Honda dealership under fire for sexist rink ad

Image via Teri Pecoskie

Apparently, this is an ad that the Henley Honda dealership in  St. Catharines, Ontario, saw fit to put in front of the visitors' bench at the Meridian Centre, where the Niagara IceDogs play.

In Canada. In 2016.

Using sexism to troll opposing teams has a long tradition in sports, including painting visitors' locker rooms pink. But how regressive do you have to be to use feminine imagery to insult male athletes in the 21st Century? Especially as more and more women play, watch, and love hockey and other sports.

The advertiser didn't just make an honest mistake, either. This is how they reacted to criticism on Twitter:

The Protein World reference is telling. But while Protein World and Gourmet Burger Kitchen are brands appealing to a narrow demographic of young people, Honda is a major brand that depends on selling to all walks of life. For the Honda brand, sexism by a rogue dealer is simply bad business.

Thanks to Justin for the tip!

Update:

What's the LAST thing a professional sports team should make light of? (TW: Domestic Violence)

(The "Trigger Warning" in the headline was a spoiler, but I really don't want to re-victimize anyone who has been brutalized by a partner.)

Salon reports that the Cleveland Cavaliers, a National Basketball Association team, decided to run a parody ad on their in-game digital scoreboard that made fun of rival Chicago Bulls.

First, here's the United Healthcare ad they were parodying:

Here's their version:

Salon's Joanna Rothkopf writes, "the spot, coupled with the recent hire of sexual harasser Isiah Thomas to run the W.N.B.A.’s Liberty franchise as president, indicates that the NBA is completely unaware and unable to address the epidemic of violence towards women plaguing professional sports."

I have to admit, when I first watched the video, for a second I thought the criticism was misplaced because it could have been intended to show that he simply (but cruelly) failed to catch her. But then, when the camera lingered on the wounded woman on the floor, there was no doubt in my mind that it was intended to show him hurting her. For laughs. Because... "go, team, go"?

The video was deleted from Vimeo, where it purportedly once had an official online home, but was captured and reposted on YouTube by basketball writer Steve McPherson, with the comment "Domestic violence is super hilarious. Right, guys? Right? Hello?"

I have no doubt that the makers of the video didn't think they were doing anything wrong. But this kind of cluelessness is inexcusable, and not just because of the many pro athletes who have been charged with partner abuse. The fans can be a problem as well.

A few years ago, The Globe and Mail's Marina Adshade wrote about research into how watching football is a trigger for domestic violence in some men:

Using twelve years of U.S. data from police reports of violent domestic incidents on Sundays during the professional football season and point spreads made by Las Vegas bookmakers for football games (as a way of measuring if fans expected the game to be a victory or loss), the authors of this paper found that when a home team was predicted to win by four or more points and instead lost the game the level of violence perpetuated by men against their wives and girlfriends increases by a remarkable 10 per cent. This violence was isolated in a narrow window immediately following the end of the game and the number of acts of family violence increases as games became more important. 

On the other hand, if the team was expected to lose, and did in fact lose, there was no increase in domestic violence; likewise for when the team was expected to lose and won instead.

So, to even lightheartedly correlate super-fandom with domestic violence (and, in the end, control) is simply appalling. And stupid for the brand.

Selling a bicycle race with a sexual assault joke

The Guardian's Suze Clemitson reports that an infamous sexual assault on the podium of the cycling event in 2013 has been parodied in a poster for the E3 Harelbeke race in Flanders.

The poster, apparently, reads “Who squeezes them in Harelbeke?” Har, har, har.

Meanwhile, assault victim Maja Leye, a "flower girl" who was groped by a man named Peter Sagan as she planted a traditional kiss on the cheek of Tour of Flanders winner Fabian Cancellara, says she was "frozen to the spot” in shock, and struggled not to react to avoid further embarrassment.

The problem with the poster, obviously, is that it communicates that unwanted sexual touching is a joke, and shouldn't be taken very seriously.

Ms. Clemitson reserves her most potent ire for the unknown agency behind the creative: "They’re like a bunch of little boys giggling at a glimpse of boob or arse, virtually masturbating over the idea of their campaigns going viral."

Well, here's your international attention, guys: You're assholes.

Montreal cinema owner inflames Twitter with "Hockey Widow" promo

If there's one Canadian stereotype that has a strong basis in reality, it's not weird pronunciations of "out" or niceness — it's an obsession with hockey. The game is deeply rooted in our culture. While not every Canadian is a hockey fanatic, it's safer to assume a Canadian has a favourite hockey team than a favourite type of poutine.

Which makes it all the more baffling that a cinema chain in Montreal, "the Mecca of Hockey," would so casually insult female Habs fans by running a women-only promotion for "Hockey Widows" on game nights.

The CBC has compiled a collection of Tweets about the issue, including cinema owner Vincenzo Guzzo's defensive non-apologies.

@HamJam_9 Where is the insult? She isn't naked or in sex cloths or mopping the floors or doing other steriotipical BS thing that we see...
— Vincenzo Guzzo (@Guzzo_Vincenzo) October 14, 2014

@JessRusnak Wanted to reward women. Anything wrong with giving a benefit to women only? Maybe Senior discounts should also be given to all!
— Vincenzo Guzzo (@Guzzo_Vincenzo) October 14, 2014

Oh well. Canada's women's national ice hockey team has won gold in the past four Olympics, and is one of the winningest teams in history. So I guess it will take more than a sexist local cinema promotion to turn Canadian women away from the game.

Heineken is pretty sure there are no female soccer fans (in Brazil)

Adfreak's Tim Nudd writes:

Evidently not worried about cries of sexism, Heineken has organized a giant shoe sale in Brazil this Saturday—so that women will flock to it and leave their boyfriends and husbands in peace to watch the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid.

Really? Really:



I guess Heineken and and their friends at Wieden+Kennedy São Paulo forgot that not only do women in Brazil like sports, but also that these types of campaigns tend to get international brands in trouble.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about this man stuff on the field.
Just grab me a Heinie and go shoe shopping."
(Photo via Mirror UK)

This bullshit is even sadder when you realize that women in Brazil were not allowed to play soccer, professionally, until 1979.

Aline Pellegrino was the captain of the Brazilian women's national team from 2005-2013, has been on three Olympic teams and played in the Women's World Cup twice. She told PRI, "All the girls of my generation played with young boys. I didn't see women playing on TV. There was nobody to look up to or be inspired by."

Ms. Pellegrino co-founded Guerreiras Project to "use futebol as a tool to promote gender justice and create possibilities for more equitable and sustainable ways of being."

That's right, Heineken. Soccer is actually a major feminist issue in Brazil. For years, women have been fighting to be taken seriously as athletes there. They are referred, jeeringly, to as "zapatón" [actually, "sapatão" - see comments] or big shoes. It's a homophobic slur against lesbians.

And Heineken just told them to go buy some shoes and leave soccer to the menfolk.

A really, really, horrible monument to victims of the Superga air disaster

According to La Repubblica, this monument was installed May 4th in the town of Borgaro Torinese, just outside of Turin, Italy.

It's a memorial to the victims of the Superga air disaster. On May 4, 1949, a plane carrying most of Torino A.C. football team crashed nearby, killing all 31 passengers.

Many Italians are outraged, calling it "ugly, disrespectful and especially gruesome." There is apparently an Avaaz.org petition against it, but I can't find it online.

It was installed by the local government, with support from local fan group Toro Club Borgaro Grenade.

Thanks to @tejucole for the tip.

Brazil to Adidas: Stop sexualizing our culture

Screencap via Edmonton Journal

Who knew?

Adidas (AKA "All Day I Dream About Sex") was trying to cash in on Brazil's bethonged sex appeal as part of their 2014 World Cup sponsorship, when Brazil asked them to stop.

A statement from Brazil's tourism board stated, "Embratur strongly repudiates the sale of products that link Brazil's image to sexual appeal," claiming that the shirts promoted sex tourism — a challenge for any country hosting a premium international sporting event.

Via The Guardian

Brazil has its first female president, Dilma Rousseff, and The Guardian reports that she said her government is going to "crack down" on sex tourism — particularly the exploitation of children — during the World Cup this June.

Brazil's ministry of women's affairs also issued a statement, saying, "This is all the more shocking in a country that just elected a woman as its highest authority, which brought greater respect for women and zero tolerance for any form of violence against them."

Adidas has since agreed to discontinue the shirts.

Via cntraveler.com

Times sure do change.

Should cold medicines sponsor Olympic athletes?

That's the question I asked myself when I saw this ad on TV (or was it preroll? Hard to remember anymore):



 I was immediately reminded of the tragedy of Andreea Răducan, the young Romanian gymnast who had her gold medal taken away in the 2000 Australian Summer Games when she tested positive for pseudoephedrene—a common decongestant which was also a banned stimulant. The story was that her team doctor had given her medication for sniffles. The drug was not banned by the international gymnastics federation, but is on the IOC "doping" list.

According to Wikipedia, pseudoephedrine was removed the banned substances IOC list in 2004, when the IOC adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list. Although WADA initially only monitored pseudoephedrine, it was put back on the banned list for WADA/IOC in 2010.

Fast Forward to Sochi in 2014, and pseudoephedrine is back in Olympic news:

Sweden’s star center Nicklas Backstrom wasn’t allowed to play in the gold medal game against Canada after testing positive for a banned substance. 

An NHLPA source told Yahoo Sports that Backstrom violated anti-doping rules after tests showed an elevated level of pseudoephedrine, a banned substance by the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Federation. 

Backstrom has taken Zyrtec-D for several years for allergies. He said he takes on pill per day.

Zyrtec-D contains cetirizine and pseudoephedrine. And Sweden lost the Gold Medal game to Canada, 3-0.

I can't believe that national team doctors are not aware of a banned substance that is in many, many, cold remedies that can easily remove a star athlete from the games. I find it even more odd that a cold medication is promoting its use by athletes.

But there's a loophole here. Because pseudoephedrine is the main ingredient used to synthethize street meth, the United States government restricts its sales. Vick's was forced to replace the pseudoephedrine with phenylephrine. Everywhere else, including Canada, the over-the-counter cold meds still have the (in my experience, much more effective) pseudoephedrine. Phenylephrine is also a stimulant, but it is only "monitored" by WADA.

So these American ads show an athlete taking a brand medication where everywhere except his home country would disqualify him from the Olympics (if, for example, he picked some up while competing abroad). Is that really a good idea, Vicks? Is it?

Ted Ligety earned Gold in the men’s giant slalom at Sochi. Presumably, he didn't take the wrong medicine.

Google goes gay for #Sochi

It was a busy day, so I only just noticed this now:

Text reads:

"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." –Olympic Charter

Way to be less evil, Google!

Native Americans call themselves many things, but not "Redskins"

Via Osocio

Recently, I was interviewed (twice) by Adweek's David Gianatasio about the highly-problematic sports brand, The Washington Redskins. I received quite a bit of blowback from diehard fans on Twitter about my contention that the name is a racist anachronism that simply has to go away.

Interestingly, here in Ottawa, a local youth league football club who had named themselves after Washington's NFL franchise have just recently changed their name to the Eagles following a formal human rights complaint by Ojibway musician Ian Campeau from A Tribe Called Red.

Mr. Campeau spent two years campaigning against the Nepean Redskins name,  and he says it taught him a lot about the continuing racism against Aboriginal peoples. "The backlash that this whole campaign has received to me tells me this is more than just football," he said. "It's about the entitlement of being able to label an oppressed people, to call somebody they have no ties to... that word."

Meanwhile, Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder says he will never change the name of his team. But Native Americans and their allies are gaining force. The Oneida Indian Nation was first to speak out. Now National Congress of American Indians has joined in the opposition, backed by leaders from seven different groups:  Cathy Abramson, Councilmember, Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians; Al Goozmer, President, Tyonek Native Village of Alaska; Brian Cladoosby, Chairman, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and President, NCAI; Edwina Butler Wolfe, Governor, Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Leander McDonald, Tribal Chairman, Spirit Lake Tribe; Dennis Welsh, Chairman, Colorado River Indian Tribes; Candace Bossard, Councilmember, Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. Even President Obama has weighed in.

In my opinion, this is a human rights issue, not matter of "how many people" support the NFL or other regulators taking action to force a name change. But as we have seen with other human rights issues, such as equal marriage, it doesn't hurt to get public opinion on your side.

That's where this PSA comes in. My blogging colleague Marc just posted it on Osocio:



Simple, powerful and truthful, this video released by the Oneida — right before this weekend's Super Bowl — is the "hearts and minds" campaign the cause needs, exactly when it needs it.

You, too, can take action at changethemascot.org.

Now here's a sport I can get behind!

...because I'm sure as hell not getting in front of these people:



Okay, so the "OMG, a girl is beating the boys!" cliché is kind of weak, but this is still an awesome idea for a backyard league. This skill would also come in handy at certain meetings.

Via Toronto Egotist

This ad will restore your faith in advertising, sports and humanity

Copyranter shared this on Buzzfeed. The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins to take the Stanley Cup in game 6 of the finals on Monday. While they held a massive victory parade in Chicago, they also committed the time and money to pay tribute to the spirit of Boston after the awful marathon bombing this spring. This was a full-page ad in Friday's Boston Globe.

Hats off to you, Chicago.

My first feminist hockey ad #IWD2013

This is an ad we did for agency self-promotion as a sponsor of the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship (April 2-9, here in Ottawa). We do a lot of sports marketing, but this time around seemed like a perfect opportunity to look at it from a social issues marketing point of view.

From Change Marketing:

...we are proud to be a part of women’s hockey. As fans, as parents, and as Canadians we are inspired by the hard work and dedication of Canada’s National Women’s Team. We also hope our women on the ice will inspire new generations of strong and fearless Canadian girls. That’s why we created this print ad for the WWC event program. And since today is International Women’s Day (that’s what the hashtag above is for) we thought we’d share it early.

 Happy Women's Day.

Target audience: ski bums (nudity)

The T-bars are history, read these ads for Norwegian skiers. And if I had ever experienced this kind of discomfort, these ads would have my full attention.

Equal-opportunity nudity done with strategy and humour. I approve.

Campaign by Anti Inc, Oslo, Norway. Via Ads of The World.

Umbro takes a very English shot at Nike

Via The Drum

Classic British sportswear brand Umbro has been supplying the official "kit" to England's football (soccer) teams since the 1950s. That's a big deal to the fans, according to The Daily Mail:

When Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers contested the Matthews Final in 1953, they did so wearing Umbro. When a 17-year-old Pele entered the world stage at the World Cup in 1958, he did so in Umbro tailoring.  

When Bobby Moore lifted the Jules Rimet trophy for England in 1966, he wore a red Umbro shirt, and when Celtic and Manchester United pioneered European club success for Britain in the sixties, they were head to toe in Umbro.  

When Banks made that improbable save in 1970, when Gazza wept, when Butcher bled, when Southgate failed and when Beckham kicked out – it was all in Umbro attire. 

But no more. Nike acquired Umbro in 2008, then sold it off to Iconix last year. But guess who got to keep the uniform contract? Tonight is the last time the team will wear Umbro.

As a parting shot, and to commemorate their history with British Football, Umbro unveiled this ad today with a snide abuse of Nike's brand essence.

The Drum quotes a branded press release:

 It's been an honour to be associated with the national team for such a long period of time, and we wanted to take this occasion to celebrate some of the classic kits we've created for England. 

Umbro’s founder Harold Humphreys once said: ‘There are three things which constitute the ability to succeed - enthusiasm, tenacity and sheer damned cheek - but all in good measure. 

We think that we've stuck by these principles over the past 89 years, and we will continue to do so as we look forward to a bright future.

Ottawa Sun co-opts Aboriginal rights meme to welcome back NHL hockey

My sister-in-law, Bonnie, sent me this picture of The Ottawa Sun. Now that the NHL lockout is over, most people here are happy that hockey is coming back. Less happy will be the thousands of aboriginal rights activists for whom #idlenomore has become an important and passionate call-to-arms.

Sexist ads about the NHL lockout in 3... 2...

...too late. It already happened.

This one is from Crown Royal's Facebook feed. It camed with the caption, "Anyone else cry into their glass of Crown when they heard lock out news? This pretty much sums up how we feel."

Although if you blinked, you would have missed it. It was almost immediately taken down from the public feed. It lives on, however, in their photo albums.

Why is it a problem? This is Canada. Hockey counts many, many women among its fans here. And they're just as hardcore as the men.

In fact, when the CBC launched a "woman-friendly" sports streaming site called "While the Men Watch, " and angry fan noted, in an editorial in Maclean's magazine:

Jaclyn Garfinkle, a 23-year-old sports fanatic and an associate producer at TSN’s Off the Record, thinks While the Men Watch is grossly “miscalculated” in its assumption that women don’t know about sports. “I think it’s somewhat ridiculous,” she says. “I think females in Canada are really underestimated in terms of how much they watch hockey.”

Women play hockey here, too. And they're good at it.

The whisky brand may be trying to appeal to a male audience, but it's too bad they have to do it with such outdated ideas about men and women. Appealing to some guys' anti-arts sentiments at the cost of angering female sports fans just doesn't seem worth it.

Empowering or offensive?

Via Ads of The World

This ad was created by an all-male creative team over at MacLaren McCann, Toronto.

Clever visual concept, nice art direction... but is it good advertising?

On the one hand, it is lighthearted and speaks to a third-wave type of sexy empowerment. On the other, it could be seen as demeaning the athleticism of women golfers by representing them with an object that has nothing to do with their sport, and is more about their sexuality.

Yeah, I know I'm over-thinking it. That's just what I do.

But what do you think?

This is why the world needs FEMEN

With their headline-grabbing tactic of demonstrating topless, the women of Ukraine's FEMEN movement can seem like a novelty act. But believe me, they are deadly serious.

And one of the main reasons they came into existence, a few years ago, was to fight against the way Ukrainian women are perceived and treated — not just in their own country, but around the world.

This year, the focus of their anger has been the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2012), which will be co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland. Like many other major sporting events, Euro 2012 is expected to arouse a boom in prostitution as local women offer to "service" foreign soccer fans.

The potential for widespread exploitation and abuse of women is even worse in Ukraine, which is a well-known European destination for sex tourism.

How well-known? Check out these two ads:





In both cases, the idea that Ukrainian women are Europe's sex toys is simply taken for granted.

FEMEN's founder, Anna Hutsol, told New Europe:

“I don't know what type of people will come or how they see our country, but if they think it is a 'brothel country', how will they behave with young women on the streets? You know, our girls dress quite liberally, which is usually not accepted in a European country, and to some could seem as a sexual call . This will also influence the behaviour of the sport fans. Thus, we need drive home the message: 'Yes, Ukrainian girls usually dress like this, but they are not prostitutes.'”

Women re-appropriating their own sexuality. It's a thing now, with worldwide movements like Slutwalk and Rock The Slut Vote. But before them were these half-dressed Ukrainian women, shivering and screeching against a system that tries to keep them down. Let's all hope in never does.

What the Falklands, Argentina? #FdAdFriday

Oh, my. Argentina really is poking the bear. (Or rather, the bulldog.)

In this new spot for Argentina's Olympic team, field hockey captain Fernando Zylberberg run through the Falklands, and (according to Yahoo! News) ends his workout "on the island's Great War Memorial, which honours British sailors who died in World War I".

The tagline then claims the islands as "Argentine soil"...

For those of you not born yet 30 years ago, at the time Great Britain and Argentina went to war over the desolate British territorial islands off the southern coast of South America. 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders died during the conflict, which the Brits won.

Argentina has never given up its claim to the islands, however, and has been making increasingly threatening statements about having another go at them.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague was unimpressed by this attempt to politicize the Olympics:

"Of course in Britain we remain absolutely steadfast in our support for the self determination of the Falkland Islanders and we will always support that," he added.

"It is a rather sad stunt, it won't impress anybody in the world. We are not do going to take any actual action in response to it."