Whose fault is it really?

Hello Readers!

   It has been a while since we last talked and I hope everyone has been paying extra attention when watching TV or reading magazine and challenging the stuff media puts out rather than just accepting. Writing this blog has really helped me take a more analytical view of everything I see since I can use them as material for my next post, but also it has taught me to not jump to conclusions so quickly.  I say that because up until now I have always blamed everything on the people who work in the media and held them responsible for trying to send sexist messages to everyone. However, a finding last week has changed my view and made me realize that maybe average people sitting in front of their computers, who I thought were victims of the media’s terror, are not as innocent and helpless as they might seem.

  Last week I was just on Facebook and I came across this advertisement one of my friend has shared and was absolutely appalled by what I saw.  Basically it was a used Aston Martin car ad that featured the image shown above with the tagline “You know you’re not the first, but do you really care?” along with the Aston Martin logo. (The original picture I saw cannot be posted for copyright infringement issues) I was speechless after seeing this ad and was disgusted at the underlying message behind the tagline.  I felt shocked that a reputable company like Aston Martin, which promotes luxury and class, would stoop to such a low level to sell cars and thought that they have lost respect for themselves by doing so.  The ad is very sexually suggestive and a very demeaning to women because once again it is treating women as an object.  The tagline draws comparison between a non-virgin woman and a used car and basically says to its male audience: if you’ll take one, then why not the other?

  I was repulsed by this ad and immediately wanted to write about how once again the media has outdone itself in the category of being shallow and ignorant. But before I began writing, I decided to do a little research and thank god I did because I quickly found out that the ad was actually fake and “fan-made”.  Aston Martin did not create this ad; someone made this on their computer and posted the image on the Internet, which then went viral. In fact, Aston Martin’s lawyers has been sending emails to every website and blog that feature’s the fake ad to have it removed since it damages the company image, which is exactly why I cannot post the image here.  The image of the female with her leg propped up over the counter came from a spread in the January 2012 issue of Playboy Germany and was never intended to be an advertisement.

 

I was relieved to find out that Aston Martin still want to live up to their reputation of being classy and are taking action to take down this internet hoax. But I was also alarmed at how this extremely sexist image was someone’s idea of a joke.  What’s even more worrying is that on the car forums and websites I went to in my research about the fake ad, most comments by readers were along the lines of “Aston Martin has a terrible sense of humor” or “It would have been AM’s best ad if it was real”.  Most people were actually more disappointed than relieved to find out that the ad was not real.   This was a shocking revelation to me because the people who I thought were the victims might actually be the offenders. I had been too quick to jump to conclusion that it’s always the media’s fault and failed to realize that messages only spread because there are real people out there spreading them.