Over on Reddit, I found this story, titled New Microsoft Ad Features Girl’s Orgasm.
Now before we get into this, please, go watch the video (pick the first guy on the left, that’s the dad). Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere, I’ll be here when you’re done.
Taps foot semi-impatiently…
Ok, done? That’s great…
So this girl’s “orgasm” is one quick gasp as the father imagines the worst possible things that could happen to his (hot) daughter while she’s out on a date with this loser, spurning him to change the curfew they’d just finished negotiating. The question being posed is, is it appropriate for Microsoft to use the image of teenage sex (in conjunction with the stereotype of the loser boyfriend, no less) to help sell their Suspicious “Male”-detection module of the new Hotmail service?
Personally, I don’t think there’s anything scandalous about this ad. I find it creative and a fresh perspective from a company (Microsoft) long known for being the stereotypical hard-core straight-laced business user (much like ‘PC’ in the Apple Mac vs. PC ads). I think the real question here is much broader: How Prudish is American Society?
Ever seen the movie Eurotrip? Hey, it had Michelle Trachtenberg in it, I couldn’t not watch… Well, in one scene, they’re hitchhiking along and she decides she’ll get a ride… by taking off her shirt.
No one stops.
The point is, this straight-laced American highschooler thought taking her shirt off would get any number of creepy guys to pull over and give them all rides. Unfortunately, they find out that in Europe, seeing a chick with her shirt off isn’t a new thing. Their example was an orange juice ad with lesbians in it, which certainly hammered home the point to me (perverts!). Elsewhere in the movie, the head mistress at a brothel claims that America was founded by prudes, which seems to be an accurate claim given the rest of the evidence we see throughout.
So I ask you again: Why is this ad groundbreaking? Are we that delusional to think that our children aren’t finding out about sex elsewhere, and that a 2-second gasp in an advertisement from the 800lb gorilla of software is going to turn them all into hormone-crazy sex heathens?
Let’s grow up, America. Stop blaming the advertising for turning your children into sex-starved homicidal maniacs and start taking a little extra responsibility for raising a child that’s broken, alright?
Hiding the truth from our society as a whole doesn’t make it go away. Pretending sex doesn’t happen doesn’t mean your children aren’t having it. This isn’t a nightmare, where it will go away if we just ignore it long enough, this is real life… It’s here to stay.
3 Comments so far
WartyWarthog, on May 13, 2007 at 7:16pm, said:
They seem to have edited it, and there is no longer an orgasm.
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Chris Meller, on May 15, 2007 at 6:29am, said:
Warty: Sounds the same to me (although the site seemed to be hammered when you posted that and I was trying to check). During the 2 seconds, I still hear the girl gasp. *shrug*
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Jon, on December 23, 2007 at 1:06pm, said:
Well firstly it’s no 2 seconds, it’s less than 30 frames even, barely enough to even register. Second… I love how nobody ever wants to explore the possibility that, what if she were going out with one of her GIRLFRIENDS and they got it on? The dad would of course never even be suspicious, because we’re programmed as a society with a completely hetero bias.
A friend of mine’s wife just had their first child, and my girlfriend and I were talking to him about his views on raising a daughter (he’s a very sweet, but fairly macho, guy) and he was talking about how he just knows that when the time comes he’s gonna be that dad standing at the door to meet his baby’s date, shotgun in hand… and my girl posed the idea that his daughter might not grow up to be straight and would be dating women.
He stopped cold. This is a guy who is rarely EVER speechless. He must have taken at least 10 seconds to even craft a sound in reply. Not that he was personally horrified at the idea, he just had NEVER even conceived of it, AT ALL. He then acknowledged that he was going to have to re-examine his entire ideology about raising a child/daughter and her growing to sexual maturity.
It never ceases to amaze me. If I was a hot chick and I wanted to get it on with another hot chick, it would be the easiest thing in the world to do right under the parent’s noses because they would never suspect a thing, let my “friend” sleep over any time I wanted, let me sleep at her place any time, and just all around allow me to be as horny and promiscuous as I wanted. And trust me, women want it just as much as men, if not more.
The same is not quite true of most gay (bi) males because American society tells them they have to be flaming queens, which is always such an obvious affectation as to not go unnoticed by any but the most hard-line-in-denial of parents.
America is so completely stupid when it comes to sexuality. Never ceases to make me shake my head in disbelief.
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