Bra Company’s ‘MILF’ Ad Campaign Seems Like a Pretty Bad Idea

[ismnotwasm]

There are bad advertising campaigns, and then there are bad advertising campaigns. With “Are You a MILF?” True & Co., the online bra company with the magical algorithm that’s supposed to make in-store bra fitting a thing of our shameful, barbarous past, has probably launched a campaign that’s just a misguided exercise in punning, and, really, who doesn’t appreciate a good pun, hmm?

MILF, in this instance, means “Mom I’d Like to Fit,” and True & Co. launched what is probably a star-crossed campaign as part of its Mother’s Day. “Are You a MILF?” is meant to, according to the company, “celebrate the moms in our lives,” but the fun doesn’t stop at merely repurposing an acronym made famous in American Pie. According the Lingerie Talk, True & Co. has managed to add another creepy component to the MILF promotion:

Readers are encouraged to submit photos of their moms to be included in True’s online MILF Gallery. Entries will be included in a Mother’s Day contest, with the top prize being a $100 gift card for a bra make-over.

Customers will also receive temporary MILF tattoos (above) with each sales order until Mother’s Day.
http://jezebel.com/bra-company-s-milf-ad-campaign-seems-like-a-pretty-ba-486158686

And may I just say ewwwwwww.

[geek tragedy]

1. oh gross.

Readers are encouraged to submit photos of their moms to be included in True’s online MILF Gallery. Entries will be included in a Mother’s Day contest, with the top prize being a $100 gift card for a bra make-over.

[redqueen]

2. I'd like to just quote Soraya Chemaly.

Last edited Wed May 1, 2013, 10:49 AM - Edit history (1)

As usual there she included lots of links which I can't insert here at the moment.

...

A MILF, in case you've missed it, is a Mother I'd Like To Fuck... not me personally, but millions of boys and young men who enthusiastically embrace, with the full support of parents, coaches, family, friends and media, birthright access to all women's bodies. It's a crass expression, especially when you don't use the acronym, which dilutes the intent and significance of the phrase. MILFS are a cottage industry encompassing songs like "Stacy's Mom," "film" genres, products, books, memes, exercise classes. I know women who've gotten upset because they were excluded from their kids' friends' MILF lists. Aging gracefully, especially for women, is hard in this culture. Even some of the most outspoken feminists I know struggle with becoming sexually invisible in this way and MILFitude extends your shelf life.

Porter, the author of The MILF Diet, makes the argument that she's reclaiming the word to empower women. That's nice. But, "Mothers I'd Like to Fuck," just like being a "Little Lolita," is not about female sexual liberation or empowering "choices," and never will be. Clearly, women who like being MILFs -- in those exact terms -- are not feeling like marginalized, disempowered victims of Bad Men. I imagine they actually feel empowered, flattered and risqué. But, MILFS are just the same Madonna to the older whore, better known as cougars. Not liberated. Not transgressive. They are "Brightened, Not So Young, Things." It isn't a compliment. It is a corrosive and denigrating idea that has exactly nothing to do with women's well-being or sexuality.

...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/america-from-luscious-lol_b_3008557.html

This 'MILF' shit is fucking noxious.

I can stand a lot of women's participation in traditional patriarchal beauty standards dumbassery. What I cannot fucking stomach is their participating in actively making it worse.