Assvertising

A bunch of Shakers have sent me links to this Kleenex ad, which I saw myself last weekend and nearly dislocated my jaw with aghast amazement at its wanton fuckery:

A young man is walking along with rucksack, as if coming home from college or returning from a long trip. Swelling, emotional music plays. [edit] He arrives at the front door of a house, where a woman who appears to be his mother greets him with a hug. [edit] He's sitting on the couch and she brings him a tray with tea on it, and a box of tissues. He grabs a tissue. [edit] He's lying in bed, falling asleep; the woman rubs his forehead and turns out the light by his bedside. [edit] He's sitting at a dining room table, being served dinner by the woman. She puts spinach on his plate. The music abruptly stops, and he looks at her, betrayed. He stands up, grabs his jacket, and walks out.

Cut to the young man arriving at the front door of another house, where another woman who could be his mother greets him with a hug, as the music swells again. [edit] He's sitting on the couch with his feet on the coffee table, with a beer and a tray of snack food in front of him. The woman sits hovering beside him, as if poised to wait on his every need. She noticed a piece of food on his face, licks her fingertips, and reaches out to wipe it off. The music abruptly stops, and he pulls away, betrayed. He stands up, throws down his napkin, and walks out.

Cut to the young man playing soccer with another woman who could be his mother. The music swells again as he kicks a goal past her, and turns away with a self-congratulatory fist-pump as she tries to hug him.

Voiceover [over footage of young man sitting in a chair looking pleased, with seven woman of different ethnicities standing behind him, as if posing for some fucked-up family portrait]: Try out a few different moms and get all the extra mothering you need this cold and flu season. The Kleenex Virtual Moms at get mommed dot com.

Ya know, because women—especially moms—are as disposable as tissues. And are meant to be used and discarded by men in the same way they use and discard tissues.

Honestly, I cannot begin to imagine why anyone at Kleenex thought this was a good idea. This is just as offensive, if not even more so, than the most god-awful, objectifying beer adverts featuring scantily clad women with no discernible autonomy, whose only purpose is to exist for the pleasure of beer-swilling men. The concept here is effectively the same—except the women are mother-servants, rather than sex-servants, and ergo clad in pantsuits rather than bikinis. And instead of being given the decidedly dubious honor of being regarded as fuck-holes, the woman have been yet further demoted to cum rags.

Truly, one of the most profoundly and unapologetically misogynist adverts I've ever seen on television.

Contact Kleenex. Contact Kleenex's parent company, Kimberly-Clark.

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