A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
Three adverts on TV have piqued my interest lately. One is for infant formula and is of a father waking in the night and feeding the baby — not a traditional depiction but not a problem, I did this myself with my children. No.2 is for a well-known brand of
disposable nappies, and shows a group of “men” at what looks like a coffee morning, discussing the merits of said nappies and what byproducts were found within; sorry, but I cannot believe any man would do this with his mates. No.3 is for a major brand of breakfast cereal which has always been aimed at women; in this ad a man is hunting for some clean underwear, which he cannot find because he is a man, so he does what all men do in this situation — he pulls on a pair of his wife/girlfriend’s knickers. He then decides to try her cereal, which is so amazing he forgets he is sitting in his kitchen wearing his partner’s underwear. Alas she and a couple of friends walk in and laugh at this idiot making a prat of himself.
I was debating whether to bother writing this letter, then reading your paper last night I saw an ad which depicts a man in his underwear, a young, fit man being used as a sex object to sell this company’s products.
I’m just wondering if the editor or advertising manager of this paper can justify the content of this ad for a local air conditioning company (please don’t say it is funny or humorous).
Can you imagine the uproar if the ad pictured a young woman in her underwear? People would froth at the exploitation of this woman’s body.
It goes to show the double standards of advertising agencies and their clients. They know they can get away with it because men don’t care, men have a sense of humour and can laugh at themselves, and men don’t bother complaining.
