It may be hard to find a summer blockbuster movie in which two female characters have even a single conversation about anything but a man, but MRAs and related species seem to believe that the entertainment industry is one giant conspiracy against men. Why? Because sometimes men are portrayed as buffoons.
Given that it’s hard to have comedy without buffoons, I have to admit that this is often true. Of course, given that the buffoon role is generally a much better role than straight man (or woman), I’m not sure how this is a grave injustice against men. I’d love to see more female buffoons. Like this:
I doubt the guys at NiceGuy’s MGTOW forum spend much time watching old French and Saunders specials. No, they seem to prefer watching those Flo the Progressive Insurance gal ads on YouTube until their heads nearly explode from anger at Progressive’s insidious misandry.
For you see, in these ads – I’m not going to bother to post one, since I assume most of you have seen them — Flo is sort of quirky and charming, but the guys are all, well, to me a lot of them also seem quirky and charming, but to the MGTOWers they – and by extension all men — are being played for fools.
Oh, and apparently these ads also portend the end of civilization. As Juno3 puts it,
Just another symptom of a decaying society. …
Imagine the ad agency staff, probably a bunch of dykes with a few dudes wearing pantyhose to work.
If that were a show — a sort of lesbian revamp of Mad Men, perhaps? — I would totally watch it.
The other commenters aren’t quite so worried about the end of the world, but perky little Flo really seems to get under their skin. G40IntercontinentalGhost writes:
Am guessing she’s the one with the irritating, smirky assed grin on her face that looks like said grin is/was the result of wiring being put in some mighty sensitive places. KEE-RIST on the Concorde! From under what rock(or cock as the case may well be) did Progressive Insurance find that twat? I’m also really glad that my u.s. Driver’s License(Washington) expired some time ago.
I kinda like Flo. Now that I know the MGTOWers hate her, I feel a lot more comfortable admitting that.
If you’re going to get angry at car insurance ads, get angry at this shit. That jingle just makes me want to punch someone.
Is there a specific complaint here, or just the fact that she’s all female and stuff?
There are examples of men being treated like buffoons in advertising, but the Flo commercials aren’t one of those. Most of the men in those just come up as customers and say “I need insurance, what can you do for me?” and then she gives a quirky little speech. (She has female customers too.)
The MGOTW comments don’t seem to be much more than ragey sexual fantasies that have fuck-all to do with some incredibly neutral and inoffensive insurance ads.
Holly Holly Holly Holly. You poor misguided thing.
Don’t you see? She’s a woman. Who is giving men information that they didn’t have and helping to guide their choices. And, in some cases, perhaps marginally more intelligent than them.
DON’T YOU SEE THE PURE HORROR OF THIS HORRIFIC PRACTICE OF HORROR AND HOW IT WILL DESTROY US ALL!?!?!?!?! With horror. Did I mention the horror?
(I don’t really think the above needs sarcasm tags but since this is my first post and since I could very easily see Poe’s law applying here I’ll just mention that this should be read in as parody and sarcasm.)
Oh God. The jingle.
I am surprised that they do not get mad at that one State Farm commercial with the man who kind of accidentally landed his car on another vehicle and his girlfriend is ranting at him.
That one always makes me cringe.
I don’t get it when IntercontinentalGhost said he’s glad his driver’s license expired. Was he previously insured with Progressive, and now he doesn’t drive so he doesn’t need car insurance? Does he realize he could buy insurance from a competitor like Shelter or State Farm? He should love Allstate, because they have a spokesMAN.
I’ve always found Flo a tad bit annoying, because she’s too bubbly and perky. Now that I found out she annoys MGTOW, I like her much more.
Okay, so I think Flo has a slightly annoying voice, but not an apocolypse inducing one.
D’awww. I sorta like Flo…
(Hopefully I embed this right; I do not have teh internet savvy)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPhq_gC9pZs&w=425&h=349%5D
The guy in this ad isn’t being portrayed as a buffoon at all. He pretty much comes across as an ordinary customer, although perhaps slightly psychic o_O
I see no buffoon-esque males gallivanting around the set, either. Or are my glasses just that rose-tinted? =O
Gah. Imma try that one more time.
Man, there are people out there getting ragingly, homophobically, misogynistically frothed up over a commercial where the main joke is a shopping cart that looks like a truck.
What a funny world we live in.
There are several comics who have made careers portraying the buffoon-ish husband with a too hot wife and quirky kids. And they are not remotely feminist.
Andrea:
Anything near a woman is feminist. Q.E.D.
Hells yeah! I want to return to a time when women in car insurance ads were portrayed as ditzes and men as saviors and eagles!
Frankly, I think it’s all gone downhill since Eaglewoman appeared.
KEE-RIST on the Concorde!
I think our problem is we’re taking these Progressive ads at face value. We need to change our perspective, and imagine we’re bitter MRA’s with a persecution complex so we can better see the hidden misandry.
Let me demonstrate. Look how misandric Flo is. She wears makeup on her face and a Bumpit insert in her hair so she can pretend to be prettier than she is. It’s like Progressive actually wants women to lie to men. Did you also notice that poor truck driver is a man? His wife is probably eating bon bons and watching soap operas while he struggles to find the right insurance for his Mack truck. This grave injustice needs to be addressed by Congress.
the only comic character i can think of who is almost never played for a buffoon is jack donaghy, and i dont think theres more than one actor who could have pulled off that role.
so mras thats your goal. a world in which alec baldwin does all the comedy. all of it.
TBH the prevalence of the male buffoon/hot, sophisticated eye-rolling female trope annoys me because, as a dorky/awkward female I always find myself relating to the male characters, I don’t feel remotely represented by the females.
Which is why I love Miranda Hart and her self-titled sitcom despite it not being the most groundbreaking/original comedy ever written. It’s just refreshing and cathartic.
As for annoying car insurance ads… if anyone else is in the UK I don’t even have to describe Go Compare/Compare the Meerkat
I meant to add… the buffoon is generally the likeable, sympathetic character in these scenarios.
oh my Goddess, teh crazy MRAs are all upset about Flo the insurance saleswoman???? just when i think they could not get any more batshit insane, they do.
i kinda sorta like Flo but am really sick of her, as tends to be the case with most advertising characters/campaigns that get overdone ad naueseam. which seems to be most of them.
but if the MRAs are hating on Flo, then i think i am going to start really liking her. Just to piss the stoopid MRAs off, hee hee!!!
“Imagine the ad agency staff, probably a bunch of dykes with a few dudes wearing pantyhose to work.”
and this??? where does Vanni go to apply to work at this ad agency????
Yeah, the joke’s frequently on Flo, when it’s on anyone, so….
What’s with this decaying society shit? It really feels like MRAs seem to glory in the idea that they’re a last bastion before apocalypse. Even the most dire environmentalists and the like that I know are more concerned with making there not be a global disaster due to warming than in being the Last Good Place.
Jerry Seinfeld usually was the straight man on Seinfeld. Fraiser Crane was a straight man character, too. Dave Foley played the straight man on Newsradio. Will Truman was the straight man on Will and Grace, while Grace was a bit more wacky. Sorry my examples aren’t that recent, but I haven’t kept up since the late 90’s.
Huh.
I adore Flo.
I also adore Mayhem and the Gecko.
Those three ad campaigns are my favorite.
Someday I might write a fanfic featuring Flo and Mayhem as a couple who find and adopt a gecko.
I am glad that even in my pleasure in these ad characters which are you all know part of the great hegemonic capitalist machine that’s grinding us all to bits that I am participating in the destruction of Western Civilization.
disclaimer: i actually buy my insurance from the Gecko.
Because my silly ladybrain loves talking animals.
Fraiser Crane was a straight man character, too.
probably for the most part, ya, but he did have his share of opportunities to play the buffoon e.g. season 4 of cheers where he’s a bitter, unemployed drunk.
Ok that’s it I was sceptical at first, you know kind of “oh come on David your being to hard on these these guys” …but this?
No sorry there is nothing even remotely wrong with these commercials AT ALL. Everyone in them is portrayed as being equal, no one in them is being sexualised or exploited its quite frankly a great campaign and Flo is awesome. (How good do I think these ads are? Well let’s put it this way, it almost makes me forget there for a fucking insurance company)
The first Mayhem commercial was freaky…”shaky shaky…”
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA *runs away from scary horror movie type start*