Is This Dodge 'Fairy' Commercial Actually Hate Speech in Disguise? (AdAge)

[Up2Late]

(I found this over at AdAge.com and though folks here might find this interesting. Ad Age is the trade magazine for the advertizing industry.)

Is This Dodge 'Fairy' Commercial Actually Hate Speech in Disguise?

Bob Garfield's Ad Review:Watch the Video (at link below)

<http://www.adage.com/video/Player?spotId=176&instanceId=&startId=&PageDate=&PageTitle=Pixie',578,500>

By Bob Garfield

Published: April 17, 2006

Faggot. Queer. Fairy. These are synonyms, epithets one and all disparaging gays -- or, more often, heterosexual men deemed insufficiently masculine. Let's call that Fact No. 1.

Macho brand
Fact No. 2: Dodge is marketing its new Caliber subcompact as a tough little car, as opposed to sissy little Civics, Corollas and the like. This comports with Dodge's long-cultivated macho image, as exemplified by the grunting, Aerosmith heavy-metal music tag punctuating every spot.

Fact No. 3 is that one of the introductory commercials from BBDO, Detroit, features the juxtaposition of a burly tough guy and his Doberman with a sweater-draped girlie man who is walking four little lap dogs. Fact No. 4 is that the only line of dialogue in the commercial is the burly dude exclaiming, "Silly little fairy!"

And Fact No. 5 -- the genuinely astonishing fact -- is that Daimler Chrysler asserts that none of the above is meant to invoke a sexual insult.

"Was it intentional? Absolutely not," says spokeswoman Suraya Bliss, whose voice quavered as she spoke, perhaps because she was choking on the corporate line. "It's not the kind of company we are."

(more at link)

<http://www.adage.com/columns/article?article_id=108621>

[Liberal Veteran]

1. My same sex boyfriend and I aren't offended by it.

It's A FAIRY....the damn thing is female and looks like Walt Disney's Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell was a fairy.

[Teaser]

2. It's the END of the ad

where the butch (I guess straight) guy is transformed into a pastel wearing, high pitched voice poofter by the fairy after he says "stupid fairy."

[Liberal Veteran]

3. Tsk....he got turned into a preppy. Everything the fairy changed...

...was turned into a fakey looking thing. The train was turned into a pastel train. The building was turned into a pastel looking castle. Then it fails to change the cool car and runs into a building and is insulted by the ugly guy with the dog who gets prompty turned into pastel preppy.

[Teaser]

26. believe what makes you happy

nt

[Liberal Veteran]

30. Thanks for your permission and condescension.

I have better things to worry about than looking for insults that don't exist in a car commercial.

[TexasLawyer]

44. That's how I took it too.

I thought the ad was very cute and well made. Thumbs up.

But that ad's not as good as the cavemen/FedEx commercial, which I like even though a small dinosaur gets kicked and one of the cave men is tragically smushed under the foot of a gigantic dinosaur.

[johncoby2]

5. They took the "stupid fairy" comment out.

[Up2Late]

9. Where? On T.V.?

Because it was there in the on-line video.

[Up2Late]

12. I think it's really meant to persuade insecure straight guys...

...who aren't into big gas-guzzling trucks, and don't want to be accused of driving a "chic car."

I don't worry about that sort of thing at age 42, but when I was in my 20's (without a girl-friend) and especially in my mid-30's "...and still not married," that really was a worry.

It's quite devious, this ad.

[dogman]

4. The fairy was making things "pretty" not macho.

My take was, the car is already "pretty". The dog walker and his dogs just became fancier than what they were. Is this guy just to sensitive?

[Liberal Veteran]

6. That's how I took it. It was no different than changing the train..

...or building.

[BlackVelvet04]

50. I didn't see the car as macho

either. I don't know what macho has to do with it. Everything the fairy changed she made pretty.....if the car couldn't be made prettier, isn't it the intent of the commercial to say it can't be made prettier?

[lectrobyte]

7. Caliber? Magnum? Those all sound like condom brands or

like you're too overcompensating for something anyway. Where's those Joe Jackson lyrics when I need them? Oh, right here:

Take your mind back - I don't know when
Sometime when it always seemed
To be just us and them
Girls that wore pink
And boys that wore blue
Boys that always grew up better men
Than me and you

What's a man now - what's a man mean
Is he rough or is he rugged
Is he cultural and clean
Now it's all change - it's got to change more
'Cause we think it's getting better
But nobody's really sure

And so it goes - go round again
But now and then we wonder who the real men are

See the nice boys - dancing in pairs
Golden earring golden tan
Blow-wave in the hair
Sure they're all straight - straight as a line
All the gays are macho
Can't you see their leather shine

You don't want to sound dumb - don't want to offend
So don't call me a faggot
Not unless you are a friend
Then if you're tall and handsome and strong
You can wear the uniform and I could play along

And so it goes - go round again
But now and then we wonder who the real men are

[dogman]

8. Dodge trucks are Ramses tough?

They could go a long way wiyh that concept.

[Xithras]

41. Don't forget the Nitro

You know, their new SUV that takes it's aerodynamic cues from that Scion shoebox thing.

Dodges newer names are meant to evoke images of explosions. Both Caliber and Magnum are firearms references. Nitro is an explosive.

I'm sure if it weren't for the millions already invested in the name, the Neon would have gone out the window as "too pansy" long ago.

[Nicole]

10. I don't think so

Fairies are just popular right now. I can't walk through the garden center without seeing several of them. I can't walk through the mall without seeing at least one little girl in t-shirt with a fairy on it.

I think they are just cashing in on a current trend.

[Change has come]

11. I'm gay and I thought it was funny

I thought the guy was turned into his own disparaging remark.

[kweerwolf]

13. I find it very offensive.

It's the type of ad Karl Rove would come up with if he worked for an ad agency. Close your eyes and you can almost imagine Rove snickering and getting a stiffie over coming up with the concept and wondering if he can get away with a whole series of car ads in which a shuffling African American drops his watermelon and turns white when he catches a glimpse of the car, an Asian with thick glasses and an inability to pronounce "L's" gets behind the wheel and promptly has an accident, a Mexican swims the Rio Grande and promptly finds a Caliber and steals it, or a Native American wrecks the car because he's too drunk of "fire water."

[REP]

14. Didn't Take It That Way

The fairy is obviously female, turning things 'cute' - a buidling into an ice-cream sundae, a train into a wooden toy train. I thought the guy got turned into a preppy at the end of a commercial.

Disclosure: I am a "Fairly OddParents" fan and tend to see fairies as just ... fairies.

Further disclosure: Yes, I'm in my 40s. What of it?!

[nonconformist]

15. I've seen this commercial several times on TV

My husband and I recently noticed that the "silly little fairy!" line has been removed.

[KittyWampus]

51. you're kidding?! They took that line out? Some people really have

serious unresolved issues and chips on their shoulders.

[itzamirakul]

16. Along the same lines as the question you put forth for us, McDonald's

just changed a tv ad for similar reasons. Too many complaints that the ad made two young African American males stereotypical by using the "F" word.

On this ad, everywhere the word "free" was supposed to be, the ad bleeped it out to make it appear that the young men were actually saying "Fuck". The ad ended by saying that the price bargain at McDonald's for it's dollar menu was so good that it was obscene.

This ad generated a number of complaints, so the company has changed it and now the word "free" is audible.

Sometimes these ad companies just go too far.

[Up2Late]

17. I haven't seen that one yet.

But at least they are subtle, you should see the god-awful local Car Dealer commercials we had here around St. Patrick's Day. :puke:

[itzamirakul]

18. The sad thing is ...

is that these companies will continue to stretch the envelope with these bigoted or poor taste ads and unless enough citizens get off their butts and write or call in to complain, they will get away with this crap.

[Cats Against Frist]

28. Actually I think that's a brilliant idea for a commercial

Everyone loves those "bleep" things -- even though it has been done to death. It would have been MUCH funnier, however, if they showed a range of people, from suburban housewives, to old ladies, to a preacher, to a cop.

[KittyWampus]

52. I thought it was very clever too. There was nothing bigoted in that ad

And it would have made a GREAT series of ads if they took your suggestion... had old ladies etc. :D

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

19. This is ridiculous. I didn't get what the OP has posted at all. All I got

out of it was a fairy trying to make things look cutsie (in her own taste) and the car was too powerful to transform. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

[Dob Bole]

20. Sounds like prime witch-hunting to me....

I found nothing offensive about the ad, other than the fact that it was selling something that I can't afford.

[warrior1]

21. I've hated it for the first viewing

It should be take off the air for being a sexual insult. I got it the first time I saw it.

[BlackVelvet04]

22. Oh, good grief. n/t

[guinivere]

48. I'll second that Good Grief.

It's just a commercial.

[Tesha]

23. Remember: "Dodge" isn't a brand, it's a warning! (NT)

[xultar]

33. FUCK YEAH!!!!!

[terrya]

24. I'm gay and I'm not offended by it.

I really don't see what the fuss about this commercial. I don't think there's any homophobia behind it.

I think there are far more important things for gays and lesbians to focus on...such as the upcoming vote on the Marriage Protection Amendment in the Senate in June.

[donco6]

25. I'm gay. I've seen the commercial.

I did find it somewhat offensive. Especially the end where the guy gets changed into a little faggy guy with a bunch of little dogs. The message seems to be that all other cars are wimpy 90 lb weaklings compared to OUR car. Your car is the type that gets beat up after school by OUR car. Ugh.

[LizW]

27. THAT'S what I found offensive, too

This pandering to the super-tough, macho image of a pick-up truck is just stupid.

I also hate that commercial where the man is talking to the little fluffy puppy in the pet store window, and that ex-football player Howie Something drives up and looks disgusted and nods over at the other window where there are pit bulls or dobermans or something.

Of course, this is nothing new. It just seems a little more overt lately.

[xultar]

31. LITTLE DOGS AREN'T FAGGY. I know I have 3 and they will kick

your ass.

:rofl:

[donco6]

39. Ha! I know - I have two!!

Rat terriers. They'll BITE YOUR LEG OFF DAMMIT!

[KittyWampus]

53. How was that guy 'faggy'? It's really funny that gay people suggest

that the preppy guy at the end is 'faggy'. How does one look 'faggy'?

You're projecting your own inner stereotypes about what looks 'faggy' while complaining about the supposed use of a stereotype.

The guy at the end looks like the milquetoast WASP's that play golf out here in the Hamptons.

[xultar]

29. I love that commercial. They turned the guy into a Frat preepy ass.

Gays don't dress like that. That shit was tacky.

[Liberal Veteran]

32. Yeah....I was going to say that too. Preppy does not equal gay.

[Ilsa]

34. The ad caught my attention as well. I was thinking,

"So what's wrong with cute?" And the cute stuff they did as far as redecorating structures, etc was on the tacky side.

[elehhhhna]

35. FYI: "DODGE" is a warning, not a brand-name

[El Fuego]

36. I think it's hilarious

It never occurred to me to interpret it in that way. It's just your typical macho he-man attitude, which is to say they hate cutsi-ness because deep down they see it as a thread to their very tenuous masculinity.

[distantearlywarning]

37. I didn't find it offensive at all. I thought it was funny.

The fairy was trying to make things pretty, but she couldn't make the big car pretty. And I didn't think that the fairy turned the burly guy into a gay guy at the end. I thought she turned him into a preppy-freeper type as a punishment because he insulted her, which was an amusing ending and made me root for the fairy.

[genie_weenie]

38. I find EVERYTHING in the whole world Offensive

Therefore, in order not to be offended, I DEMAND all books, publications, radio programs, TV, blogs etc. be destroyed and that nothing ever be published again. Also every person in the world must never speak, make gestures or even move

That should stop all forms of Hate Speech.

But, I do clearly think this ad is saying Dodge is to tough a brand of vehicle for fairies.

[TrogL]

40. "Silly faggot, dicks are for chicks"

I was prepared to be unoffended, but the one line is so close to this one it has to be an echo.

[Xithras]

42. This is really reaching.

Is the ad meant to exude machismo? Sure. Is it meant to suggest that it's more macho than its competition? Sure.

Does making someone out to be a sissy or preppy automatically equate to gay? Absolutely not. Most of the preppy boys I went to college with are wealthy rethugs today. Preppy = wealthy and upscale, not gay (though there were undoubtably some gay preppies, of course).

The fairy was trying to make the whole world sweet and nice. The Dodge ad was saying that this car doesn't want to be sweet and nice, and if you want to be "manly" you should drive it. That's a disturbing way to market a car, but it's not anti-gay.

[SPKrazy]

43. Hell No!

It isn't hate speech

it's a funny ad

people are too sensitive

[RDU Socialist]

45. No

[AlCzervik]

46. I haven't seen that ad on the teevee in over a month, was it pulled?

[SeveneightyWhoa]

47. Is it offensive? I don't know.

But I'm glad that these guys have the balls to put out an ad that might inspire controversy in this age of focus groups and political correctness. The fact that a few liberals might be offended is not a reason to stifle commercial free speech.

EDIT: You know what? Claiming that this particular ad is "hate speech" is actually the closest thing to hate speech that I can see in this situation. HATE SPEECH? An ad about cars and magical, fictional fairies? Are you kidding me?

[Neil Lisst]

49. Don't piss down my back and tell me it's fairy dust.

In its original form, the commercial was clearly using the multiple meanings of "fairy" and the graphic presentation to imply that their product is "fairy-proof." The language that makes that apparent got removed, according to some posters.

How did this ad get made?

Someone tossing around ideas for a commercial for the truck says "THE OTHER GUYS ARE FAIRIES!!" And someone else says "great, how are we gonna get away with that?" The other guy takes another shot of Tequila and says "We'll make it a story about real fairies, and go from there."

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

54. Just Watched It. Seems Perfectly A-OK To Me.

The article seems wayyyyyyyyyy over the top with this one. I found the commercial to be completely harmless. This one is really a stretch for me.

[Blue_Tires]

55. i didn't think it offensive

but i did think it was a crappy ad for an uninspiring product