I was walking in the fair city of San Francisco yesterday, listening to my ipod and daydreaming. I was walking briskly and not paying too much attention to my surroundings but I happened to glance up at a building on 3rd street and notice a banner advertisement for Pretzel Crisps hanging from it. And then I did a double take. So I took a photo and uploaded it to Twitpic. And the people, they were rightfully outraged.
Here is the slogan Pretzel Crisps chose to advertise their product:
Actually, here's what they were thinking:
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| They're a thin pretzel cracker! |
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| They're using the word "thin" creatively! |
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| People are interpreting the ads in their own way! Silly people! |
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| Oops. |
But you'll notice that last tweet was dated on August 4 and I saw the ad yesterday (August 12).
A Pretzel Crisps rep has also stated:
"We hope people noticed what isn’t in the ads: No extra thin, scantily clad female models; No mention of dieting programs, points, etc… Our website and facebook page are all about EATING. We talk about pairing our product in different ways for appetizers. We want people to eat. Our health benefits section details how we can be part of a healthy eating regimen. We in no way advocate unhealthy weight loss or want to promote a bad body image.
We appreciate your feedback and apologize if the ad offended people. We are listening to feedback and making some adjustments to the campaign."
Okay, so. The company points out that they never meant for their ads to advocate unhealthy weight loss and that they never even mentioned dieting.
But that's not really the point.
That Pretzel Crisps ad is just plain offensive, whether or not it is MEANT to be a direct and obvious statement about weight loss, dieting, anorexia or whatever else has been speculated.
"You can never be to thin" is just a douchey thing to say. Period.
After I posted the photo yesterday, I received a message from this blogger who has successfully encouraged Pretzel Crisps to change their ads in New York. He asked me where I had taken the photo and forwarded the information on to the Pretzel Crisps company. They responded and said the ads in California would be taken down on Monday. You can read about this here.
So. Hooray for the internet! I'm really glad so many people noticed and RT'ed the photo and that it generated so much attention. Obviously my piddly little tweet wouldn't have done much on its own (especially since I have a protected account).
If you see any more offensive Pretzel Crisps ads up in your neck of the woods, be sure to tell on them. Teh interwebz iz powerful, homie.
