By now many people have seen Bud Lite’s disastrous advertising campaign in which a man puts on “woman face” and performs a “minstrel” act that is as offensive as any White person in Black face during Vaudeville. He minces and prances, speaks in a hushed voice meant to mimic a teenaged girl, and talks about the great time he has with his “girlhood” and “girlfriends “at slumber parties, etc. First of all, no adult woman talks like this. Heck, even most teenage girls don’t talk like this.
It’s not only offensive, but it is promoting an age-old stereotype of women being silly, vacuous, stupid creatures who only care about their lipstick, hair and fingernails. As many women are pointing out, it is setting women’s rights back decades.
On top of that is something worse about this horrible human being. If you haven’t seen this Nike ad yet, be prepared to be even more disgusted. The Nike ad begins at 1:44 in this video which begins with Dylan’s Bud Light ad.
Dylan Mulvaney ads for Bud Light and Nike (dailycommercials.com)
If you can stomach the whole thing, you are a much stronger person than I am. Watching this deranged, pathetic person pretend to be a “woman” makes me sick to my stomach.
Beyond that is something even more revolting.
As a gymnastics professional coach, judge, and national officer in my past, I remember the horrible fight we had in our sport against eating disorders in the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. Young women were told that in order to be a successful gymnast, they had to maintain a certain body type. It wasn’t a strong, muscular, shapely body but a boyish, breastless, skinny body type. See any similarities to what Nike has just thrown out there in their ad?
For these athletes, puberty was the enemy. Many of them had coaches who carefully monitored their food and workouts to make sure they didn’t begin their menstrual cycle for that would be the end of the boyish figure and their gymnastics success. There were weigh ins daily. Ask any athlete who competed for the Russians, Romanians or, here in the United States, the Karolyis and several other coaches.