#HackAHairDryer wasn't the best way to break stereotypes about women in STEM

Oh, IBM. What were you thinking? In a fiasco similar to the European Union's ill-conceived "Science: It's a Girl Thing" video, IMB has been called out by actual women scientists and engineers for this video:

The Twitter response is at once angry, hilarious, and sad:

I code. But it's to mess around with salamander DNA sequences, not hair dryers. Minor details. #HackAHairDryer

— Cathy Newman (@cenewman0) December 7, 2015

I like makeup and hair care. I also like building robots. Guess which one I'd like to see @ibm promoting to women? #HackAHairDryer

— Randi Lee Harper (@randileeharper) December 7, 2015

Tell this woman to #HackAHairDryer - I dare you. pic.twitter.com/vkr4PHARzj

— Miles Kurland (@Malacandra) December 7, 2015

@IBM shame I don't use a hairdryer. I guess that's the end of my career in STEM. Brb quitting my astrophysics PhD. #HackAHairDryer

— Jessica V (@ThatAstroKitten) December 7, 2015

Here's to every woman at @IBM who tried to stop #HackAHairDryer but wasn't listened to

— Shannon Turner (@svt827) December 7, 2015

Are we #womeninstem going to get a 'mea culpa' apology for the patronising #HackAHairDryer nonsense, @IBM?

— Dr Mel Thomson (@DrMel_T) December 7, 2015

According to Business Insider, IBM has declined to respond.

UPDATE: It's been pulled.

Is the boy in the Moschino Barbie ad a leap forward?

That wasn't a rhetorical question. While I applaud gender diversity in a traditionally female toy category, the portrayal of the boy seems a little... umm... stereotyped?

FRIDAY IS FIERCE LIKE #MOSCHINOBARBIE

A video posted by Jeremy Scott (@itsjeremyscott) on Nov 20, 2015 at 5:00pm PST

Not that there's any problem whatsoever with implying that the little boy is gay, but did they have to do it with such a cartoonish cliché?

People seem pretty happy with this development (at least the Buzzfeed set) but I'm not sure this is as progressive as it seems. The idea that Barbie is an obsession for gay men is not exactly new, nor is the conspicuous presence of gay men in the fashion industry.

Making the only male character in the ad a miniature Jeremy Scott is a big wink to insiders, but what is it doing to transcend stereotypes? Heterosexual — or less stereotypically gay — boys who want to play with dolls in this sexist, homophobic world won't be helped by this stereotype. They might even be hurt by it.

Scottish anti-independence ad goes "bad" viral #PatronisingBTlady

Last one. This is too funny. @_Pandy storyboards #PatronisingBTLady ad. @robertflorence pic.twitter.com/Oq4IsIqSVs
— James Lees (@jamesvsburger) August 26, 2014

You might wonder what they were thinking.

The "no" movement in the Scottish independence referendum, Better Together, recently released this video ad featuring a woman soliloquizing at home after sending off her husband and kids:



Almost immediately, a backlash began. Under the hashtag #PatronisingBTlady, an explosion of memes started circulating to criticize the gendered clichés around a stay-at-home housewife who finds politics confusing:

Perfect summary of the new @UK_Together campaign video. Targeted at woman - but so patronising? #PatronisingBTLady pic.twitter.com/FePthazKYB
— Greg indyref (@YesIndyref) August 26, 2014

MISSING: Brow-beaten male, late 30s-early 40s, last seen in Co-op buying "Ricicles"... #indyref #PatronisingBTLady pic.twitter.com/uEUIp6nZ4s
— Oisean (@OssiansDream) September 1, 2014

Better Together's new ad sees ridicule and #PatronisingBTLady meme backlash on Twitter http://t.co/UIZHIv16M0 pic.twitter.com/1J8njhFIXw
— The Drum (@TheDrum) August 27, 2014

I had to… #PatronisingBTLady pic.twitter.com/oCOEimOgHU
— CakeQuestEdin (@CakeQuestEdin) August 26, 2014

The viral activity has since spilled over into mainstream media in the UK. However, the people behind the campaign defend it:

Despite the fact the film has created a vociferous internet response punctuated by a series of caustic retaliatory memes, campaign director Blair McDougall has defended the piece’s cinematic integrity. McDougall suggests the piece is flavored with social realism. 

The ad uses words“taken verbatim from conversations on doorstops with undecided women voters,”and from the“opinion of women in dozens of focus groups around the country,”he claimed. While the ad has heightened the campaign’s profile considerably, the precise nature of publicity it has garnered may not be warmly welcomed.

Certainly, there are individual women in Scotland who resemble the stereotype. But does that mean it's something that should be reinforced in a national advertising campaign?

Scottish social anthropologist (and "Yes" man) weighed in with a meme of his own:

#patronisingBTlady #indyref pic.twitter.com/shpcb5vt8O
— Michael Swann (@notarealswan) August 26, 2014

But the real question is whether this ad will sway any voters. And moreover, which way will it sway them?

Hotels4U ad brings up issues of old-world regional prejudice

Via The Mail

It's not just the old world. Here in Canada, Newfie jokes used to be as common as donuts. And in the States, Southern, Appalachian and even Midwestern accents and attitudes have often been fodder for satire.

But there's something especially interesting about the longstanding prejudices and modern hurt feelings brought on by regional stereotypes within the modern nations of Europe. When I lived in Italy, the Milanese told me they thought the Genoese were cheap, and the Sicilians criminal. The Sicilians said they thought the Milanese (and other northerners) were stuck up and avaricious. The whole North vs. South conflict is actually what brought Berlusconi, a northern nationalist, to power years ago.

My own ethnic homeland of England and the British Isles has similar cultural stereotypes and conflicts. Unlike the new world, the regions of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland have centuries of separate political, cultural, and linguistic history. Just a few hundred years ago, dialects of "English" were mutually unintelligible in regions a day's journey apart.

Today, regional differences are still a source of pride among those who have not moved far from ancestral lands. Which might explain the controversy over this goofy little ad by Hotels4U:



First of all, could you understand what he was saying? I couldn't. It's apparently the campaign tagline, "Anything for you, cupcake," in a thick Birmingham accent.

The Daily Mail says that "Brummies" (another thing I learned today) are furious over the portrayal of their distinctive way of speaking, especially in the mouths of such tacky characters.

Here are some representative Tweets:

As a Brummie I honestly want an atomic bomb to land directly on that blokes head from the #hotels4u advert
— Kaine Able Barr (@kainebarr) January 28, 2014

Hotels4U please fuck off with your fake Brummie accent on your advert. No one talks like that here.
— Sophia ⚓ (@SophiaShikari) January 20, 2014

As a brummie who doesnt speak like the people in the Hotels4u ad I am offended by it. I consider it to be racist
— BamafanUK (@Bronxzoo10) January 28, 2014

"Racist"? Let that sink in for a minute. It reminds me of times when I have heard my fellow Canadians, who speak French, talk about language conflict in Canada as "racism". It really shows you how unscientific, and therefore universally useless the term "race" really is.

The Mail reveals that the actor playing the Birmingham husband, Craig Painting, is actually from the city.

Mike Hoban, marketing director for Hotels4u, stated: "We wanted to create a popular duo that people would warm to. That’s why we cast a Birmingham born and bred actor as our lead character. We wanted to use a friendly accent from one of the great UK regions to help create a distinctive character so that people remember how easy it is to save money on hotel bookings"

Distinctive? Certainly. And memorable. It could even be effective over the long term, as long as they don't end up getting boycotted by an entire offended region.

But is it right to use regional accents and stereotypes as ad fodder? Is it "racist"? Classist? Just plain rude?

Comments welcomed below.

What happens when white people are the ones being stereotyped?

Japanese airline ANA (All Nippon Airways) recently ran an ad that features two Japanese pilots discussing how to make their brand more appealing to foreigners.

The answer, apparently, is to "westernize" the brand by adopting Euro-American displays of physical affection and donning "whiteface" — in the form of a blond wig and an elongated artificial nose:

 

According to the Japan Times, the ad caused a flurry of social media outrage among English-language viewers in Japan.

Here's one:

If you are a foreigner and have planned to come to #Japan do not chose an openly racist airline like #ANA ! Watch their Japanese commercial!
— Sibylle Ito (@sibylleito) January 20, 2014

The airline has apparently semi-apologized for the offence, and plans to re-edit the ad:

ANA spokesman Ryosei Nomura said the carrier wanted to express the importance of the upcoming international flights at Haneda and to urge Japanese to go out and see the world. 

“But we have received opinions different from the message that we wished to convey. We will modify part of the advertisement and will release the second version soon,” he said.

While stereotyping is stereotyping, no matter who does it,  this is an opportunity for people like me to feel some of the emotions that are felt by other groups of people (including the Japanese) who are constantly caricatured in western media. I qualify this with "some of" because of course we are not a group that suffers from historical or institutionalized racism. In other words, no white people were actually harmed by this ad.

This isn't the first time that Japanese advertising stereotypes of westerners have made the news, and it probably won't be the last. Here are some other examples:

This week, Japanese restaurant chain Gusto started running a new series of commercials. It features the above woman, a "handsome foreign man" as the chain's website says, and two comedians. So, what's the problem? 

The two Japanese comedians in the commercial, Ungirls, can be funny—at times. For this spot, they are "disguised". This is a Japanese pun: "Ungirls" is written as "Angaaruzu" (アンガールズ) in Japanese, and they are disguised as "Italiangirls", or "Itariangaaruzu" (イタリアンガールズ) in the original Japanese. 

In the commercial, the foreign woman sings a little jingle, asking with whom she is going to eat some Caponata. She picks the handsome foreign dude, instead of either member of the comedy group Ungirls. Part of the comedic schtick of Ungirls is that they are creepy and not popular with the ladies. That's the gag. Apparently.

- kotaku.com, 2013

Screenshot (Video has been removed)

The ad for “SuiDanPa”, [Toshiba]’s newest rice maker that can also make bread, shows two business women talking about their love for bread and/or rice. They are the two featured characters in a series of spots for Toshiba, but this time around, one of the women dons a blond wig, wears a fake big nose and speaks in a heavy Japanese accent and with her words subtitled in katakana. This is the normal stereotype in Japan of what Westerners, particularly white people, look and talk like. And while some have said that the ad is trying to be ironic, maybe they should look up what the word actually means, because it seems to perpetuate and even exploit that particular stereotype.
- Japan Daily Press, 2013

Racism by peakfloods

A commercial for Choya umeshu mocks the physical appearance of non-Japanese. 

- Japan Probe, 2011

The white guy in the photo above is Mr. James, the mascot for 4 new burgers of McDonald’s “Nippon All-Stars” series. Residents of Japan who have been riding JR trains or passing by McDonald’s restaurants have probably already seen his face on advertisements. In his TV commercials, Mr. James speaks annoying foreigner Japanese (not unlike the wacky foreigner who spoke NIPPONGO in a recent Sony Commercial). Print advertisements convey his goofy gaijin Japanese by rendering everything he says in katakana [a syllabary is primarily used for transcription of foreign language words into Japanese and the writing of loan words].

- Japan Probe, 2009 

Man almost emasculated by vagina soap

The Big Lebowski: What makes a man, Mr. Lebowski? [...] Is it being prepared to do the right thing, whatever the cost? Isn't that what makes a man?  

The Dude: Hmmm... Sure, that and a pair of testicles. 

The insecurity of the straight man is a helluva thing:



While it's clear that this ad is "making fun of all that," it's a humour that reveals some serious issues with the way we straight guys view our gender identity.

The ad is aimed at women, clearly, and gleefully takes the piss out of the stereotyped husband who is deathly afraid of being tainted with anything feminine. Considering how many times Summer's Eve has insulted women in their ads, I suspect this is a deliberate attempt to curry favour by evening the score.

While stereotypes are by nature exaggerated, I can tell you that this fear of feminization is a real thing that is programmed in boys early, and which is difficult to eradicate. I'm not sure if it's more misogyny or homophobia that drives it. In general terms, I suspect the latter.

However, this ad, with its coy reference to the "V," is definitely assuming that a man who pretty much lives to get into the vagina is also terrified of it. The idea that masculinity is so fragile must look completely bizarre to women. But I imagine to some it is also deeply offensive.

Fortunately, things can change. When I was getting my then-8-year-old son ready for school one rainy day last year, he grabbed a flowery umbrella of his mom's. I told him, "Don't take that, it's a girl's umbrella." He responded, flatly, "Dad, that's sexist." And I had to agree with him and apologize.

This ad is not helping, though. It may mock men for being so insecure about their manliness, but the "doofus husband" stereotype also creates a culture of acceptance of these loutish traits by women. "Boys will be boys" thinking may seem harmless, but it allows gender stereotypes to flourish. Women really deserve better.

Thanks to Adland and Adfreak for the tip.

Turkish Airlines: Your ticket to a world of cartoonish national stereotypes

How many stereotypes can you fit into one ad campaign? By the looks of this Turkish Airlines one by McCann, Istanbul, the answer is "all of them".

Check out Africa's Cleopatra, Massai nomads, and sundry drummers; America's cowboys. Indians and Mountie (for Canada, one presumes); Europe's Vikings, Beefeaters and pizza guy; and Asia's Geishas, gods and Kayan neck-ring wearers:

It reminds me of the UN scene in Austin Powers.



Tip via Ads of The World

Do undemanding consumers get the brands they deserve?

These Australian ads for Lean Cuisine, by woman-focussed agency Hello I'm Venus, presumably represent the culmination of a great deal of research and insights regarding female consumers. ("We’re here to help you ‘get’ women" is their selling proposition.)

When featured on Campaign Brief, however, the ads drew a litany of criticism.

Here's a sample:

"It's patronising, dated, sexist and lacking any understanding of women let alone loyalists to the brand."  

"Venus is an agency which specialises in advertising to women, and supposedly they get women better than a regular agency does. 

Does this then mean that women are as vacuous and empty-headed as these ads suggest they are? Because this stuff is straight outta 1955." 

"This has to be a shit stirring prequel to the real work because if a guy came out with this, he'd be laughed outta the boardroom and branded a sexist pig."

Compare this to the PR version:

Bec Brideson, founder of Hello I'm Venus: "This campaign reinforces the nutritious,convenient options for women that Lean Cuisine provides. The campaign is a cheeky shoutout to her. We know that behind every successful woman is her microwave." 

Tara Lordsmith, Simplot Australia general manager of retail marketing: "Our loyalcommunity of over 55k Facebook fans have told us they enjoy the cheeky and sassyattitude that comes with the Lean Cuisine creative. The development of this campaigndemonstrates our understanding of the modern woman and her vision to succeed in allaspects of life."

The Facebook page in question does, indeed, have over 57,000 fans, and the level of customer engagement is high. They post endless "girly" captioned pics like this:

259 likes, 4 comments, 25 shares

From a pure marketing perspective, they're doing something right. (Socially, anyway — the case study doesn't list any actual sales objectives or results.) So why does the campaign leave such a bad taste in some people's mouths?

It's the difference between consumer and critical audiences.

Lighthearted stereotypes and platitudes are popular online, even though they reinforce old-fashioned gender clichés. (Some Campaign Brief readers identified the era these ads belong in as not '50s but '80s.) Hello I'm Venus didn't invent the "sassy single professional woman" trope, nor did they popularize it. They're just riding the wave.

Campaign Brief, on the other hand, attracts ad people. And ad people are brutally critical of ads that other ad people do.

I have to agree with the advertiser, Ms. Lordsmith, on one thing. People are identifyimg with this brand on Facebook.

414 likes, 10 comments, 90 shares

This vacuous, superficial brand.

Awkward stereotypes sell border security in Dutch PSAs

From a purely digital marketing perspective, this campaign by JWTAmsterdam is brilliant. They use serial online video ads that track the user to create a highly-interruptive, running storyline:



The downside is that the stereotypes of the Asian and Arab merchant are pretty cringeworthy. Whether or not they are based on the creative/production teams' experiences abroad, they certainly take the ethnic clichés to a cartoonish level.

Could the campaign have worked without the send-up? I like to think so. While the stereotypes are played for laughs, the videos would have been just as interruptive and compelling with a little more subtlety (and respect) in the performance.

Tip via Ads of The World

Las Vegas reaches out to straight tourists in gay ads

These ads for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority are aimed at the LGBT niche. As agency R&R Partners explains in their post on Ads of The World, "For too long, brands have told us they’re 'gay-friendly,' shown us a gratuitous same-sex couple, slapped a rainbow logo on it and called it a day." 

Instead, this campaign turns the situation around, claiming that Vegas is a destination "owned" by gay people.

If you really wanted to, you could complain that this campaign is guilty of "reverse-discrimination" with its stereotypes of awkward straight couples adrift in a sea of chic homosexuals. But I'm one of those awkward straights, and it doesn't bother me at all. When people have been put down for so long, they get a couple of free shots. (Or in this case, four.)

The Wagon Queen Family Truckster, however, is a low blow. 

This fake hot sauce ad will make you cringe in so many ways

You can cringe at the stereotypes, you can cringe at the comedic sexual harassment, or you can just... cringe:



The  pervert is Rhys Ifans, a welsh actor known for his roles in The Replacements, Notting Hill, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Amazing Spider-Man, as well as being the frontman for Super Furry Animals. The woman is Belgian/Spanish musician Bilonda Mfunyi Tshiabu. The film was written and directed by Marcus Kuhne.

Thanks to Perry for the tip.

Dress your tween daughter as a "sassy squaw" this Halloween

My sister-in-law, Laura L., shared this picture from a Facebook. I'm used to Halloween being a celebration of awkward and/or offensive stereotypes, but "squaw"? Seriously?

The term was once common for indigenous North American women, entering English as a loan word from the Algonquian languages, but is now usually considered a derogatory (by some, even obscene) term.

This costume is marketed by inCharacter. Here it is in their catalogue:

The company also makes "adult" versions, but omits the "s" word:

The "Sassy Squaw" costume is also for sale at Amazon.com, Sears.com, ebay's Shopping.com and Buy.com (where it was renamed "Sassy Indian Maiden Costume") along with a number of other stereotyped native costumes for girls.

To my First Nations nieces, and all Aboriginal women: I am sorry this shit is still happening.

HP: The Official Brown Sauce of Yobs?

Lucy Clark, senior brand manager at HP, told The Drum:

"As this is the first HP TV advert in five years, we wanted to implement a high-impact multimedia campaign around it that’s packed full of attitude and grabs the attention of younger male consumers, reminding them that the big, bold flavour of HP Sauce is the ultimate sauce of manliness for a bacon sandwich.”

Ultimate sauce of manliness? Oh.



Carrie Hindmarsh, CEO at M&C Saatchi, said of their work:

“At last, after a five year absence, HP is back with a brand new campaign – to reveal the simple, unvarnished truth about modern men. This ad neatly sums up what modern manliness means – a love of sport, mastering DIY and of course, HP Sauce.”

The campaign is aimed at men between the ages of 25 and 44, who buy into the "we're just a bunch of stupid little boys who are not responsible for our actions" trope.

I know, I know. It's humour. It's also an example of what Sociological Images' Lisa Wade has called "an anti-intellectualism that is specifically male."

It looks fairly harmless, and it probably is. And advertising does not create social trends, it reflects and reinforces them. I'm just saying that it is a tired and annoying one. Even if it ends up selling more "sauce of manliness" to those who like to be categorized this way.

Also, "Manwich"? Taken:

Really taken:

I wonder how the "ultimate sauce of manliness" works into that one?

Bic learns the difference between comedy and advertising

Obviously inspired by the culturally-charged humour of Sacha Baron Cohen, some creatives at CP+B developed this funny little skit for Bic Canada.



You can see the gag coming, but in ad terms it helps to underscore the product benefit of Bic pens' presumed reliability (versus the crap he uses). It's a solid piece of work.

The problem is, branded advertising is not comedy. When Baron Cohen parodies Kazakhs, Austrians, homosexuals, North Africans or the British underclass for purposes of lampooning prejudice, it is art. Silly, dick joke, art at times. But the only brand he represents is his own.

This is where advertisers need to tread carefully. A "banned" ad has great potential for viral takeoff. But as more and more people see the agency's skit (which is mostly good for their brand)  the more people are exposed to the client's brand in a negative context.

Here in Canada, that context is "racism":

Bic Canada began hearing from consumers who were offended by the ad almost immediately, and by Tuesday afternoon, the day after its launch, had decided to pull it off the air. As of Thursday afternoon, it had received 48 e-mails complaining about the commercial. 

Most of those messages mentioned the fact that the viewers were offended by the racial tone of the ads. Complaints included descriptions of the ad as being “racist,” “insensitive” and “tasteless.” 

A fine-print disclaimer at the beginning of the ad specifies that the setting is a “fictitious country,” but this did not mollify viewers. 

“People just found it offensive,” said company spokesperson Linda Kwong. “...We’re trying to do the right thing.” 

Bic Canada announced the retraction on Thursday, once it was sure the commercial had been pulled from all of its TV channels.

Here's the problem: we live in a multicultural society. Other cultures are no longer impersonal caricatures for our arrogant amusement. They are our friends, neighbours, coworkers — and customers.

Parodying Asian dictatorship (obviously a shot at North Korea) with a fictitious language was bound to offend people. As a bonus, they make light of the human rights abuses that organizations like Amnesty International fight so hard to get people mobilized to stop.

Just dumb, guys. Do your sketch comedy on your own time and dime, where you can answer for your own choices. Bic has pens to sell, and PR fires to put out.

Via Copyranter and The Globe and Mail

Native North Americans are not impressed with the cultural appropriation in your marketing

Sociological Images' Gwen Sharp just wrote an interesting post about Paul Frank's event for Fashion’s Night Out, which "reflects the widespread appropriation of Native American cultures in fashion over the last few years." She described the event as including a dress-up game with stereotyped Native American garb, and photo opportunities. It's important reading for marketers, as is the original post at the Native Appropriations blog by Cherokee writer Adrienne K.

She wrote (directly to Paul Frank), "The bottom line is this: your event stereotypes and demeans Native cultures, collapsing hundreds of distinct tribal and cultural groups into one 'tribal' mish-mash, thereby erasing our individual identities and contemporary existence."

Here's one of her screencaps:

Coincidentally, just yesterday I captured this campaign for an art exhibition at Ottawa's Gallery 101 by Joi T Arcand of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan, called oskinikiskwēwak ("young women"). It looks at the problem of pop culture appropriation of native culture from the other side:

"Look! More Neechies!"
"Nah, it's just hipsters in headdresses."

It's part of a series of works that mock stereotypes with wit and style.

This isn't the 1950s, my friends. (Especially those of you at Red Light PR.) Native Americans and Canada's First Nations people see what you did there. And they will call you on it.

McDonald's Germany is lovin' the Asian stereotypes

Seriously, McDonald's Germany? "Bubblezzaiii"?!? Is he supposed to be Chinese or Japanese? Or do you really care?



Wow. That was really awful.

Tip via Burger Business

JWT Argentina Halls ads play up the racial and sexual stereotypes

In the world of international brands, everyone can see your regional marketers screw up. Such as when some unknown client at Kraft-owned Halls greenlit this nice bit of premodern racialized humour by JWT Argentina.

It's already weird to see the sore throat remedy marketed as a breath freshener. But the strategic insight, that everything you say sounds better with numbingly-mentholated breath, ends up in the above ad playing out dusty stereotypes about white insecurity and black athleticism.

And then there's this weird one, from the same series.

She says she's Miss Ohio, but her perceives her as Miss California. I guess it's supposed to be a "bragging rights" thing if he manages to date her. Aesthetically, she's the same. Thanks to modern beauty concepts, even in reality I don't see much of a difference:

 Audrey Bolte, Miss Ohio 2012

Natalie Pack, Miss California 2012

The third ad in the series is about a man sounding more impressive to a woman. Does he do it by winning a beauty contest? No, he does it by being a CEO. And the Halls amplifies his status:

All of this casual racial and sexual stereotyping not only makes the Halls brand look bad, when the campaign shows up on international blogs like Ads of The World. It also makes Argentina look backward.

And if that happens, JWT Argentina Creative Chiefs Gonzalo Vecino and Pablo Alvarez Travieso might have a lot of 'splaining to do...

Another Indo-American reaction to Ashton's "brownface"

I posted earlier today about Puja Mohindra's reaction video to the tasteless Indian stereotype Ashton Kutcher portrayed in a viral ad for Pop Chips.

It turns out Ms. Mohindra wasn't the only one. American comedian Hasan Minhaj really lays into the advertiser:



And so he should.

I find Mr. Minhaj's term "clownable minority" a really useful one when discussing the "just a joke" racism of ethnic stereotypes. We really need to take a step back and think about what these jokes really mean to a billion of our friends and neighbours.

Is this ad saying what I think it is?

Maybe not. Hopefully not.

This campaign from Euro RSCG for a social network encouraging trading features scenarios of people who have things each other want. But it's not good advertising for a place to make trades, since in the other two cases the "trade" is an uneven one born out of desperation and greed:

Toilet paper girl wants nice shoes. Lifesaver boy wants to be captain. But what does the Chinese food delivery guy want with the dog?

Yeah, I'm being disingenuous. But you'd never get away with that joke where I live. At least, not in print.

Via Ads of The World

McDonald's Germany introduces Italian Stereotype Burger

Italians! They make big meals for their large and unruly families, they make domestic violence sexy, they play soccer and carve ham!



At least, that's how the Germans apparently see them. In this German ad for McDonald's new Italian-themed “Mamma Italia” burger, Italian stereotypes live life with a passion that is very hard on their dinnerware — which is why McDonald's has introduced Italian food you can eat with your hands.

I always though plate smashing was a Greek thing. But what do I know?