Reebok Reduces Women To Tits And Ass

November 11, 2009 / 1:22 pm • By Dr. Melissa Clouthier

I’m sure this video is meant to be somehow affirming:

Used to be, that a woman was reduced to her bits and pieces by the creepy old guy in the office who didn’t know better. You know, he was from the older generation, like Bill Clinton.

This nonsense is being foisted on women by Reebok. It’s supposed to be an encouragement to what? Wear more revealing tops so guys don’t stare at a girl’s fabulous butt?

The video is so stupid, condescending and sexist that it makes me completely disinterested in ever buying anything Reebok again. The thing is, I’m not prudish. I also get the notion that “sex sells”. But the flaw in this video is the substance as much as the form. Reebok indulges in the worst of stereotypes–competitive petty women angling to get the most male attention–and turns a woman against herself. She competes with herself. That is, her boobs want to best her butt. What the hell?

It’s stupidity.

Via @Ziggy_Susan on Twitter

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  • http://jlmolinaro.wordpress.com Jessica

    Hasn’t anyone at Reebok seen What Women Want? One of the big subplots was about marketing sportswear to women in a non-sexist way!

  • http://sidburgess.com Sid Burgess

    Maybe they are counting on guys buying them for their significant others for Christmas. :)

    Anyway, love the video… errr, the POST.
    ;-)

  • http://melissaclouthier.com Dr. Melissa Clouthier

    Yeah, well, I get marketing using the woman’s body. But this goes beyond Cheesecake. It’s actually kinda creepy.

  • http://www.cpringov.com WayneB

    In an ironic twist, I predict that the perpetually offended feminists will see nothing wrong with this ad.

  • http://melissaclouthier.com Dr. Melissa Clouthier

    Wayne,

    I think you’re probably right. Because being out there with your boobs and butt is empowering!

  • filioscotia

    I’m hazarding a guess that this commercial is shown only on the sports networks. It’s generally agreed that those networks appeal to the 18 to 30 demographic, and the average viewer’s IQ is somewhat lower. A few years ago I heard a radio consultant label that demographic group as “Stupid Young Men 18 to 30.”

    I appreciate shapely boobs and butts as much as the next guy, but it’s hard to believe anybody with a brain would think women would respond to something as trashy as this.

    But, c’est la vie. Whatever trips your trigger. I don’t think I’ll be buying Reebok goods anymore.

    As for the usual suspects turning out to denounce this commercial, I’ve come up with the perfect acronym for them.

    Perpetually Offended and Outraged Persons.
    POOPERS.

  • chsw

    Ladies – You are mistakenly presuming that Reebok was really marketing shoes to women in this ad.

  • carolinagirl

    Makes you really appreciate the Dove ads … and message http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/

  • jon

    On the other hand, by giving the breasts voices, it humanizes them. Now I’ll think twice before fondling random breasts, as that would be muffling their voices and taking away their personhood. Thanks, Reebok, for opening my eyes!

    Really, the only thing that makes this ad creepy is that it does give the breasts voices. Usually they just bounce around in ads for sportswear, or they get very well… positioned such as those in the ads I see in yoga magazines.

    The additional creep factor is the competitiveness. Implying that the ass is now getting all the attention? I guess this is for the woman who got a too-large boob job and now seems topheavy so she needs to enhance her buttocks. Consumerism will forever save us from yesterday’s anxiety and create tomorrow’s, I guess.

  • mizzenthrope

    I bought my wife a pair. Advertising worked, I’d say.

  • http://www.mydismalswamp.wordpress.com Big Al

    Many a dollar has been dropped on things to improve the appearance of boobs and bottoms by women for years. Whole industries are made from that very proposition. That Reebok is right up from about what they are selling is just a sign of the times I suppose… Creepy? To me yeah, but I’m getting older… a lot of modern life is creepy to me now.

  • http://www.mydismalswamp.wordpress.com Big Al

    Besides, chsw is right. Christmas is coming.

  • Emily

    I dislike this commercial and wrote an e-mail to Reebok. It was dismissed, so please sign this petition and shoe Reebok we will not let them objectify women!

    http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/boycottreebokshoes

  • erin

    i find the commercial hilarious, as a 20something college educated single mother. i find nothing wrong with it. will i buy shoes because of it, maybe, it is because boobs are talking to each other, no, is it because i walk a lot, yet rarely have time to go to the gym, but want to still be tone, yes.. look at it for what it is, not what you want it to be… talking boobs are a tad creepy, but you are taking life too seriously. i think breast feeding is creepy! that’s objectifying women, you are not a women, you are a feeding receptacle. that road goes both ways. as for the “competing with yourself” line.. uh yes, that’s why we are not all 500lb bed ridden homebodies. that is why the government forces us to work out and be fit.. again, same principal, the road goes both ways.. you can not apply principal to whatever suits you best..
    if women are not objects. stop breast feeding.
    if boobs are gross, then put them allll away.
    if you don’t like companies that use tone bodies to sell their products.. move to the forest and eat twigs and berries, and bath in the lake, because in case you haven’t noticed. it happens, everywhere, all day, with everythinggg.
    get on or get off the wagon, you cant just complain when it suits you, all in or all out.

  • http://www.westmama.wordpress.com Kimberly

    Here is my only problem with this commercial… which really isn’t the commercials fault… but as a breastfeeding mother we often get shamed into covering up while we feed our babies because ACK god forbid someone see us nurse WHAT IF you can see our portion our breast or a teeny bit of nipple. OH NO! We get told how disgusting it is and how offensive we are. Yet here I am watching Ellen, on NBC at 3pm and WAY more boob than you’d see of me breastfeeding is in my face.

    I get it that sex sells… fine whatever. But I just hate the double standard of the site of a boob.

    p.s. I don’t think the breasts in the commercial should be jealous of her butt, her breasts are much nicer than her ass.