A commercial radio station in Sydney (which I won’t name) has had a series of ads for a new breakfast crew (who I also won’t name, but two of them started on JJJ and I never liked them there, either).
I have seen three of these ads, but the conceit for each of them is the same: the ad shows three things in succession and names them, then puts them together and describes the new scene, then says: “Some combinations are just funny” and gives the names of the breakfast presenters and the radio station.
Maybe I’m just a feminist with no sense of humour, but I find none of the combinations funny. One of them is downright offensive, another is sexist, and the third simply has no humour.
The combinations are:
Ad 1:
The things are a man, a cow and tennis. The combination is a man-cow playing tennis. The man-cow (something like a centaur) is on a tennis court, holding a racquet, and yelling at the referee. You hear some of what he says: “What are you, lactose intolerant?”
Ad 2:
The things are balloons, a woman and a vasectomy. The combination is a woman with balloon-hands doing a vasectomy. You see the woman cleaning her balloon hands, then turning to a man who is lying on an operating table. She says “I’m just going to make a little incision”. You hear a small sound, like a balloon being quietly punctured. She makes a face as if something has gone wrong.
Ad 3:
The things are a cannibal, belly-dancing and twins. The combination is twins belly-dancing with a cannibal. You see the twins (who are young, female and blonde and who are wearing identical blue outfits which reveal their mid-riffs) belly-dancing (badly, I might add) next to the cannibal (who is a fat man with a beard and a glint in his eye). He squirts mustard on the belly of one of the twins. She laughs.
I’ll leave you to work out which I found downright offensive, which one sexist and which merely unfunny.
Perhaps this is the point – perhaps the point is that they are NOT funny, but the breakfast crew are?
I think that’s unlikely. However, the serious lack of humour in the ads means that I am not at all tempted to start listening to them, so there is real utility for me in the ads. (In any case, I don’t listen to breakfast radio – partly because I don’t think there has ever actually been a breakfast crew that I’ve listened to that I like. What is it that I’m missing about what is supposedly funny in the mornings?)
Wallaby 
I just can’t watch the third ad anymore.
Don’t blame you for not watching it. As you may be able to tell, I am still at the staring-with-mouth-open-with-horror-and-incredulity-they-actually-show-this-on-TV-right-I’m-going-to-blog-about-it stage.
When I first moved to my tiny country town, I did not fully appreciate what a relief it was to receive no commerical TV or radio stations. Ten years later, I only have to visit the city to understand what a pleasure it is not to be exposed to commercials. Those sound appalling, but sadly, they’re probably pretty accurate as to the nastiness of the radio show.
I can definitely understand this. Until recently, I didn’t have a TV, because I really don’t miss it when I don’t have one. I have one now because I swapped it for a couple of bottles of wine :) When I do have one, I do use it, because there are a few shows I like (also, because there is nothing better than crappy TV when you are absolutely brain-dead and need something to wind down before you sleep). And most of the shows I like are on the ABC or SBS. But when I do watch commercial TV: the ads, ohhhhh, the ads!
(This is why there have been a couple of posts here recently about awful advertising: because I have been watching more TV in the crappy-TV-to-wind-down mode.)
Jo –
A partial explanation of why you see such off-mark ads.
Almost all advertising for commercial radio stations in English-speaking countries is created by males, just as almost all of those stations are programmed by males.
While there is nothing to prevent men from learning the ways in which men and women react differently to marketing messages (the research certainly exists, and there certainly are differences), most of those men assume, “Hey, we’re all pretty much alike. If it’s funny to my mates and me, it’ll be funny to females, too.”
In that regard, it’s not sexism; it’s well-meaning ignorance. And it hurts those radio stations that primarily program music, because the audiences of almost all commercial radio music formats are comprised of more than 50% women.
As to the third commercial you describe — Well, that would be something else.
ROFLMAO
Or I would be, if your comment wasn’t so painfully mansplainy, with more than a hint of troll.
Sweetie, didn’t you read that bit up the top where it says ‘feminist’? Did you seriously come on a feminist blog to tell me sexist ads are due to sexism (because honey, that’s what it’s called when men dominate a lucrative and powerful industry such as, oh, say, advertising) and that those poor sweet men are too stupid to know any better (you may well be right, but ignorance can equal sexism, and in any case, I give men the credit of having nous enough to understand the sexism in these things if they wanted to, so any ignorance is wilful)?
My dear, this is not a 101 blog and it is not my role to educate you. I have neither the time nor the inclination to do so. Go do some reading (I’d suggest some basic feminism aka feminism 101 and also, google mansplaining – and no, I’m not going to give you links because as far as I’m concerned, I’ve given you enough of my time, but my blogroll is a good place to start, and Zuska wrote a thread on mansplaining which is accessible to d00ds). You are welcome to come back when you have something of substance to contribute, but until you do, any further comments of yours which I deem trollish – whether due to mansplaining or other condescension or for any other reason – will not be published, as per my comments policy.
I don’t even get HOW those adds could possibly be funny to begin with? I think you’re right, clearly the problem is on their side – there’s nothing wrong with my sense of humor.
P.S I’m so glad I’m not the only one who laughed out loud at Dan’s comment. Haha. Hahaha. HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA… “well meaning ignorance” HAHAHAHAH
Yeah – at least he provided us with the laugh the ads didn’t, right? ;)
It’s almost like he read all those threads on mansplaining and thought “hey, that’s a GREAT idea!”