We’ve featured posts before on how chocolate is often marketed by linking it to sexual pleasure or presenting it as a substitute for love and romance, especially for women. And we’ve written about ejaculation imagery in ads.
John from Facile Gestures and YetAnotherGirl sent us an Australian commercial for Zokoko chocolates that dispenses with any subtlety when connecting their product to sex and ejaculation. It’s…something:
From Copyranter, via Gawker.
Andrew Slater sent in an interesting example of the mocking of rap music. The mocking occurs in a re-make of Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” about the excitement of going on out Friday night. Black’s low-budget music video went viral, shooting her into stardom, or at least celebrity. The song is a standard teeny-bop pop song, complete with rap interlude.
The re-make, produced by the Community Christian Church, features a so-called “Sadie Black” singing about “Sunday” instead of Friday, and extolling the pleasures of worship. Slater noticed, however, that the entire re-make is more-or-less truthful to the original, except for the rap section. In the re-make, “BP” and “Master E” appear to make fun of rappers. It’s a very different effect when compared to the straightforward mimickry of Sadie B.
Screen shots (original and re-make respectively):
Videos (rap sections starts at 2:30 and, um, 2:30 respectively):
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
A quick Google image search suggests that Prince William and the to-be Princess Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton conform to Western culture’s expectation that a man be sufficiently taller than his woman. Not so for Prince Charles and Princess Diana. In light of today’s royal nuptials, I thought I’d re-post this fav of mine. Originally cross-posted at Jezebel.
In the U.S. and the U.K., one of the most unbreakable rules of mating involves height. He must be taller than her, preferably significantly taller. Men and women often pick one another in such a way that any given couple follows this rule even if, given random assortment, some couples would involve women who the same height or taller than their male partners.
Rumor has it, though I can’t prove it, that Hollywood routinely puts leading men in platform boots or on stools so that they appear appropriately tall relative to their leading ladies.
Philip Cohen, however, alerted me to a case that can be nicely shown: Prince Charles and Princess Diana. As these photographs show, Charles was about the same height as Diana, perhaps even shorter.
When Charles and Diana were posed together formally, however, they were typically arranged so as to suggest that he was significantly taller than her, or at least to disguise the fact that he was not.
A photo from their engagement announcement with Charles on a step behind her:
(BBC)
And more:
This effort to make Charles appear taller is a social commitment to the idea that men are taller and women shorter. When our own bodies, and our chosen mates, don’t follow this rule, sometimes we’ll go to great lengths to preserve the illusion.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
What is the fiscal relationship between the Royal Family of the United Kingdom and its taxpayers? I have no idea.
Accordingly, I have no idea as to the accuracy of this 5-minute summary, made by CGP Grey (via), but it was entertaining and, I imagine, contains a least a kernel of truth:
U.K. readers, what say you? (Transcript after the jump.)
Back in December, Carly S. sent in an ESPN video about NFL player Bart Scott, nicknamed the “Mad Backer.” The video illustrates a number of noteworthy themes:
See for yourself:
Last year I posted about a new ad campaign for Pretzel Crisps. The ads’ use of the phrase “you can never be too thin” inspired one man to alter one ad posted in NYC, including taping up images of news stories about individuals who have died of eating disorders. After the story got some attention, Snack Factory, the company that makes Pretzel Crisps, eventually apologized and said they were taking the ads down.
A victory, right? Except it seems like Snack Factory didn’t quite get the message. They replaced that ad with one that said “tastes as good as skinny feels.”
Dmitriy T.M. let us know that they then also released this ad, which similarly seemed to miss (or not care about) what the concerns were about the original:
So…they reinforced the message about thinness, and throw in an extra insult on top of it. Classy.
Via Jezebel.
I invite you to spend seven minutes listening to Baratunde Thurston explaining what, exactly, is wrong with the fact that Barack Obama was hounded into releasing his long form birth certificate. He does a wonderful job of historicizing the requirement that Obama prove that he is an American (to a man such as Donald Trump), at the same time that he explains why this questioning of Obama’s citizenship is deeply hurtful to all Black Americans and their allies.
Via BoingBoing. Transcript after the jump (via Racialicious).
In one store, you’re a Size 4, in another a Size 8, and in another a Size 10 — all without gaining an ounce.
So starts a New York Times article, forwarded along by Kristin, Valerie, and Dolores. It features this handy graphic illustrating just how much both sizes and proportions vary from store to store:
It’s interesting that this article is specific to women, as if the sizes and proportions in men’s clothes don’t vary. Hint: they do.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
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