Whaaat… this is just too ridiculous to be real. Prank?
“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?”
Except the woman in the ad is already laughing and having a good time while the guy is staring at her looking all serious and creepy. The visual just does not match your interpretation at all.
The worst part of the ad for me is the large bolded “best friend” text. So wrong on so many levels.
Maybe it’s the male who “needs” to be loosened up.
The “best friend” part is what tips it for me. What kind of sociopathic thinking would lead someone to consider harming their “best friend”.
.NOBODY needs to be “loosened up” without their knowledge or permission. Give me a break.
They should have put the egg nog in her left hand. It’s going to be hard for the guy to spike it while it’s in her right hand.
Even if we take the most benign interpretation, like @JustOneDad’s, it’s still advocating assault. Last time I looked, that was still illegal in all jurisdictions.
Makes you wonder what the alternative copy was.
@Nrdsb4 Remember, it’s their “best friend”. By definition, don’t they have your best interests in mind? If your “bestie” doesn’t know what you really need, then who does?
“Spike you best friend’s [singular possessive] eggnog when they’re [plural] not looking”
The copy writers are grammatically challenged, too.
@JustOneDad Okay, so if you spike someone’s drink and they go out and do something heinous, who is culpable? Spiking a drink is illegal. Best friend or not.
To the kids reading, DO NOT SPIKE YOUR FRIEND’S DRINK. It is not okay. EVER.
But if u do spike your friend’s drink, remember it’s his or her drink, not their…
How would they go out and do something heinous when you’re there with them?
I think JustOneDad is being facetious, so no need to reply further.
The more I think about it, the more I believe this was an attempt to get their name out there and blow up Twitter and social media. They didn’t really care if it is offensive.
I feel sad for current perceptions of “best friend”.
If it’s the Christmas catalog, maybe the copywriter was listening to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” or, as it’s known in our household, the Date Rape Song.
“The more I think about it, the more I believe this was an attempt to get their name out there and blow up Twitter and social media. They didn’t really care if it is offensive.”
Have any of you speculating on B’s motives or the role of the agency vs B in determining the advertising actually worked in advertising? I’ve worked in this field and with ad agencies reviewing strategy and creative for nearly 30 years - just last week I developed a communication brief for a major pharmaceutical whose name you’d all know. I have seen and participated in the process numerous times for multimillion dollar accounts.
There is no smoking gun.
These people don’t have time or inclination to “get their name out there” this way. There is no desire to “blow up” social media - these guys are scared of social media and rightly so. The most likely scenario was that the tonality section of the communication brief urged cheekiness and irreverence and a copywriter wrote it and the client just didn’t think about how it might be interpreted. That’s all. No grand conspiracy, no “B supports date rape” nonsense.
If he did spike her eggnog (or she spiked his) I think she (or he) would notice right away by the taste. It’s pretty easy to tell spiked from un-spiked. How much eggnog would a person drink, anyway?
The grammatical error bothers me more than the content. (Not that I think it is OK to spike someone’s eggnog, but it didn’t immediately bring to mind date rape. )
Yabbut, if it’s already spiked, it might be difficult to tell. Besides, most anyone who is a student of human behavior knows that conveniently refilling someone’s cup for them achieves nearly the same results as spiking.
I wish I could say I can’t believe anyone is defending this but as a young woman, I’ve already had decades of people telling me to lighten up and accept the (rape) joke.
Maybe the guy looked so creepy that’s all the copywriters could come up with at the time.