) since this is exactly what they’re after? If this advertisement did not elicit some strong emotion in the viewer, whether positive or negative, then the viewer would probably forget about it instantly and the advertiser would not have succeeded in shocking us enough to get us to pay attention to them, their brand, and their product.

I’m not trying to make an argument that we shouldn’t be outraged and voice up about it; but questioning things in a more philosophic manner as something to think about; and to possibly reconsider our approach toward trying to get advertisements like this one (and SO MANY OTHERS) to stop because this approach just might be adding more fuel to the fire and creating an unwanted backlash of more and more sexist, stereotyped, “shocking” ads.

Any thoughts?

]]> By: Lauryn http://www.about-face.org/sugar-in-the-raw-delivers-a-sweet-insult/#comment-2949 Lauryn Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:31:47 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=8975#comment-2949 I agree 100% with this. I hate this commercial. When I first saw it, I was like "what?". Another commercial I have come to despise is the commercial for the natural sweetener Truvia . The thing that gets me the most about the commercial is in the end where, after finding her "true love" (Truvia) her "skinny jeans zip in relief." I am sure you have seen it, but you can YouTube Truvia Commercial. Every time I see it, I cringe. I agree 100% with this. I hate this commercial. When I first saw it, I was like “what?”. Another commercial I have come to despise is the commercial for the natural sweetener Truvia . The thing that gets me the most about the commercial is in the end where, after finding her “true love” (Truvia) her “skinny jeans zip in relief.” I am sure you have seen it, but you can YouTube Truvia Commercial. Every time I see it, I cringe.

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