Why should any American only care about the people of his or her country? Are we supposed to confine our minds within our borders? Just because these ads ran in Israel does not mean that we shouldn't protest the offensive depictions of women. The ads degrade women based on their supposed lack of sexual appeal. Fat women are targeted. Women who are not conventionally beautiful are targeted. These women are overtly judged inferior. This is not a case of "getting offended for the sake of getting offended" (and please note it's not just women in the US, and not just WOMEN who have taken offense). This is a case of a corporation publicly shaming women who do not conform to a certain standard of beauty. It's dehumanizing. It is possible to make a joke without ridiculing certain body types. It's possible to be creative and witty and still have a conscious. These ads totally failed in this regard.

This ad isn't any more "dehumanizing" than the plethora of TV shows which portray men as obese idiots, while their wives are both attractive and brilliant. After all, this is the same genre -- alcohol advertising -- that features talking dogs, doltish men who "vent" with their wives (by opening a "vented" can and then ignoring them), etc. Each of these "offenses" clearly occurs within a framework of absurdity which isn't intended to be taken seriously. Thus, getting offended by such material (and especially calling it "dehumanizing") merely diminishes the effect of complaints aimed at material which truly is offensive.

If we don't say anything about these ad campaigns, the advertising companies assume that this type of advertisement is OK and they'll do it again.

Since you asked, it does not logically follow that because ads which denigrate women are offensive, ads that denigrate men are OK.  Feminist women already speak up against ads which denigrate women.  Why?  Because we're women and these ads attack us.  If you feel that a type of ad campaign attacks you, get a bunch of men together and protest it.

But don't expect us--or at least me, I can't speak for anyone else here--to equate Bacardi's campaign with a Homer Simpson.  That's like saying the H word is as bad as the N word in racial discourse.  And you and I both know that's not true.  The less political power there is standing behind an insult, the less the insult stings.

My main point, Jen, is that there's a certain "cry wolf" effect that occurs when anything and everything gets protested. Alcohol ads are notoriously ridiculous. There's little to differentiate one product from another, so marketers resort to over-the-top stunts in order to grab attention. It may often be distasteful, but it's generally harmless.

Therefore, if we take even the silliest of things seriously, such as this, it only makes us look overdramatic. And the inevitiable result of being perceived as such is that protests about more meaningful things lose their bite in the minds of the outside world.

We wish to thank all of you who have written us about a past promotional campaign for Bacardi Breezer.

As a Company and as individuals we are also angered and dismayed that such a campaign was ever created and we have taken immediate action to stop it as it violated our stringent global marketing principles that we firmly support.

By way of explanation, but by no means an excuse, Bacardi never sponsored nor developed this promotion. But we understand it is our brand and our reputation and you are our consumers. We are also embarrassed that we didn't catch this breach sooner. We have been urgently looking into this matter to make sure this type of activity is never repeated.

What we do know is that a third-party developed and activated this brief campaign in one small market more than a year ago without our clearance.  When we discovered this promotion, we instructed our distributor to shut it down as it did not comply with our global marketing standards.  We are now urgently looking into the reasons why this program was recently reposted on the internet.  In markets where Bacardi does not have a corporate presence, we are represented by third parties; in this case a distributor and its advertising agency, but they must adhere to our stringent marketing principles, which clearly this campaign did not.

When Bacardi found out about this recent reposting, we immediately notified the agency and distributor to shutdown the website.

Bacardi proudly celebrates diversity and we do not endorse the views of this site or the campaign, as it is offensive and completely inappropriate. We sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by this campaign and thank you, our consumers for bringing it to our attention.

Sincerely,

Bacardi Limited

Thank you for the elaborate response, Bacardi!

I agree.

I said:  "I thought that was an Ugly Boyfriend campaign, not an Ugly Girlfriend campaign."

Stop.  Strike that.  Reverse it.  I'm trying to do two things at once here.  *laugh*

If I may Dana, I'd like to elaborate on your last statement: 

"I'm telling you that if you don't like portrayals of men as idiotic goofs, go do something about it.  I'm not telling you you're silly to be offended."

Instead of wasting your time telling other people what they shouldn't be offended about or working to fix, put your energy into something you actually care about.  It's energy better spent.

Well said dana.

And as a man, please let me add that us men should be just as offended by commercials that portray us as steriotypical males because in the end...It makes all men look bad.