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INTEREST: Kirin Beverage in Hot Water Over Sexist Tea Girl Ads

I was kinda worried when I saw “sexist” because that could mean anything, but no, it’s the increasingly common trend of companies making fun of their customers. Why is everyone doing this now?

I was kinda worried when I saw “sexist” because that could mean anything, but no, it’s the increasingly common trend of companies making fun of their customers. Why is everyone doing this now?

People sicken me... and it's more from the people backlashing than the company. It was just a harmless sketch, why does everyone have to be so triggered? I mean, I know why, but that doesn't make it any less illogical and in many cases rude.

Also, isn't the illustrator, Tsubo Yuri, female? I'm just scrolling down this person's twitter and crud and the person seems wholly dedicated to drawing women, and not the overly-sexualized kind (more like the opposite), this person even draws herself as an unattractive woman, which is not something guys tend to do. This is all just too hypocritical for me to take if this true, but even if the artist isn't female, it doesn't change the fact that these were harmless sketches. They may have been of stereotypical women, but stereotypes DO exist even if they don't represent the whole.

It's like if a bubblegum company did an ad saying that they were perfect for blondes because blonde women are dumb or something.

whiskeyii wrote:

It's like if a bubblegum company did an ad saying that they were perfect for blondes because blonde women are dumb or something.

Personally I do not see this as the same thing. Even if somebody hides it by dyeing their hair, "blonde" is still an identifying physical feature they were born with. This ad is poking fun at cliques which people choose whether or not to conform with, so it would be more like claiming Beavis & Butthead is bigoted for its portrayal of metalheads.

That said, I do think I understand the basic concern here, which comes from fear that's it's dehumanizing to imply members of some group of people fit into such tidy and convenient little categories. However, there's not really a realistic way to entirely avoid this kind of thing except for not talking about people at all. Just try to spend a day or two talking about nonprotected classes without making any reference to categories or stereotypes within that group; it won't work out very well because it's a natural part of how the human brain makes sense of the world. We don't have enough space in our heads to imagine tens or hundreds of millions of individuals at once or enough knowledge and time to discuss each and every one by name, so instead we picture and talk about common types among the ones we've met. Obviously cases that encourage bigotry against anyone for what they were born as need to be dealt with, but it's probably not worth fretting over beyond that.

However, I'm starting to wonder if this kind of marketing isn't actually aimed at the people they claim to target; rather, it's aimed at the people around them, folks who agree with what they're saying

To quote a famous internet meme ”It’s just a game. Why you have to be mad?” I feel as though comedy flies over the heads of many peoples nowadays.

I mean, if it’s just a joke whose whole purpose is to make fun of stereotypes, isn’t it kind of obvious that the people making it don’t believe the types they are mocking?

In any case, there really shouldn’t be so much outrage over this, they are just employing a marketing strategy, no real harm is meant behind it. If you complain about this, you matter as well say that Wendys is harassing people on twitter.