Interesting list, Cary! I have to say the Belevedere Vodka ad is disturbing to me. The others are weird or tasteless or both, but that one is just flat-out wrong. It's become common for booze companies to use sex as their selling point but this actually seems to condone getting drunk and taking women against their will. This happens enough in real life and is traumatic to most women. I just don't understand using it as advertising, unless their target audience is the date-rapist set. Thanks for the post, it was great as usual!

None of these ads made me want to buy or do what they were promoting. They weren't particularly offensive, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they were harmless, either. The exceptions were the Virgin Mobile and Belvedere vodka ads. Those were horrible. Plus, the latter makes me think of Mr. Belvedere the TV show which only magnifies the creepy factor.

Although Axe is notorious for questionable ads, that's not their biggest problem. It's the fact that their stuff smells like gas station restrooms.

Great list! :)

I do find some of them offensive. The "Por Amor A Las Tetas" ("For The Love Of Boobs") one disturbs me. To me they are making light of what should be a very serious subject. That commercial says to me that women should do breast self-exams and have physician exams and get mammograms to make sure that their boobs will be around because men like them and because men want to look at them and play with them. Say what? Is that really the main reason and motivation for women to take care of their health? Of course, women want to be attractive and beautiful, who doesn't? In the grand scheme of things, though, shouldn't the focus be on being healthy rather than beautiful? Isn't being healthy (and alive!!) more important than being attractive and beautiful?

The focus of that commercial seems very callous and insensitive to me from the viewpoint of anyone who has ever fought breast cancer or who knows someone who has undergone chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or faced surgery in battling the disease. I get what they are trying to say, but I think the focus should be that you should take care of your breasts or want your wife, girlfriend, sister, mother, daughter, aunt, grandmother, or friend to do so because breast cancer is a physically and emotionally painful, and possibly, life-threatening disease. You want to take care of your body so you will he healthy and alive and whole. Making sure you take care of your breasts so that men can be entertained by them should be way down on the list of motivators in my opinion.

The Axe "Office Love" one is stupid and weird. Not all men notice boobs first on women nor do all women notice hair first on men. Reducing a person of either sex to just one physical trait is ridiculous.

The vodka ad and the GoDaddy commercial disturb me too for the reasons you have already mentioned.

Great post, Cary!

Strangely enough my first impression of the vodka ad was that it was making fun of/mocking the man in it. Maybe it was just his dopey expression or the fact that his face was in focus, but I felt the 'some people' part referred to him, not her. As in a 'this guy isn't smooth at all, but our vodka is' way. I didn't see it as him trying to force her to go down on him so much as him randomly groping her in a juvenile way. Still not a good thing, but I don't think it was meant maliciously since he's portrayed as the fool.
I see how it can be interpreted differently though, and if that's what they meant then wow. Bad form.

Yep, all pretty bad.

The first one is not a P.S.A.- it's more of an F.A.P. for men. I'm sure most men don't even know what the ad is for.
The Axe ad- Cousin It meets Headless Horsewoman? Creeptastic AND craptastic. How about two pairs of eyes?? Nope- still creepy.
The science one... eh, dumb but probably bothers me the least.
The Belvedere is definitely one of the all time worst. Who the hell thought for a moment this was clever?
Go Daddy advertising dept. must be run by an 18 year old. Their ads are always bad.

All of these ads are made for boys. Offensive, perhaps. Idiotic, yes.

I would never use Go Daddy as a domain host. Nor should any other female. Their advertising is incredibly offensive.
I find any sexualized PSA supposedly for breast cancer awareness demeaning to women and minimizing the horrific impact this terrible disease has.

None of these offend me, really. Guys notice boobs?!! You don't say! The Belvedere one just seems like a dumb joke.

Women often cry sexism in advertisement. Sometimes ads are actually trying to celebrate femininity, and gender stereotypes which are often true. I mean, I'm a girl and I love makeup, and I'm not much interested in science. So what? Not to mention the fact that there's an equal amount of sexism against men. Men seem to embrace it.

Companies are always going to use a pretty face to sell a product, and millions of people, including women, buy into it all the time. My biggest concern is all the children who are exposed more and more to gender stereotyping in advertisement. I see something like the axe commercial and think it's kind of funny. But I wouldn't want my young daughter growing up seeing things like that and thinking that her worth depends on her appearance. Or for my son to think its okay to rape women. We have to be very aware about the messages our children get from the media, because it's absolutely everywhere, and it changes the way they grow up to view the world.