Finally! A tablet dumbed down for the ladies!

Via Il Corriere

Last Christmas, I surprised my significant other with a new-generation iPad. Silly me, I should have bought her a tablet that was dumbed down for women.

According to Ars Technica, the device was introduced in the Middle East last fall, by Eurostar of Dubai.

Speaking to the Jerusalem Post, Eurostar associate vice president of marketing Mani Nair said that the tablet comes with the preloaded womanly applications so the user can “just turn it on and log in to cooking recipes or yoga.” He went on to state that the ePad Femme “makes a perfect gadget for a woman who might find difficulties in terms of downloading these applications and it is a quick reference.” 

The tablet has a 1.5GHz processor, 16GB of internal storage, and an SD card slot, but how a woman will ever work out either of those last two things are or what to do with them, one can’t be sure. She shouldn’t even need to—that clothing size converter app she was going to download? Already installed. Pregnancy app? Look no further. 

Nair maintains that the intent of the ePad Femme tablet was not sexist. He compared it to another tablet the company offers, ePad Gamer, but those gamers are targeted by their interest, not their biological makeup. That seems like a pretty substantial difference.

Here's a look at the apps that come preloaded:

Shopping, yoga, yoga, weight loss, perfume, menstruation, shopping,
shopping, cooking, cooking, cooking.

Jezebel summed it up nicely: ‘Tablet for Women’ Is Like a Regular Tablet, But More Fucking Bullshitty

The message of this ad is, basically, "eat me"

This magazine ad, by by OgilvyOne in Dubai, apparently provides a taste of the product without actually requiring a sample:



Not something you'd want to try with a magazine in your doctor's waiting office. This kind of insert probably ended up costing the client more than actual sampling ever has, but its newsworthiness probably more than makes up for it.

It may be a reminder that Fanta's flavour comes out of a test tube. But that's hardly what Fanta drinkers are looking for.

Tip and image via The Shortlist

If your carpet smells like this, spray ain't gonna fix it #FdAdFriday

I wonder what the hell the folks at Grey, Dubai, were thinking when they presented this one.

Instead of product benefit, they exaggerate a product "need" that itself is manufactured. Room "fresheners" are already useless, annoying and potentially unhealthy products. If your carpet smells like a barnyard or raw sewage, however, no amount of scent will cover that pong. It's time to get a new rug.

Via Ads of The World

Are they casting models, or snuff porn victims?

Bareface talent agency, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has chosen a weird way to promote its services. These ads, by Livingroom, appeared on Ads of The World over the weekend, and I'm still bothered enough by them to post here. 

Yes, I get the idea of the models being pulled every which way by fashion industry objects as representing being "in demand". But this is the freaking UAE. Women are already treated like chattel there. Accordig to Amnesty, "women in the United Arab Emirates continue to suffer the impact of discriminatory laws and practices which affect most aspectsof their life, including marriage and the choice of marriage partner, dissolution of marriage and child custody, and inheritance." Not to mention the threat of being arrested for adultery if they are victims of rape.

Not to mention the danger of foreign models being scammed and abused by unscrupulous recruiters. Or trafficked into prostitution.

So why have the models looking like they are being strangled? Even if unintentionally violent, these images are really not the best way to promote a more westernized fashion industry.

F'd Ad Fridays: Appalling Holocaust-themed fitness ad

I first saw this Facebook ad on Copyranter, but The Stir had a full version.

Using the Holocaust to sell gym memberships in Dubai is some repugnant shit. So I guess it would be superficial of me to point out that it they couldn't even be bothered to design it, as the "ad" was apparently laid out on Demotivator's DIY dynamic generator.

They have since apologized on Facebook: