Pinch Me, I must be dreaming: Volkswagen’s sexist #fail

Volkswagen’s “Stop Dreaming, Start Driving Event: Pinch Me” ad campaign is in heavy rotation on Hulu, so I’ve been seeing the same ads over and over again, and eventually it sunk in: there’s a pretty sexist difference between the two ads in this campaign.

The Jetta ad features a female driver and auto rep.  The driver is so excited by the Jetta’s performance she asks the auto rep to pinch her. The rep responds, “No, not while you’re driving.”

In the Passat ad, the male driver also asks to be pinched—the performance is just unbelievable. But this time, the (male) auto rep says “Okay” and pinches the driver.

It seems that, unlike men, women can’t be trusted to control a car while being pinched.

For more on sexism in advertising…

Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel – Jean Kilbourne

The Routledge Companion to Advertising and Promotional Culture – eds. Matthew P. McAllister and Emily West

Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising – Anthony Cortese

And of course there’s this…

Filed under: Advertising, Fail, sexism, television

DMV

The DMV’s website brings you the same level of service you’ve come to expect from their brick and mortar branches:

Filed under: Fail, California, DMV

Why We’re Losing in Afghanistan

No wonder the US is having so much trouble in Afghanistan – this is the Army’s military strategy:

via Enemy Lurks in Briefings on Afghan War – PowerPoint – NYTimes.com.

Filed under: Fail, Politics, bizarre, war

GM’s Electric Pod Car

“No one’s talking about taking away your SUV or sportscar. But Borroni-Bird says the little electric runabout addresses six issues facing urban mobility in increasingly dense cities: energy use, environmental concerns, safety, congestion, parking and affordability….”

via Get a Closer Look at GM’s Electric Pod Car | Autopia | Wired.com.

Uh… public transit?

Filed under: Fail, Tech, future, transportation

The Five Grossest American Fast Food Ideas

“Call it the heart attack heard ’round the world. Yes, today KFC’s already-infamous Double Down–the bacon and cheese “sandwich” where the bun is comprised of two chunks of fried chicken–hits fast food chains and mall food courts across the nation…”

get fed – or fed up – at The Five Grossest American Fast Food Ideas | AlterNet.

Anyone fancy a burrito?

Filed under: Fail, bizarre, food

Spent Bullets Transformed into Jewelry

“Violence is never pretty, but the implements of destruction themselves can possess their own twisted allure. Much like the Gun Reclamation Project rehabilitates firearms into jewelry, Israeli designer Adi Zaffran Weisler refashions spent bullets into one-of-a-kind rings…”

via Spent Firing-Range Bullets Are Transformed into Bejeweled Rings | Ecouterre.

Uh… no thanks.

Filed under: Fail, bizarre