Today in Rape Culture/Assvertising

[Trigger warning for stalking]


Video description and transcript below the fold.

I have a football game on right now, and this Bud Light ad just aired. It's no secret that beer ads tend to promote regressive gender stereotypes. This particular ad (entitled "Persistence"), however, puts in extra effort. First off, as an ad, it's just stupid. Big walking beer bottles and sheaves of wheat? Really? Then come the gender stereotypes: "he" goes out to clubs every night; "she" likes chatting with her girlfriends and quiet walks on the beach. Worst of all is the presentation of stalking as romantic, which is a central narrative of rape culture. The idea is that at least a "little" stalking is absolutely necessary to a romantic relationship. There is a "fine line between romance and stalking", the ad tells us, and he "walked it like a pro". A pro. A professional stalker, that is.

But hey, giant walking bottles of beer will be giant walking bottles of beer, amirite?

Extra sneaky-jackass points for putting the words of praise for stalking into the mouths of women.

I'll add that the use of a ridiculous anthropomorphic beer bottle to stalk a big bunch of anthropomorphic wheat makes it that much easier for people to say, "it's just a silly ad--nobody would think this was real! Sheesh, where's your sense of humor?!" Which is beyond disingenuous, of course, because there would be no "humor" in the ad if real men did not stalk real women.


Video description:

A big walking Bud light bottle and huge walking stalks of golden wheat appear spending time together, walking on the beach, etc. Golden Wheat has lunch with her friends and chats with them. The Bud Light bottle is seen out alone at a club, with a woman grinding against him on a dance floor. The Bud light bottle stands beneath Golden Wheat's window, playing music, then climbs up to her window on a ladder. The three female friends of "Golden Wheat" talk about how they didn't think the relationship would work at first, but now they see that Bud Light and Golden Wheat are good together.

Transcript:

At first, we were against it.
He's so not your type.
He goes out like every night.
You know, eventually, he took to what she liked and he learned about her and he really made an effort.
But there really is a fine line between romance and stalking.
Yeah, but he walked it. Like a pro.

Introducing Bud Light Golden Wheat. Light Beer. Huge Flavor. They hooked up, and you're gonna fall in love.