Monday morning wtf ad

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Chase skirts now. Soon you’ll be washing them.

(Picture quality not good since taken from mobile phone, after hurried crossing of road, oblivious to irate drivers who almost got me but didn’t.)

And this from TVS. Eh, what is that? Conservative South Indian company? Where did you get that image from?! makes me wonder… Is it not part of a company’s “corporate social responsibility” (the way that phrase is bandied, it definitely deserves to go into quotes) to not create offensive advertising – or is this one of those nudge-nudge-wink-wink male bonding jokes that I am going up in smoke for, needlessly?

Comments?

40 comments

  2. I think you misinterpretted.I think you misinterpreted the wordings. Your usage of ‘conservative company’ and ‘offensive advertising’ suggests me so.

    All it means is, you will be washing clothes after marriage, so enjoy now. Its caption “it’s now or never” should give you some clue.

  3. Yeah, I think Arun is right. I have a better slogan though :

    “Burn some rubber now. Soon, rubbers will be burning you.”

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  8. Goodness. I fail to see the ‘humor’ in this ad. I second the title of your post. It certainly is a wtf moment.

  9. why not enjoy the ad , its a bike for the youth and this seems fine, such crude crass jokes are anywas cracked by men, and now its on a poster. so wats rong? i think ur reading too much into this add

  12. I do not see what the problem is.

    Combined with the tag line “now or never”, I think it is pretty creative.

    If you want to talk about “corporate social responsibility”, you should start with cigarette companies.

  13. I came.. I saw, but somehow I wasnt enraged.

    Chase skirts now : (Chase dames now)
    Soon youll be washing them : (Youll be serving her after marriage)

    Whats so offensive about this ? :-/ A case of being hyper-sensitve perhaps ?

  14. What amazes me is this – that most men who turn up here don’t find this offensive. It isn’t about corporate social responsibility at all. It’s about stereotyping. You see, a man who washes skirts is somehow less macho. Just going by standard semiotics – Bikes = Macho. (Which is unfortunate – there are women who like riding bikes, but don’t buy them because such bike adverts put them off.) So the antithesis of riding this bike = Not Macho. Ergo, if you wash a skirt, you are not macho enough. Because, Gosh! That’s a woman’s work!

    When you comment on advertising, please don’t take it at face value. Everything is a sign. Every signifier has a meaning. Adverts play on our learned behaviour and conventional values. Even if that is to debase the value of housework.

  15. This is what *you* are reading into it.

    It sounded like a pretty toungue in cheek (and funny) ad to me – bachoo.. play at being hero and all, later on she’ll be the boss or youll be caught up in all that “ghar grihasthi ka chakkar” later on.

    >> When you comment on advertising, please don’t take it at face value. Everything is a sign. Every signifier has a meaning. Adverts play on our learned behaviour and conventional values. Even if that is to debase the value of housework.

    I think you have learnt to read too much into everything.

  17. it simply means that all those who are dead sure that
    they will turn out to be losers in their life should buy this
    bike now.

    and btw, there are enough retard girls out there who go for
    a guy with a bike so the campaign is not totally off the mark.

  18. indeed this advert is offensive… but then they have freedom of speech etc.. so i have no right to call for a ban or anything… if this is what the ad producer wants to say “so be it”.
    Also, i wouldn’t single out this ad when *most* adverts are offensive to women (as in, objectify women).
    so i protest the only way it matters => never buy any products which has offensive ads. i recommend you all do the same.

  19. Hey guys and girls chill!!!

    I guess a look at the TV commercial explains the funda behind the whole campaign.

    This bike is targeted at teens and young adults, obviously (and I guess quite truly) stereotyped as rebels.

    So they talk about all the things that happen after people pass out of college, start working, get married, start a family… you get my point.

    That is what the ad is referring to, by saying it’s now or never… and as far as i remember the ad, they have shown girls as well… it’s a college going gang, it does not connect to being macho at all.

    So cool down…

  21. Har har. “When you get married, you will end up being nagged, oppressed and doing ‘womanly’ work. So chase kirts now! Perhaps even with women in them!”

    How is this NOT offensive?

  25. The first time I saw this ad, I was quite disgusted. I see no reason why washing skirts is derogatory. In any case, the washing machine does the job. If you’re rich enough to buy that bike, chances are you already own a decently functional washing machine which doesn’t differentiate between washing skirts or dhotis.

  26. IMO, there is nothing offensive about this ad. Its just one of those tounge-in-cheek ad.

  27. An appropriate response to that ad would be a hoarding which shows a bike straddled by a woman, dressed up as a super-heroine, saying : ‘Skirt? What Skirt?’

    Alternatively, an ad showing bunch of men hanging out the laundry, with a woman biker whizzing past, saying : ‘Suits me just fine!’

  28. On the comment about men not finding offending. Wrong. I found it to be a wtf moment, but not a WTF moment. As I said in the previous comment, we have had more brazenly sexist ads with Fair and Lovely.

    Skirt also stands for a girl/woman. The copywriter wanted to play with the pun and grab attention. He did that. The ad will stay. People won’t buy the bike because of it though.

    We all will debate the next WTF moment in some time 🙂

    Life will go on.

  29. I really dont see what is wrong with this ad. If the indica v2 xeta ad is acceptable and does not amount to male harassment, then I really dont think this ad should offend anyone, espescially women.

  30. Don’t see what is so offensive here. In Don Bosco’s we used this expression all the time. Some of these girls are getting their panties in a bind for no particular reason. No sense of humour at all. Peace out.

  31. Ew, ew, ew!

    It is indeed a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ as well as ‘male bonding’ advert (exactly the kind of thing my male friends would find droll). And I personally find anyone commenting and denying that to be simply sad.

    To these people:

    Chasing skirts = being a hero (a WTF thing in itself)
    Washing skirts = exact opposite of that

    It’s your own interpretation. Need one say more?

  32. 1) Whats wrong with chasing girls ? – Isnt this part of the whole sex lib thing.. Girls chase guys, guys chase girls, parents get a heart-attack, everybody has fun :-/

    2) Whats wrong with not liking dull, stupid and repetitive jobs like washing clothes ? – I hate doing laundry, and my wife hates doing it too.. The drudgery compares only to doing dishes. 😐

    The people who find the ad offensive display a curious mixture of Victorian morals (chasing girls is bad) and political correctness (washing clothes is not a stupid job cause girls do it).

    Get a life yaars..

  33. my my…so much of discussion and so many interpretations on an advetisment….human intellect never ceases to amaze me

  34. don’t know why girls complain even on ads; more confusing are their ambivalent thoughts — every girl wants to be chased by guys and dislikes guys involved too much in household chores, then they make such pretentious remarks. have some sense of humor, although this ad has none.

  35. It just reminds me the ad by Rajdoot – the yester year bike. It said,
    “It is nice to put between your legs!”
    This ad came in the later 60s or early 70s.

    How things change. Now you take it easy when someone tells you to wash girls’ skirt.

  36. Hi Charu

    What else can you expect from TVS? The company has a history of lousy advertising. This one is easily their worst.

  37. chasing skirts=chasing girls;
    the bike is meant for boys..and normal boys always chase girls (plz read on for an explanation)!!
    it is not bad to do that..our entire modern society is built on that..you are supposed to meet your one yourself..is it not? dont most bloggers just hate arranged marriages and love the american style of dating..how the fuck will it happen if u dont chase skirts? why is it bad? chasing skirts is not meant to say chase what is “under skirts”..u perverts..it is just to mean “chase girls”..why cant it mean meeting your special one???

    get a life guys and GALS!!

  39. Jeez! All this fuss over an ad. No wonder the womens’ rights movement is suffering. Most of the ‘activists’ are busy making a big deal out of the wrong issues. “A man who washes skirts is somehow less macho” – who said that?

    When you choose to start reading meanings into things, there really is no limit to what you can suggest it implies. The ad may just be saying – try living it up now, while you have the chance, for later it’s only inevitable that you’ll have to do boring chores, and have responsibilities upto your neck. And yes, washing clothes is boring. If you wield a hatchet to hack me away because I said that, then maybe you need a lifetime’s vacation in a place where you can wash clothes 24/7.

    “Because, Gosh! That’s a woman’s work!” – Heck, you just have a major chip on your shoulders.

    “Everything is a sign. Every signifier has a meaning.” – I wonder what psychiatrists would say about a person who’s always saying stuff like this…

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