Rant: I don't like this new ad.

[Jayce]

Don't know if this is in the right topic section but I hate the new sprite ad. I go to wax my eyebrows all the time, I'm so glad there is an a male only beauty salon in my city, I used to go to not-gendered ones (but come on they were never male friendly, and implicitly for women only cause of the way some of them treat you or the weird looks, or them asking why you are doing this). Hell even at the place I go to do my eyebrows where it's guys only beauty salon, one of the workers jokingly said to me that they make the instructions of their skin care routines "male proof" by having them recorded in their system (because guys can only be super clumsy, will forget everything, including details, and will trash all the documents they get". I get that it's funny, I even laughed, but still, ehhh, I felt bad for laughing with them afterwards.

Can't I just be a normal human male but at the same time get eyebrow waxes without you asking me why or think it's weird? Or any other type of wax? Or not wax?


When they ask why are my eyebrows straight, and I say I wax, they think its weird, or when that girl looked at my eyebrows once and she went huh! you wax your eyebrows! I can tell! It's so straight! Yes I do, I'm not trying to hide it, and so do you, can't this just be not some revelation about me?


It's the same when I walk into some make up shops and I know what I'm looking for and I try the makeup on and the lady says "do you want to move to the corner over there near the wall and try this on? Where maybe someone you know might not see you doing this?" Or when I'm buying something they say, oh is this for your girlfriend? You should bring your girlfriend so she can try the colour on. It took me some searching to find a make up shop where they don't say anything if a guy goes in and tries something on.

Another annoying thing is when people can tell I wear make up and they ask me why or when they say oh you have clear skin, you don't look like you have an incurable skin condition and I tell them I'm wearing make up, they ask why are you wearing make up? And then they say it's weird and be a bit of an asshole to me about it. Ok this one I get because it can be jarring to people, but there's a difference from knowing this is something that guys don't usually do vs (the next time they see me): "are you sure you're not gay?" Why does wearing makeup have to have something to do with what my sexuality is?? You don't go around asking girls are they lesbian if they wore make up.

It's just as stupid when you have other guys that work in retail, and you tell them you want those jeans and they say oh those are for girls, and I say yeah I know. Get me an equivalent of male size 28,27 and 26 or the x-small size and they repeat like they though I haven't heard them "that's in the girls section, the guys section is in the right". And I say yes, I can't find that colour in the male section, and they still say "you heard us right?" Yes I did hear you. God, because its like such a big crazy, cross dressing move cause I brought green skinny jeans since there were only black and blue colours in the male section! They look exactly the same except for the colour! Like if these were in the male section they'll fit right in with the other colours and if I told them to get me a size from there would you even ask me three times whether I'm buying the wrong thing? I'm just glad topshop makes a variety of colours for guys these days and they put them in the guys section so I don't have to deal with this any more.


Even though these issues don't affect 90% of guys, I'm just annoyed that the things I do (which don't affect other people and they aren't all that revelationally exciting) some people have to comment badly on them. I get that most people don't do these things or if they do they aren't open about it, but it gets annoying.

It's ads like these. This, right here is the reason why we can't even have more clothing colours in the guys section.

Can't they choose better topics for the sprite ad? Maybe something about swimming, and feeling thirsty, so you went for a cold drink??? Anything but, "guys are not supposed to do this so they can't, but with the power of sprite you can make anything seem "manly" by having a moustached, middle aged "manly man" in swimmer shorts approving of your decisions".

[Werel]

Man, I can see how that ad would really get under your skin! It's not even a personal sore spot and it made me aggressively. Commercial does suck. Commiseration.

(FWIW when I see dudes rocking nontraditionally male stuff and looking super sharp I always think "fuck yes for braving all the annoying questions you must get in order to look this fresh, keep it up." So you keep it up, your makeup looks boss IMO, sorry you have to put up with so much garbage.)

[eselle28]

Well, that's a gross ad. I actually find it a little offensive toward me as well, because it implies that this thing that lots of people of my gender do regularly is somehow lesser until legitimized by particularly manly men. It also has nothing to do with the Sprite product, and isn't really that funny. I'm kind of confused by who approved that one.

[Conreezy]

Man, this is well timed, because I was just debating whether or not I wanted to get something done with my eyebrows. What stayed my hand was how much shit I know I would catch from most people I know. Now I know that all I have to do is drink Sprite from a Hasselhoff stunt-double and I'll be fine!

What's funny, though, is eyebrow maintenance is weirdly taboo, but other hair removal isn't. My wife works at a laser hair-removal clinic, where guys all sorts of body parts done, but any guy wanting his eyebrows done would get a strange look.

[CP96]

Got to admit, when I saw the thread title I thought it was going to be talking about this ad:

[reboot]

Wow. Yeah, that Sprite ad is gross on many levels. If I drank Sprite, I would stop now.

CP96 - That ad is also gross on many levels and a terrible slam on men.

Advertising, the root of much fucknuttery

[Wondering]

Maybe we need a thread just for terrible gender ads. Because in addition to the two mentioned, I also hate the Jake from State Farm ad with a fiery intensity.

[eselle28]

New thread is here.

[Jayce]

Wow. Yeah, that Sprite ad is gross on many levels. If I drank Sprite, I would stop now.

What's even more annoying is that this is an ad for Australian people. In a culture where we glorify rugby, going to the beach, barbecues and the outback, it is so damn easy to make a normal sprite ad! Just have a guy surf, get tired and then drink sprite.

Man, this is well timed, because I was just debating whether or not I wanted to get something done with my eyebrows.  What stayed my hand was how much shit I know I would catch from most people I know.  Now I know that all I have to do is drink Sprite from a Hasselhoff stunt-double and I'll be fine!

What's funny, though, is eyebrow maintenance is weirdly taboo, but other hair removal isn't.  My wife works at a laser hair-removal clinic, where guys all sorts of body parts done, but any guy wanting his eyebrows done would get a strange look.

How do these guys have so much money to do all these hair removal stuff for anything besides eyebrow waxes lol? I just shave everything else and that works fine for me, eyebrows on the other hand are really complex and you actually need a professional to do it well.

[Conreezy]

How do these guys have so much money to do all these hair removal stuff for anything besides eyebrow waxes lol?

People drop crazy money on it. 10k at times, easily.

I just shave everything else and that works fine for me, eyebrows on the other hand are really complex and you actually need a professional to do it well.

That's what my wife tells clients. They're willing to do eyebrows, but they make sure people know that they're not aestheticians.

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