http://fortune.com/2015/11/10/bloomingdales-date-rape/
Some thoughts/questions:
Very curious how old the creators of this specific ad are.
How does this ad make it through all the various stages and actually end up making it into print?
Are any of the individuals involved with this ad still at Bloomingdale’s?
Really, Bloomingdale’s-it took public outrage for anyone there to notice the inappropriateness of this ad?!?
Speechless!
I would bet that this was created by some ‘hipster dude’ moron at some boutique firm, though I can’t believe this got through the people at Bloomingdale and the magazine running the ads…you kind of wonder if everyone who reviewed this was some clueless idiot, or maybe Don Draper types still exist…
Not only is the ad horrifying, it makes me suspect that Bloomingdales or its ad agency, or both, are rife with sexism. They cannot employ sufficient women in decision-making capacities if that ad made it through the approval process. This says a lot about Bloomingdale’s.
The dude in the ad is even staring like a creepy stalker.
You would imagine there would be several steps between conceiving an ad idea, getting it approved, photos done, final review, and actual publication. It does boggle the mind how it could go through all those steps without someone either vigorously disputing its contents, or at minimum, bringing up possible push back. Or was that all purposeful, simply a ploy to get the Bloomingdale name on peoples’ lips?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bloomingdales-holiday-ad-stirs-up-outrage-2015-11-11
I also thought the guy was reminiscent of Robin Thicke! So was this a purposeful “Blurred Lines” reference?
I don’t think Bloomie’s needs to do that nor would they want this kind of publicity. I think it’s simply that the culture of getting women to sleep with men even when they don’t want to is so deeply ingrained in our society. It takes things like this to raise everyone’s consciousness a tiny notch further.
Since when is anyone surprised by the fashion industry sexually objectifying women?
Wow, you really do wonder how that ad made it through multiple layers of people to wind up in their print magazine.
They didn’t just allude to the idea of slipping something in a drink, they verbally spelled it out! 
Maybe they can’t read?
Really? That’s a sales pitch? Pushing jaw back into place.
Keep your apologies, Bloomingdales. If you have to be told…
Ewww… Creepy promotion of illegal activity!
One curious observation… The ad features a man and a woman, with the man creepily eyeing the woman. The ad says “spike their eggnog” instead of “her eggnog.” Did the ad creators think that would make the ad less sexist?
When women demanded equality, the equal opportunity to rape your friend is not what we had in mind…
This is just disgusting on so many levels.
The obvious answer to “how did this make it through” is “somebody thought it was funny”. Or several somebodies. The concept of rape culture is based in actual behaviors, not some academic thesis. Plenty of people think this ad is cute, edgy, “oh you know they don’t mean THAT”-funny. Bloomingdales either thought so too, or anticipated the outcry and felt any publicity that cuts through the noise is good publicity. No way this is an accident or oversight.
It gets made because it’s edgy and the people making it see it as a joke not as serious advice or as part of a dialogue about sexual assault. It also harks back to the ads of the 1960’s and earlier in which female sexuality was a function of male sexuality. So I can understand it creatively but it was a bad decision for those same creative reasons: today’s sexuality is not the 1950’s and you should be careful mining that era and the ad lacked sufficient ironic context to make it a play on the past. They could have switched it around in a number of ways, much like an ad a few years ago that involves a hot date and flirting and she goes home with him … and then the kids come in their room in the morning, and that turns the ad from sex to family.
@BunsenBurner “One curious observation… The ad features a man and a woman, with the man creepily eyeing the woman. The ad says “spike their eggnog” instead of “her eggnog.” Did the ad creators think that would make the ad less sexist?”
==> I’ll use the “their” as evidence that the copywriter was under 30. That’s the group that is most consistently working to turn “their” into a single, genderless pronoun.
And the content? Disgusting.
Even if they thought this was funny,I’m not understanding why they ran it. How does it make people want to shop there? Do they even sell hard liquor? It’s time to hire a new hire a new ad agency.
I’m sort of appalled at all the people who jump to the conclusions that this is about some form of sexual assault. My interpretation would be that the eggnog spiking, (however inappropriate), would be to get your friend to loosen up and enjoy themselves more at the party. After all, that’s the motivation for most of social drinking, isn’t it?
Well, the ad agency might be at fault for dreaming up the idea but the buck stops at Macy’s management. Someone fairly high up had to put their seal of approval on it.
Speaking of bucks, Macy’s stock is off 13% this morning.