German ministry under fire over ‘sexist’ bike safety ad
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/mar/24/german-bike-safety-ad-featuring-model-in-bra-and-helmet-sexist

Sexism + helmets + Europeans = 6 pages?

That’s not how you do safe sex dear.

I wonder what the Germans record is for cyclist deaths.

IIRC our govts haven’t promoted helmets so blindly.

Trying to think of the circumstances whereby you’d be in your underwear, wearing your cycling helmet. (I can only think of fun ones, but they’re not very common.)
Dummkopf advertising.

sexism + helmets + Europeans

trying to see the sexism in that

Oh great, now I’ve got an image in my mind of DezB in his underwear wearing a helmet…

Sod it, I’ll stick my neck out.

Pretty girl + Cycling theme, I like it.

Think it’s quite effective tbh, it’s not “sex sells”, it’s “here is something that conventionally looks nice, and something that doesn’t but is important”, and it’s attention grabbing which is valuable. And it’s not like she’s especially exposed.

Though would it be less effective if she was wearing a tshirt? I guess not.

I think you are all a bit mistaken about the purpose of this advert. It’s not aimed at cyclists.

Everyone knows that German men are fond of a ‘donkey punch’ every now and again in the bedroom. This is a sensible mitigation against injury in such circumstances. Common sense really..have none of you seen the film of the same name?

Nothing wrong with this ad. If you get offended **** off.

If you get offended **** off.

Not sure anyone’s actually offended. Not on here, where you’re getting all aggressive anyway.
On the Guardian site maybe, cos they’ve changed the pic so it doesn’t show her bra strap 😆

Yup, why do people insist on pretending people are offended? Mostly people aren’t offended, they’re just a bit unimpressed.

What would mumsnet say

TBH, it just makes men look basic. I’m not sure a dick pic would encourage me to wear one, telling me you’ll not ride with me ’cause you don’t want to clean up the mess if I come a cropper might tho

Being offended is now a sport for normal people.

TBH, it just makes men look basic.

This. It appeals to the sad and pathetic, I suppose.

aweeshoe

Member

TBH, it just makes men look basic.

You think it’s only aimed at men?

CheesybeanZ

Subscriber

What would mumsnet say

Don’t know but we probably wouldn’t argue about whether it was offensive or not

This. It appeals to the sad and pathetic, I suppose.

you are clearly missing the point of it.

You think it’s only aimed at men?

Nah, it plays on most womens insecurities. Though it’s encouraging me to ride topless rather than add more

It’s a tricky one isn’t it? They know that it’ll get noticed if it has a bit of attractive female flesh visible. It’s an important subject that needs attention. But is it a good thing to use attractive female flesh to sell things? Over and over re-enforcing the view that women are for looking at, well until they’re not sufficiently attractive. Objectification deeply embedded in our culture. So deeply embedded that the idea that it’s even there isn’t taken seriously.

Do we change the culture by raging about it? Open to any other suggestions. Unless you rather like it as it is? It’s ok really…till you have daughters and see how they’re looked at.

No comments on the same campaign featuring male models then? Does that objectify men, play to male insecurities etc etc…

Over and over re-enforcing the view that women are for looking at, well until they’re not sufficiently attractive. Objectification deeply embedded in our culture. So deeply embedded that the idea that it’s even there isn’t taken seriously.

More women than ever are suffering from eating disorders and depression, with over 80% expressing insecurities relating to body image and gender expectations. It  appeals to and saves the basic boys brains whilst destroying womens, it’s a win win for capitalism

https://m.dw.com/en/german-bike-helmet-ads-labeled-stupid-and-sexist/a-48044927

This is the link that should have been posted at the start, might have stopped people getting all irate before they had the full facts.

Or does sexism still only work one way these days!!

There is a male version, not widely reported obviously, as it kind of takes the edge off the (non)story a bit

How the german government promotes helmets

This isn’t sexism. Sexism is where someone is discriminated against because of their sex. This isn’t discrimination, it’s using people as objects. It’s using young, beautiful people as objects to grab attention. Is objectifying blokes not a problem? I don’t think it has the same effect so I don’t think the media want to do it. If it worked I’m sure they’d use it just as much. And that would become embedded in our society and we’d expect it as a matter of course and think it was also a lot of fuss about nothing.

https://www.facebook.com/bbccomedy/videos/1304841469625018/?sfnsn=mo

you are clearly missing the point of it.

I’m pretty sure I understand it much better than you appear to.

They’ve shared the full image of the original too

Full photo looks even worse. Shouldn’t it be a sports bra?

Anyway good luck with that in Germany – here’s Bremen for example

@aweeshoe

Hi
I assume you’ve had a chance to click the link now, and to see the entire advert rather than just the bit The Guardian chose to comment on.
Now that you’ve seen it has your opinion changed?

I’m not having a go, I’m genuinely interested to read your thoughts.

I suppose the question has to be, does the advert achieve its purpose? i.e. Persuading Germans to wear bicycle helmets? Obviously it’s a bit early to tell for sure but quite apart from the female objectification, labeling bike helmets as looking like shit, is unlikely to improve their uptake…

Defending the advert, a transport ministry spokesman said: “A successful road safety campaign should jolt people and can be polarising.”

Giving people a “Jolt” on road safety topics make sense, but “polarising”?? I’d have thought the best idea is to build something more like a consensus on the benefits of helmet use. Maybe there’s been something lost in translation.

Thinking about it, if the staff at the German transport ministry wanted to use road safety as a pretext to gawp at the female form, why not simply use a lycra clad model? I mean ‘proper’ cycling attire is generally figure hugging anyway, and it at least fits in with the adverts context a lot better, they’d have gotten away with that I reckon.

Basically it’s a crap ad’ that will appeal to oafs who’ll defend there being a bit of skin on show, but ignore the fact that the ad basically misses its supposed goal by some margin…

I don’t think the whole set of photos makes anything any better. Poor form from the Guardian. Poorly judged campaign. Objectifying men too doesn’t then make it ok to do it to women. GAH.

@easily, I wasn’t aware that they’d also used men but the same applies as it also affects men’s mental health and we are also seeing a rise in men with eating disorders and body dismorphia. I don’t think the ad promotes the message intended, as cookeaa explained. I’m autistic and the ad’s a bit cryptic, I wouldn’t have made the link between the semi naked body + shit script = wear a helmet. Also, if you’re moving past the ad are you really going to read the script or get the message? It’s not what my eyes were drawn to first

Wait… why is it in english?

aweeshoe

Member

Nah, it plays on most womens insecurities.

Could you explain that, in this specific case? I mean, often I’d agree, where it’s “you will never be this attractive without our makeup/clothes/car” but here the target is people who are deterred from wearing helmets because they think it looks ugly. So how is this advert playing on insecurity? Seems to me that it’s the opposite- it’s saying “don’t worry about what it looks like, it’s ugly but it’s important”. Showing beautiful people wearing the ugly thing and saying don’t worry about how ugly it is.

But also it seems like some people are going right down the “sex sells” line here, like “the point of the beautiful person is only to get your attention”. And I don’t think that’s the case; they’re not just a flash of flesh here, they’re part of the message.

“A spokesperson for the Transport Ministry has defended the ad in a statement, saying that the designed the ad to target young people who refuse to wear helmets for aesthetic reasons.”

I’m pretty sure I understand it much better than you appear to.

clearly not going by your replies

@Northwind Although it’s not juxtaposing attractiveness to sell a product or lifestyle, it is using it to promote an idea; like the sun has page 3 girls to get you to buy their shit narrative.

How does it play into insecurities? It holds up one body type/size (slim and fit) as being attractive. It also reinforces the idea that you’re only worth looking at and protecting if you’re attractive.

I dunno, I’m not that insecure in my appearance I know I’m ugly as sin, so I’ve been told fairly frequently 😂

aweeshoe

Member

It also reinforces the idea that you’re only worth looking at and protecting if you’re attractive.

I just don’t see how you can reach that conclusion tbh.

This advertisement is a bit silly.
But don’t see sexism either.
It seems that people discuss about this advertisement. Maybe good so?

Trying to think of the circumstances whereby you’d be in your underwear, wearing your cycling helmet

Dez.. you and i have spent several Big Bike Bashes together wearing literally just underwear and helmets.
You cruel cruel man…..

DrP

further to nealglover, a huff and puff over nothing by people looking for somwething to be outraged about.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvToC3bFRDa/

Apologies for stating the obvious, but surely the whole point is that it’s parodying sexy advertising images, by juxtaposing them with something that’s clearly not sexy?

I think it’s a pretty good campaign – and to be honest, poking fun at “those” kind of adverts is probably more a more effective way towards making people see that they are ridiculous.