KFC (the Restaurant Chain) Has to Apologize for an Ad That Suggests Males Like to Look at Bewbs
Source - KFC Australia has been accused of serving up buckets of sexism after a new commercial was criticized by a group campaigning against the objectification of women.
The fast-food chain recently released a 15-second ad on YouTube for its Zinger Popcorn Box that opened with a scantily clad young woman checking herself out in the tinted windows of a parked car, unaware that anyone was inside the vehicle. Gawking at her own backside and cleavage, the festival-bound woman was then shocked to see the car's window roll down, revealing two young boys ogling her, and an older woman in the driver's seat looking unimpressed.
The young woman then sheepishly asks, “Did someone say KFC?” — a catchphrase featured in a series of KFC Australia's commercials. ...
Soon after its release, anti-"sexpolitation" advocates with Australia's Collective Shout movement formally called out KFC, calling the ad “a regression to tired and archaic stereotypes where young women are sexually objectified for male pleasure.”
Last week, KFC issued an apology for the ad, ...
“We apologize if anyone was offended by our latest commercial. Our intention was not to stereotype women and young boys in a negative light,” a representative for the fast-food chain told the outlet on Tuesday. ...
According to a statement from a Collective Shout rep, the Australian ad for the Zinger Popcorn Box remains dangerous as long as it is broadcasted.
“Ads like this reinforce the false idea that we can't expect better from boys. It is another manifestation of the 'boys will be boys' trope, hampering our ability to challenge sexist ideas which contribute to harmful behavior towards women and girls,” Collective Shout spokeswoman Melinda Liszewski said in a statement.
On behalf of the human race, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Collective Shout and all like-minded groups for protecting our species from our own basic humanity. And I want to wish them the very best of luck as they try to undo millions of years of biological hardwiring, one 15-second TV spot at a time. Sure, heterosexual males are instinctively attracted to the sight of female body parts thanks to eons of evolution. But don't let a little thing like science stop you from trying to stop it. Or to stomp out any jokes related to it. Human sexuality is not funny. Ever. As long as you say so.
I guess this is just one of those moment where I'm left to ask once again, where is that line drawn? When does the sight of a pair of female breasts stop being natural and empowering and start being "sexually objectified for male pleasure"? For instance, when Lena Dunham was stripping down in every single episode of "Girls," she was hailed as a hero, breaking down the walls of gender bias and challenging the traditional norms of beauty forced upon us by the patriarchy or whatever. It sounded like future generations of female Nobel Prize and Congressional Medal of Honor winners were going to say they were inspired to greatness by Lena's glass ceiling-shattering areola.
But suggesting that adolescent males enjoy looking at fully clothed, cleavagey breasts promotes "sexist ideas which contribute to harmful behavior towards women and girls." You'll have to pardon me if I sound confused but ... yeah, I'm confused. I'm not arguing. I just need a ruling on this so I can be sufficiently woke in this rapidly changing social landscape. So help me out if you could, Melinda Liszewski. In a world of Barstool Smokeshows, Instagram models, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, the SI Swimsuit Issue (which might still exist) and strong, empowered feminists marching for their right to Free the Nipple, when exactly are the post-pubescent males who like seeing them committing a hate crime? Knowing exactly when that line gets crossed would go a long way toward eliminating that "boys will be boys" trope.
In the meantime lads, if you find yourself sitting in a car in Australia and a woman is checking her cleavage in the window reflection a foot from your face, the best way to handle it is to repress all your natural urges and look the other way. Then get on your phone and enroll in the Women's Studies program of the nearest liberal arts school, then lead a support group of men who believe that all masculinity is of the toxic variety and work to ban all sex-related humor for being regressive and archaic. Only then will there be equality.
One last question. Is it still OK for men to be "objectified," or is that a hate crime now? I'm just asking in case they show another ad like this during the Super Bowl, so I know whether to be offended or not.