Lindt chocolate commercial. Man is sexually harassed by two female airport security personnel...and this is supposed to be amusing.

2010-09-13T16:02:58+00:00

I'm more pissed at TSA fucking over travelers by stealing their damn chocolate and acting like little overlords and ordering passengers about. Fuck that shit. I'm sure not buying Lindt now, all that commercial did was piss me off.

Kuonji · 2010-09-13T17:09:18+00:00

It's not that this commercial is offensive. It's that it highlights the double-standard in advertising and society regarding sexual aggressiveness. There is no way in hell this would be done with the genders reversed.

Slashcontext · 2010-09-13T19:22:10+00:00

I'm a man who doesn't like being hit on by women I'm not attracted to. So, no, I don't always like it. I don't think this commercial has a positive message here. I wouldn't like to be in that man's position. I think if the women in the commercial were ugly, many of the commentors here would be taking a different view on this. It has become fashionable to belittle and abuse men in the media. I don't like it. Just because women are treated more fairly these days doesn't mean men should be made victims.

Kardlonoc · 2010-09-13T10:46:07+00:00

I'm getting tired of Mens Rights being offended by fictional content and basically being a pussy about it. Get over yourselves.

Mindmaster · 2010-09-13T08:20:55+00:00

I wouldn't mind. Except that i would not give away the chocolate so easy (they're quite expensive).

But i am probably not that sensitive to sexual harassment tbh.

2010-09-14T00:18:56+00:00

There's a lot of good discussion about this commercial. People have mentioned that I should lighten up and that this is clearly satire.

Fair enough. Let me just point out a few things; some obvious, some maybe not so much.

First and foremost, if you reversed the roles, this commercial wouldn't see airplay. Two lecherous men ogling a female would be unacceptable. I think most people would agree.

Second, the women are in a position of authority. I wouldn't have nearly as much to say about this commercial if they were cashiers or customer service or...whatever. The fact that they're in a position of power makes their comments harassment. The man has to either consent to their harassment or face the consequences.

Granted, this is a fictional piece of satire, but it's also a marketing piece. Unlike a movie or a story, its primary purpose is not to serve as art; it's a piece designed to sell a product. Unlike a movie or a story, this piece appears frequently, in the media, with little or no regard to its content. Hey, they're just selling chocolate! What's the harm?

The message it conveys -- no matter how satirical -- is that sexual harassment is funny and acceptable so long as women are doing it.

There are a lot of people out there that would agree with this notion. This sort of aggressive, sexual behavior is not typical (as far the observer is involved) with the "every day woman on the street". As such, it's unexpected and humorous.

How did this commercial get made? I don't know exactly how this commercial came to be, but most commercials that are run in national spots were created using market research and demographics. They knew how well this commercial would be received before it was even aired. It was written, designed, filmed and screened before the general public watched it. A lot of people gave their thumbs up and said, "Yeah, this is funny. This is acceptable. This will help us sell more chocolate."

Other things to think about:

You may like the idea that these women are sexually aggressive, but if you're not the good looking athlete in this commercial, this situation would never happen to you. Would these women harass the next poor schmuck in line? Nope. Sorry, dude. You're not hot enough to be harassed. (Insert sad trombone here.)

Likewise, change the women from average and "doable" to old, fat and disgusting. Is the commercial still funny? Actually, yes, it's probably much more funny. Instead of envying the athlete, you're now laughing at him (provided you have a dark sense of humor) and the FML situation he just found himself in.

However, I'm sure Lindt didn't want to completely alienate their male audience. By making the women "fuckable", they're capturing their male market as well as ensuring their stand in the female market by not making the women overly attractive.

Sexual harassment is not funny. If you think it's awesome, then you've never been a victim. It's about power and control and your complete lack of it. It's "funny and acceptable" in this context because it was marketed to the greatest demographic ensuring the most sales. The more successful this type of marketing, the more you'll see it. The more you see it, the more it will become acceptable.

If you're a male, pursuing a sexual harassment suit against a female is already immensely difficult without this sort of help from the marketing sector. But, hey, why not sell some chocolate, have a few laughs and reaffirm the public's notion that this sort of behavior is hilarious and harmless...so long as it's women doing the harassment?

tl;dr Sexual harassment is wrong, regardless of gender, and should not be used as a marketing prop.

Kuonji · 2010-09-13T14:02:01+00:00

[permanently deleted]

InfinitelyThirsting · 2010-09-13T13:32:40+00:00

Like this type of thing isn't done to women all the time in commercials? And I liked it because it turned the stereotype of "Only Men Have Libidos" around for once, and showed a man as a desired sexual being, rather than only women.

ass_fungus · 2010-09-13T09:04:52+00:00

It's all about context. He has a boyish half-grin, giving the women the behavioral cue they need to continue with their flirtatious behavior. If instead he had been screaming "I NEED AN ADULT! I NEED AN ADULT!" as the OP would have done, I'm sure the ladies would have stopped.

NoxiousNick · 2010-09-13T15:03:39+00:00

I'm never eating that brand of chocolate again. Airport security just took his chocolate balls without reason and he just said "Ok." Must not be that great anyways.

JLContessa · 2010-09-13T08:05:18+00:00

Tell me, and I'm honestly curious...

If this actually happened to you, OP, in exactly the way that it happened in the commercial, would you be offended? Or would you laugh?

Anyone else? I am honestly curious, and I'd love to know if any of you can be honest too.

PierceHarlan · 2010-09-13T16:08:54+00:00

These things are "offensive" because of the double standard. This same commercial with the genders reversed would never get on the air, and if it did, would be yanked quickly because of the yipping yapping howls of protest.

What is offensive to me is the people who harumph "get over it -- that stuff is no big deal." I agree it's not big deal, in and of itself. But the people who chide men's rights advocates to "get over it" would never, in a million years, be heard to chide women's groups. Their sole mission is to "educate" men's rights groups that they are being too sensitive. Tell you what, all you folks who insist it's not a big deal, I'll be the first in line to agree -- when I hear you tell that to women's groups.

The REASON this sort of thing is offensive is that men are supposed to put up with good natured sexism but women won't tolerate even a whiff of it.

2010-09-13T20:06:19+00:00

When women ogle men, men get flattered. When men ogle women, women get an attorney.

Sylocat · 2010-09-13T16:39:57+00:00

There are plenty of things posted in MensRights that actually raise good points, have thoughtful discussions and so on, and yet the only ones that get enough attention to make it to the front page of Reddit are the ones that make me think of this. Why is that?

bladzalot · 2010-09-13T13:35:14+00:00

K, three points to make here...

Guys love being sexually harassed
This ad IS amusing
If this happened to me I would be Thrilled

Title	Lindt chocolate commercial. Man is sexually harassed by two female airport security personnel...and this is supposed to be amusing.
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	29
Comments	54
Date	September 13, 2010 7:47 AM UTC (15 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/dd3nt/lindt_chocolate_commercial_man_is_sexually/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/lindt-chocolate-commercial-man-is-sexually.1047526 https://theredarchive.com/post/1047526

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