Silly Little Fairy

[SCSabresFan!]

You've seen it 40 times in ten minutes on OLN. Now the inside skinny on the ad and the edit. Ain't political correctness great?

 

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

 

. . 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.

 

The 'Fairy' spot was created for Dodge by BBDO, Detroit. ALSO: Comment on this review in the 'Your Opinion' section below.

 

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."

 

Preposterous corporate line But, of course, the corporate line is preposterous. Much more likely is that someone at BBDO realized they could call people fairies if their commercial depicted an actual fairy. Get it! How subversive! A flitty little fairy! We can imagine the hilarity in the cubicle as they contrived a way to set up the "Not for sissies" selling proposition based on an innocent magical fantasy. The result-mean-spirited but undeniably crafty -- is as follows:

 

A winged little pixie, fluttering along an urban skyline, waves her magic wand and -- in a puff of magical dust -- turns a skyscraper into a gingerbread house. Next she turns a commuter train into a colorful toy choo-choo. Then she spies a new Dodge Caliber, which she waves at with her wand.

 

But nothing happens. Three times she tries her magic, to no avail. For all her efforts, the shiny black Caliber remains a tough, rugged subcompact. Meanwhile, her momentum sends her flying-splat! -- into a building.

 

'Silly little fairy' A passing brute (he's also all in macho black as he walks his Doberman) is very amused by this scene. "Silly little fairy," he laughs.

 

So she wands him -- turning his Neanderthal getup into a wimpy tennis outfit, and his Doberman into four Pomeranians. "Oohhh!" he simpers.

 

Then the voice-over: "Introducing the all-new Dodge Caliber. It's anything but cute."

 

Oh, is it now?

 

Look, there's nothing wrong with positioning an economy car as a car with truck values. In fact, "the manly subcompact" is a very good idea. You can even suggest that everything else in the category looks effeminate. Though political correctness is out of control in this society, you're still allowed to choose your own sexual demeanor.

 

But what no advertiser has any business doing is calling people fairies, because it is cheap, because it is gratuitous, because it is hateful.

 

Gay and lesbian consumers Also self-destructive, undermining Daimler Chrysler corporate entreaties to gay and lesbian consumers -- not to mention the much larger sick-of-sexual-bullying population. But never mind the business consequences.

 

There is simply no room in advertising for hate speech. Period.

 

For the record, Daimler Chrysler and BBDO protest that this spot is obviously not homophobic because the guy with the lap dogs is a preppy type-as opposed to some flamboyant queen. Of course, the same people swear they were totally unaware of the "fairy" double-entendre.

 

Dodge altered this commercial by removing the "silly little fairy" line. Without that line, the ad is pretty incoherent and pointless.

 

The reason for the edit was protests from homosexual groups.

[X. Benedict]

I now feel conflicted. I thought the fairy was kind of hot.

[shrader]

Shouldn't you give the source when cut and pasting an entire article like that?

[SCSabresFan!]

Shouldn't you give the source when cut and pasting an entire article like that?

 

Sorry - AdAge, Bob Garfield.

 

story link

[apuszczalowski]

Is that Geddy Lee in your avatar SCSabresFan?

[X. Benedict]

Is that Geddy Lee in your avatar SCSabresFan?

He's been telling people he is Neal Peart again.

[SCSabresFan!]

Is that Geddy Lee in your avatar SCSabresFan?

 

Yessir! The one and only. The handsome guy next to Geddy is me. I figured we are off season and I'll change my Avator when we drop the puck this fall.

[Wild Jay]

I think you have to go all or nothing when it comes to that line of "Silly little fairy". As much as I hate that commercial with a passion due to seeing it every 8 minutes, the line must stay or you just have to scrap the whole ad (which I would favor). But the fairy is hot :D

[twolinepass]

Agreed WildJay. Doesn't make sense without the line. They should just stop running the commercial.

 

Anyone for a KFC Chicken Bowl? Its lunch time!

[apuszczalowski]

I think you have to go all or nothing when it comes to that line of "Silly little fairy". As much as I hate that commercial with a passion due to seeing it every 8 minutes, the line must stay or you just have to scrap the whole ad (which I would favor). But the fairy is hot :D

Which version of the Fairy? the one walking the doberman or the one walking the 4 lap dogs? LOL

 

Thats a cool pic with Geddy, I was watching the home opener for the Toronto Blue Jays over a month ago and I swear I saw him sitting in the new special seating area behind home plate and I think I have seen him watching games from back there every so often. It would make sense since he is from Toronto

[mrjsbu96]

You've seen it 40 times in ten minutes on OLN. Now the inside skinny on the ad and the edit. Ain't political correctness great?

 

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

 

. . 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.

 

The 'Fairy' spot was created for Dodge by BBDO, Detroit. ALSO: Comment on this review in the 'Your Opinion' section below.

 

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."

 

Preposterous corporate line But, of course, the corporate line is preposterous. Much more likely is that someone at BBDO realized they could call people fairies if their commercial depicted an actual fairy. Get it! How subversive! A flitty little fairy! We can imagine the hilarity in the cubicle as they contrived a way to set up the "Not for sissies" selling proposition based on an innocent magical fantasy. The result-mean-spirited but undeniably crafty -- is as follows:

 

A winged little pixie, fluttering along an urban skyline, waves her magic wand and -- in a puff of magical dust -- turns a skyscraper into a gingerbread house. Next she turns a commuter train into a colorful toy choo-choo. Then she spies a new Dodge Caliber, which she waves at with her wand.

 

But nothing happens. Three times she tries her magic, to no avail. For all her efforts, the shiny black Caliber remains a tough, rugged subcompact. Meanwhile, her momentum sends her flying-splat! -- into a building.

 

'Silly little fairy' A passing brute (he's also all in macho black as he walks his Doberman) is very amused by this scene. "Silly little fairy," he laughs.

 

So she wands him -- turning his Neanderthal getup into a wimpy tennis outfit, and his Doberman into four Pomeranians. "Oohhh!" he simpers.

 

Then the voice-over: "Introducing the all-new Dodge Caliber. It's anything but cute."

 

Oh, is it now?

 

Look, there's nothing wrong with positioning an economy car as a car with truck values. In fact, "the manly subcompact" is a very good idea. You can even suggest that everything else in the category looks effeminate. Though political correctness is out of control in this society, you're still allowed to choose your own sexual demeanor.

 

But what no advertiser has any business doing is calling people fairies, because it is cheap, because it is gratuitous, because it is hateful.

 

Gay and lesbian consumers Also self-destructive, undermining Daimler Chrysler corporate entreaties to gay and lesbian consumers -- not to mention the much larger sick-of-sexual-bullying population. But never mind the business consequences.

 

There is simply no room in advertising for hate speech. Period.

 

For the record, Daimler Chrysler and BBDO protest that this spot is obviously not homophobic because the guy with the lap dogs is a preppy type-as opposed to some flamboyant queen. Of course, the same people swear they were totally unaware of the "fairy" double-entendre.

 

Dodge altered this commercial by removing the "silly little fairy" line. Without that line, the ad is pretty incoherent and pointless.

 

The reason for the edit was protests from homosexual groups.

 

My God, what next....honestly. What next.....

 

*In the interest of full disclosure I am not the most PC person in the world I'll never forget a column that Jim Caple of ESPN Page 2 wrote about how this world is becoming one of paste-devouring Ralph's from "The Simpsons" because it seems as though somebody/somewhere is offended no matter what is said, etc.

 

How about them Sabres?

 

And the fairy is hot.

[Rabbit151]

I still see that commercial up here in Canada all the time. And we love gays up here, afterall we're Canadian. We're scared to offend anyone which is probably why the terrorists we caught last week will be let go and perhaps compensated financially.

[apuszczalowski]

I still see that commercial up here in Canada all the time. And we love gays up here, afterall we're Canadian. We're scared to offend anyone which is probably why the terrorists we caught last week will be let go and perhaps compensated financially.

There was a shredd and Ragan theatre this morning about that, Dudley do right caught the terrorists and caused them to sut off their leaders head and their legs, then the canadian health care system saved their legs and the justice system gave them 8 months probation

 

So true, so true

[Rabbit151]

You know what.....we suck. I love Canada, we have it right in so many ways. But, we have it wrong in some big ways. Way too tolerant a nation. The hope is that our new, minority government will finally start to use some common sense.

 

 

So far, I think they have. I think Stephen Harper is going to see to it that these terrorist MuthaFuccus will rot in prison.

 

 

I may be wrong, would'nt be the first time.

[DannyGare18]

The silly little fairy is waaaaaayy hot!!