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Jun 18, 2009 at 09:51 pm by Sasha
This set of ads out of a foreign branch of MTV reads: “Girls, protect yourself. Demand your partner wear a condom.”
The last image was actually so offensive to some women that Jezebel pulled it and just linked to it instead of having it on their site.
So, what do you guys think? Offensive? Effective? Both? Neither?
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Not at all effective, penis guns just don’t put the fear into me I guess. Show some actual std pictures and I’ll want to wear a condom.
I think the most effective condom ad I ever saw was pictures of fruit that had warts all over them, which were then connected ot STD’s. Scary shit.
Indeed, Copa. Some of those pictures make me not want to even look at a man.
As for the ads themselves, not effective, but I like the idea.
Wow. And I thought sex was a beautiful, natural thing! Guess I was wrong.
effective
I’m offended that they’re comparing a penis to a weapon.
If they had compared the vagina to a gaping, plague-infested bear trap then we’d probably see more complaints, but this is just as offensive to me.
Agreed. I think men have more right to be offended here than women.
OH ha ha I didn’t even see your comment before I posted mine
lol bear traps
Anyway I’m not offended, but I do think it’s stupid
LOL
Although that bullet does look way more sexy than a festering bear trap vag would…
That last one is just creepy….like rape creepy, not “unprotected sex=bad” creepy. I most certainly see your point.
If they made an ad with a vagina as a bear trap and said CAREFUL OUT THERE BOYS people would fuh-REAK out
Oh P.S. A condom won’t stop a bullet
I’m not offended at all and I totally get the symbolism. I think what they were trying to say, was that unprotected sex is just as dangerous as guns.
Let me modify that, I meant to say that I think the message was that having unprotected sex means your taking your life and others into your own hands, just as someone that using a gun for violence.
Harriet Meadow: Don’t get so defensive. You say to Syd: “I don’t understand why you have to be so hateful.” But right off rip you start assuming that I think I am superior to everyone because I took a lit class. I never said that, just asked if anyone took one. Never said my interpretation was better then yours, I simply said that I don’t find the ad offensive and mentioned that I understood the symbolism. Perhaps you feel your interpretations are not as accurate because you didn’t take a lit class, but no one said that other then yourself. Mostly all the comments when I started commenting were all about how can a condom stop a bullet. Everyone was missing the point of why they used a gun and bullets. For your question to me: the bullet could be shaped like a damn octagon, it doesn’t change the symbolism.
Still the bullet in the condom doesn’t make any sense, that will kill you just as well as an…um…unprotected bullet…
But if you use the bullet as a symbol for an STD, the condom will stop the bullet. Did anyone take any Lit classes that explained symbolism?
Oh wow you must be so superior to everyone else, since you took a Lit class. Let me ask you this, oh wise master of symbolism. Why is the bullet shaped like a penis if it represents an STD and not a penis?
And obviously I’m talking about the first picture, not the second picture, in which the symbolism is pretty clear.
The problem is that condoms don’t stop bullets
It’s an awful mixture of symbols that doesn’t work
I’m going to agree with SouthernSweety. Hell, you don’t even need to have taken a Lit Class…..the symbolism is pretty obvious. Do the other two who responded to this look at Zoloft commercials and say ‘depression doesn’t turn people into sad little bouncy ovals!’? Can you even watch cartoons without getting incredibly confused and indignant? Do you read? Seriously, the reason symbolism EXISTS is so they don’t have to spell everything out for you. They assume most competent adults get it. For the idea to totally fly over your head so much as to say ‘but condoms don’t stop bullets!’ is to be on the reasoning level same as a child who has not yet begun middle school.
As for the ad. I get it. A penis with STDs can be a death sentence, or at least very uncomfortable, if put into someone’s body. The condom wasn’t effectively compared to, say, a bullet proof vest or safety lock, which makes the comparison fairly cumbersome, but you can certainly make the connection if you think for a moment.
And yes, the last picture is creepy.
My point is that, to me (and yes, symbolism can be subjective, believe it or not) a penis shaped like a bullet represents a PENIS more than an STD. The second picture, I have no problem with. I have a problem with the bullet shaped like a penis, which seems to me to be beside the point. I’m sorry that my interpretation of the ad differs from yours, but to take the step and say that I can’t read because of it is going a little too far. As for getting indignant, I wasn’t getting indignant at the ad itself (I just think it’s off-base), nor do I get indignant at cartoons. In fact, I think that people are far too politically correct. The reason I got so indignant is that for some reason people think that because they’ve taken a Lit class, their interpretations are somehow more correct than mine or anyone else’s. The point is that this is an ad that many people are going to see, and if Jorge’s view, and mine, is so completely different from yours, that means that the ad isn’t very effective at getting its message across.
*Jorge’s view and mine ARE so completely different…I talk goodly.
With many things, however, the point isn’t that you can make up whatever you want for the symbolism. We know QUITE well what the bullet means. It can be misconstrued as a penis, but that is not the intent. In fact, to say that you can take it however you want because symbolism is subjective reminds me of those kids in lit class who always OVER analyzed the symbolism. We KNOW what the poster is trying to say, whether we consider it off base or not. To put your own spin on it that wasn’t intended is being like those kids who sit around and think ‘OH, well, the house is painted red, so CLEARLY the author is angry about his childhood,’ when the author is just thinking ‘wouldn’t it be nice if the character lived in a red house?’ Symbolism doesn’t mean ‘HEY, take this however you want.’ It means ‘here is a symbol for an idea/occurrence/whatever.’ Sometimes, it’s subjective. This time, it’s pretty clear that the ‘bad’ is not supposed to be the penis itself. Pray tell, how does one effectively construe the idea of ’std’ through the same medium? A penis and a bullet have the same basic shape. An STD doesn’t.
Advertising works through associations. Putting happy mothers with products will create an association. Housewives shopping in a store will run into the item in question and will feel like a better mother when they buy it. This brand of advertising began with … I forget his name, he was kicked out of academia for cheating on his wife with his assistant… he went on to help integrate conditioning into advertising (this happened in the 1960’s IIRC). It’s also why they stick really attractive men / women with products — it helps create an association between beauty and the item.
Okay Syd, I think I understand what you’re saying. Given that we know what these ads are for, given the intent of the ads, it’s pretty clear that the bullet represents the STDs. I’m not denying that. But if I only saw the picture, it wouldn’t be that clear. I’m just worried that a side effect of this campaign is going to be vilifying penises (due to the bullet/penis comparison), that’s all.
And to answer your last question, why not just avoid the messy symbolism that po’ folk like me might misconstrue? If they’re going to be offensive anyway, why not just show actual pictures of STD’s? That would be really shocking and really effective. Just kidding, I don’t really think they should do that. I don’t have a good answer for you, and honestly, I don’t care that much. There’s no good way to depict something so terrible.
Harriet: how often do you see an ad for something and NEVER know what company, organization, or product is using the ad. Sure, guns don’t immediately make you say ‘aha, I’ll go out and buy condoms.’ But if there are phallic shaped bullets flying everywhere and then the very blunt message ‘wear a condom’ pops up on the same screen, it’s a message that only the very stupid could not understand to at least some extent. It’s not the fancy rich folk who took fancy college lit classes who get this. It’s anyone who had progressed through junior high, or didn’t but is mentally at or above the level of a twelve year old. Psychologically, even someone who hasn’t had any traditional schooling, but is mentally competent and immersed in the world we live in should be able to comprehend this message by their mid-teens just by virtue of existence and experience with the staples of our modern society. If the phrase ‘wear a condom’ wasn’t on the screen, it wouldn’t make sense. But that is not the case. The words are there, leading us to immediately make the connection that ‘oh, they don’t literally mean penises are bullets shooting me in the crotch, they mean that they can be dangerous like bullets if I don’t protect myself.’
It’s REALLY not rocket science.
Syd, I’m sorry that you do not understand what I’m trying to convey. You’re right. It’s pretty clear what the ad is trying to say. I just happen to believe that the association of a bullet with a penis might be harmful on another level. But never mind. It’s really sad that just because I believe something can have more than one level of association and I “overanalyze” (apparently by associating a bullet and a penis with a penis) you assume that I am not mentally competent and that I am not above the mental capabilities of a twelve year old. I don’t understand why you have to be so hateful. I’m not disagreeing with you, I’m just trying to show that there is also another way of looking at it, a way that makes a subconscious association besides that which the ad makers desire. If you think that someone who has a different opinion from you (an opinion that other posters on this site share) is automatically stupid, you must have a pretty crappy view of the world and people around you. I feel sorry for you.
This ad totally offends me! First of all, the image of a young girl with a gun held up to her vagina deeply disturbs me. Besides the fact that the image itself is disgusting, the ad just seems to perpetuate the very serious problem of sexual violence, not to mention perpetuating the myth that men are predators and it is the girl’s job alone to protect herself from them when in reality safe sex should be something that both partners want. The worst part is, it kind of makes sexual violence look sexy, which promotes it- I mean, look at that girl! If someone was holding a gun up to your vagina, you wouldn’t be sitting there touching your perfectly photoshopped, aroused body, you would be getting the hell away from the dude! This ad just seems completely socially irresponsible to me, and I would never, ever want to see it in a magazine. Not clever. Not effective.
Anna, this is exactly how it struck me, as well. The violence aspect of this is conjuring up too much rape-culture imagery, and not enough biologically safer sex imagery. These are offensive and disturbing.
Totally disgusting. Sex should be about fun and not about violence :-/
It should be about fun, but the reality is that unprotected sex can kill you just as a gun can.
Unprotected sex can kill you in less than a second? That’s some intense fuckin’.
I wish I could say the ads are effective, but we all know that the target age group for this campaign is just going to make wisecracks, find them funny, and then plaster them all over each others lockers to make people go “Eww!”
I think they’re pretty powerful, but again, they are not putting the responsibility on guys to be responsible with birth control. By making the images violent, they’re putting the onus on women to protect themselves. When will birth control be the guy’s responsibility?
I completly agree with you, but I don’t think birth control will ever be the man’s responsibilty, they don’t have to carry a child for 9 months, nor are they expected to bear the sole responsiblity of the child. I’m not saying it’s right, I just don’t think it will become a man’s responsiblity until he is the one that has to carry the child.
You’re probably absolutely right about that.
I just wish we could empower young women about sexual choices while reminding young men that they have to shoulder some of the responsibility. As it stands now in this country, sex is a burden for a woman in terms of reputation and birth control and sex is a guy’s entitlement.
No wonder our teen pregnancy rates are so high.
Yes sex is a beautiful thing, but unprotected sex can lead to serious diseases and the like. This ad is aimed to shock a bit to get that point accross and create discussion. and it is therefore an effective ad.
But these ads go too far. First of all, I don’t know ANYONE who doesn’t know about sexually transmitted diseases. The problem is that in the heat of passion people make irrational decisions. So what these ads are trying to do is to completely vilify SEX. As Jorge and Kevin mentioned, a condom isn’t going to stop a bullet, so by depicting the penis as a bullet or a gun, you’re making it a destructive force that NOTHING can help. If I didn’t know what these ads were for, I would think that they were anti-sex, not pro-condom.
Harriot: Now I will say that you don’t know what your talking about. There are countries all over this world that don’t know about STD’s. There are kids that don’t go to school that don’t know about them. If you view the world as a world that knows all about STD’s then instead of feeling sorry for Syd, feel sorry for yourself for being ignorant.
harriet – of course there are people in the world who don’t know about STDs and how they are transmitted! there are people who still believe the world is flat.
BAHAHAHAHAHA!
Ahahahaha…hahaha….
I don’t see the advertising here. Even if you put a condom on a gun it’s still gonna blow your vagina apart!
I get the first couple of pics, interesting symbolism, quite effective.
The first thing that popped into my head at the last picture was rape. It doesn’t make me think “ah yes, it is certainly very important to practise safe sex”, it makes me think “GUN! RAPE! SEX! BAD!”. It just seems so overwhelmingly violent.
Blugh, I need a cup of tea.
Yeah, I had that thought with the last picture too.
I have to agree with some previous commenters. My dick is not a weapon, I’m a responsible person when it comes to my sex life. Vilifying men like this is not going to make people smarter or safer when it comes to sex. These ad’s do nothing more than make it look like rape, and that since your a woman you have to take no precautions yourself. I agree with the whole making the guy wear a condom. But what about Lesbians? they face just as much risk being promiscuous with other woman. How about they make the ad’s like the french do, targeting both males and females because it’s BOTH his and hers responsibility to make sure there shit is safe.
Here’s a link to this awesome ad which gets the point across pretty well. http://www.vincentchow.net/images/frenchaidsad.jpg
Edit: also why is the girl with a gun to her Va•jay•jay super skinny? Are they implying that only skinny girls need to protect themselves that, “fat” woman aren’t having as much sex as skinny woman therefore it doesn’t matter. something to think about.. Subliminal messaging much?
I think it’s just because nobody has used anybody but a skinny girl in an ad for the last 30 years…
Whoa, the add you posted is pretty intense… I’m never going to be able to receive oral sex without thinking of giant tarantulas nibbling at my bits.
I’m surprised at how many took this ad so seriously, especially with the bullet in the condom. Obviously it’s a metaphor, not to be taken literally.
I guess what I think of when I see this ad it’s making men the bad guy. I know these ads are directed towards women, but they just make it seem like the guy you’re about to have sex with is a bad guy. I’m more offended on how it portrays men than the way it’s directed towards women.
Although I do think the last picture is disturbing and I agree it seems more like rape than unprotected sex. But that’s just my interpretation.
It’s a poor metaphor. To me it says “no matter what you do you’re fucked, so why use a condom!”
Yeah it doesn’t really work. A spent casing in a condom would work better…
Nice visual. I think I’d like that one no matter what it was supposed to symbolize.
Yes it’s a metaphor, but it puts an image in your head that affects you subconsciously beyond the metaphorical level.
Let’s put it this way. If I sat and thought about the ad, I would realize that what they’re saying is that unprotected sex is potentially dangerous because it can cause people to become infected by life-threatening STD’s (and I would probably think that men are the ones spreading them around and women are only the victims). But if I don’t think about it, and I just let the image affect me in a first-impression way, my reaction is: “Holy sh*t, a penis is like a gun/bullet? I’m not letting them anywhere near my vajayjay!” So although I realize the point that they’re trying to get across (I’m not dumb enough to think it’s supposed to be taken literally), as I said above, I think it goes too far.
I kind of mentally connect guns and penises anyway…
I totally agree with southernsweetie – the ads are supposed to be symbolic, the ‘condom stopping a bullet’ argument does not stand up. I took Eng Lit as my college major, but I think even without that itsfairly obvious that that isn’t the point – the point is that unprotected sex is dangerous, and youtake your health/life into your own hands by having sex unprotected, the bullet symbolism representing this risk.
I’m not particularly offended by the ads, in fact I think the first one (penis-shaped bullet) is really pretty good. But I do see how the third one can be seen as having gone too far – the message is small in the bottom right, and I think without the message being more explicit it is relatively unclear what the ad refers to and it could be viewed as a campaign poster campaigning against violence towards women, that sort of thing. I certainly think the third ad would draw criticism/complaints from the general public. Which I feel a little sad about, as the point the posters are trying to convey is a good one – fact is, STIs aren’t a particularly nice topic and in order to get the safe sex message across campaigners are going to have to convey their point in a way that is more publically acceptable. Shock tactics can work, but I think the ambuguity of these ads makes them a bit of a no-no really. Shame.
Yeah no I get that bullets are dangerous and bullets are unprotected sex, but if you’re going to keep the bullet thing going you can’t just put a condom on there, that doesn’t make sense. Poor imagery.
I think its a poor advertisement because it puts all responsibility on the female and paints the male partner, and his genitalia, as something violent and potentially deadly, when in fact both sides of that tango are at equal risk and should share equal responsibility.
Well put, Jeremy.
And everyone knows that English Lit does nothing for anyone except make them think they can be a critic and equip them with soundbites to use at cocktail parties.
Wow the insecurities of those commenting on this. For the record, I learned symbolism in middle school. Not one time have I a taken a college course, so saying that it “does nothing for anyone except make them think they can be a critic and equip them with soundbites to use at cocktail parties.” is inaccurate. Actually, I think the middle school class I was required to take gave me the ability to be able to understand that this ad clearly wasn’t trying to make anyone believe that a condom can stop a bullet. Also, anyone can be a critic, including yourself Jeneria, as you are criticizing English Lit classes….guess you didn’t need the English lit class to learn how to that huh?
Yep, that offends me, both as a man and as a human being. This pictures show penises as violent and destructive, rather than the infections that may or may not be received from a penis — or a vagina. This only push the stereotype that men, and their penises in particular, are depraved against women. They should have shown people of every gender with time bombs for genitals or a shell game with STIs instead of the ball or something.
Late to comment, but what the hell.
I find these ads offensive. I don’t like that the gun is pointing at the woman’s vulva–it betrays a violence [against women].
I also don’t like that the penis is being represented by a gun. It’s almost like saying the penis is destructive and deadly. It isn’t. The diseases (STD’s) are the “killers”.
These ads need something else to get their point across. Something that points more towards condom=disease prevention (even though it doesn’t always work) rather than gun=bare cock.
I am shocked at the gun pointed at a woman’s vulva. Disgusting.
I think this just perpetuates the stereotype that men = sexual predators and women = sexually passive. Woman with a gun to her vagina- not exactly an image of women taking control of their sexuality is it? When so many women are worried about carrying condoms because they’ll “appear to be slutty” to men, surely ads should promote active female sexuality because then the idea that a woman can seek and be prepared for sex (ie by carrying a condom) wouldn’t be so taboo and women could more easily protect themselves.
I think this ad demonises the penis rather than the STDs- it’s wrong to assume that only men carry diseases and act irresponsibly… So it’s offensive to men, really, more than women, although they do carry connotations of female passivity and violence against women.
Argggh they’re just ALL WRONG.
RaeRae nailed it.
I don’t see why men don’t always carry condoms with them. I keep a mini-sized bottle of astroglide and a 6-pack of extra thick trojans with me at all times.
You’re like a boy scout- always prepared ;)
I agree. It’s all so aggressive and gives the wrong message. The word “demand” in “Demand that your partner wear a condom” is a little much. Nothing is mentioned about women doing their part to be safe by taking birth control pills or providing a condom. Also it seems like they are trying to make young women scared of men and their “dangerous”‘ penises. That can’t be healthy…
Yeah? And when are they going to come out with the ads of nasty, clap-trap broads and guys cowering with their nails in their teeth? Yeah, the ladies need to protect themselves. But guys aren’t the only ones that spread stds…