In my search to find out what candy is vegetarian, I stumbled on Twix's website. Imagine my delight when I saw that their main attraction was not delicious chocolaty goodness but an instruction manual for how to "Get The Girl". I was straightaway impressed with how quickly they were able to use the branding-women-as-property bit, but Twix soon showed me that they have their sexist stereotypes down pat!
Their "Interactive Love Story, Sort of" is about getting Our Guy (a lughead who clearly exemplifies that all men have only one thing on their minds) to get past Bruce and Francois (who, as other men, pose a terrible threat) to win over Deborah (A politically inclined yet gullible woman). The fun all starts at a party, where Deborah is talking to Our Guy about her political views while Our Guy hardly looks at her above the neck and nods along with whatever she's saying. Deborah, mistaking his agreement for actual comprehension, starts to seem interested. This is, of course, when Our Guy asks her to go to his apartment (Surprise! All men want is sex!) and Deborah gets offended.
Then the screen pauses and Our Guy reaches for a candy bar to help him decide: should he "be shallow" or entangle himself in a web of lies to get Deborah to sleep with him? Me being me, I picked "be shallow". This turned out to be a hilarious choice ("I think you're so sexy... You're like the captain of the S.S. Sexy") albeit one that gets poor Our Guy slapped in the face. Twix is then nice enough to show me what I should have done: Pick "Be Deep" (Read: lie your pants off), which prompts Our Guy to tell Deborah that Silly Woman, he just wants to blog! (So that's what kids are calling it these days). Deborah gets excited and the two go off on their merry way.. Or so you thought.
Just when it seems that Our Guy is finally going to get himself some action, disaster strikes in the form of another guy: Bruce! Apparently he actually wants to blog with Deborah and Our Guy about the media! What a weirdo. This clearly is not part of Our Guy's plans, and so you are once again presented with two options: Be nice to Bruce and scare him off, or be mean to him. Naturally, I picked the latter (Our Guy: "You know what... I don't think Bruce should go" Deborah: "WHAT!?" Bruce: "That's Not Funny. That's not funny at all..." Then he starts to cry, despite the fact that a real man, like Our Guy, would never cry in front of a hot chick for a reason other than a really spicy burger). Deborah then comforts Bruce and seems mad at Our Guy for some strange reason. But luckily Twix once again shows us the true path: Shake Bruce's hand and be nice to him. That way he'll get freaked out and run off, leaving the path to Deborah's pants wide and clear.. Or so we think.
Just as Our Guy is walking down the street to his apartment with Deborah (telling her that he's out playing sports and BEING A MAN when it's warm outside), they run into Francois, who announces that he and Deborah used to go out (until he presumably dumped her. It's not so easy getting over Le Francois). This causes Deborah, as a woman, to be unable to speak, so Our Guy must step in. Or not. Turns out if you don't step in and defend your lady, Francois shows her a picture of his new girlfriend, who is like ten thousand times hotter!!!! Then Deborah runs off after him, because no woman can resist the Sexy Sexy French Guy. No Joke. Apparently what you're supposed to do is insult Francois' hat! Then Our Guy is all clear to go home with Deborah.
But just as he's opening the door to his apartment (and making up more lies about having another apartment that's being greenwashed at the moment), something awful happens! The awful thing is that Our Guy is a man, and therefore a slob. But Deborah is a woman, and therefore, not a slob! But she still wants to blog (and apparently isn't fazed by a guy who reaches into his back pocket and eats a chocolate bar every time he gets into an uncomfortable situation), so she asks where his computer is, which again presents you with two choices because Our Guy doesn't actually own a computer as he's spending all his free time with da ladiez. Here's the real test: You can either come clean or keep lying. Since no decent man would pick come clean, I chose that first. But that was a mistake! Apparently women don't take kindly to being lied to so someone can sleep with them. And apparently Deborah carries around a tazer (why she couldn't have used it on Francois, I don't know). Turns out what Our Guy is supposed to do is this: Pretend his apartment has been robbed by laptop thieves. Deborah uses this excuse to justify for the mess (even though Our Guy is so thick he can't even play along when she suggests that's why his apartment's a wreck) and clings to Our Guy to protect her from the scary robbers. And for some reason, this situation is very sexy to Deborah. So All Is Well in guyland!
Now some people might say that this has serious implications and that it's a disgusting example of sexist stereotypes about masculinity being exploited to sell a product, but I think it's a heartwarming love story. Sort of.
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I saw the first part of that and I was so disgusted I decided not to eat Twix anymore.
Seriously, when will the"wimminz are stupid and totally like it when they are lied to!" trope die?
Not soon enough, apparently.
Completely disgusting. Of-course it's cool to like and manipulate women into bed... her sex is the only thing of value, god forbid it be her feelings or her right to make choices or that she's, like, actually a person.
Did anyone catch "Super Fetch" on Animal Planet last night? One man wanted to teach his dog to steal things from women on command, so he could use it as an excuse to meet them: "Bonzo! Naughty dog! I'm so sorry, miss, he's never run off with anyone's beach towel before ... sooo, do you come here often?"
Dear Twix,
You are a candy bar. You are not an item that specifically straight men use. So why do you advertise only to straight men? And worst of all, why do you insist on making women a prize and twix the tool you use to think up a good enough lie to win her? Please stop this. I want to eat your candy bar, but when you portray me and other women as a mere prize to be won over through deception, I cannot do so without feeling like I would deserve it if a zombie Susan B. Anthony ran up, punched me in the face, took the twix bar, and ran away.
Sincerely,
A girl who will not be gotten by a guy who needs the time it takes to chew a twix bar to think of a good enough lie to get me to sleep with him after he messed up and seemingly lost his chance.
I have a sneaking suspicion that since chocolate seems to have somehow become one of those gendered products ("women NEED chocolate!" etc. etc.), Twix's manufacturer might be trying to reach out to what it considers an underutilized market.
It still totally escapes me, though, why companies seem to think a) the straight male market share can only be captured via "bro culture" and b) insulting half the population is a good marketing tactic.
Probably because coming up with actually GOOD ideas for advertising takes talent and hard work.
But anyone who is offended shouldn't be offended because this is just how men are. Sleezy lying creeps who don't care what women or non-macho dudes have to say.
Ive never been a fan of the way the feminist movement has been going because of replies like these. Your slamming the commercial for being sexist, while being sexist in the way you do it. Your pointing out all the negative stereo types of the female in the story, while ignoring or agreeing with all the negative stereo types of the man. I agree that lying to 'get the girl' is definitely wrong, but why is it ok that all the nice guy options finished last? Why is it Ok for tazing a guy for finally telling the truth? Why is it Ok that all a man can do when confronted with a situation is insult someone? Why is it Ok that when he tried a pick up line (albeit a terrible one that was very sleezy) that a women can now hit the man? The ad was all around terrible, in concept, and in execution. The largest stereotype shown, the one that really paints the negative portrayal of women, is that no matter how intellectual a women is, she needs to be catered to, that the man has to jump through her hoops. It keeps the idea of the division of power between the sex's, and that helps validate the sexist stereotypes.
"Ive never been a fan of the way the feminist movement has been going because of replies like these. Your slamming the commercial for being sexist, while being sexist in the way you do it. Your pointing out all the negative stereo types of the female in the story, while ignoring or agreeing with all the negative stereo types of the man."
Lilith was being sarcastic above, not agreeing with stereotypes of men. Feminists are against all gender stereotypes.
And I used to love Twix. The whole "stop time with twix (because they sorta look like a pause button) to deal with awkwardness" gimmick was entertaining, but why did they have to use this particular thing to promote it?
I guess because sex sells? (with a dash of humor since no one would take it seriously anyway).
To me it seemed largely humorous, which lessened the sexism, but it is still pretty bad. Re-enforcing the idea that as a man you need to lie and cheat your way into a woman's pants. A woman who is is usually uninterested in sex when you are, unless you're French or somehow associated with danger...???