I’ve found another commercial or two I dislike intensely. Unfortunately, I can’t find the specific one that’s made me irritated online anywhere. Twix.com has one on their site for your viewing displeasure, that runs along the same theme.
All of the “Need a Moment?” commercials tend to bug me, primarily in that you shouldn’t need to chomp on a candy bar to get out of explaining your bad behaviour. You simply shouldn’t being behaving badly, and then you could enjoy your damned candy bar with a clear conscience. But that’s just me, Preacher SBG, and my opinion. 
Fred discovers that inserting his nose into a lime provides an even better distraction from his bad behavior than cramming a Twix in his mouth.
The commercial that’s got me annoyed is the one with two guys standing in a bookstore reading something entitled “How To Score Hot Chicks” or something similar (forgive, it’s been a while since I’ve seen it) and giggling like idiots. A beautiful woman walks up, and gasps at one of the men she apparently knows, “WHAT are you reading?” The guy who’s eating a Twix instead of holding the book jams the candy bar into his mouth to give himself time to think, then turns to his partner in crime and says, “You should be ashamed!” The woman immediately changes from indignant to relieved and interested and the Twix guy walks off with her, victorious.
Gross.
Now, I don’t completely begrudge the guys for reading the stupid book. However, they both seemed to feel guilty and/or embarrassed at being caught reading it, and I really cannot stand the resulting win of the hot chick. It kind of says to me that it’s okay for men to trick women to get in their good graces and that women are easy to fall for these tricks.
It’s all very funny ha-ha, isn’t it? .
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
It also fairly clearly says that getting a woman interested in you is a) a game that you “win” and b) a game in which the woman isn’t a participant, but rather just part of the equipment. His opponent in this game is the other guy; she’s essentially a prop in a dynamic that’s about the two of them.
..and I’m back to ‘ick’.
Purtek(Quote) (Reply)
And can you imagine a commercial in which two women are reading, say, “How to Score Rich Guys”* and the rich guy who walks up goes from appalled to “Here, honey, I brought my MasterCard” inside of thirty seconds?
*I went with “rich” instead of “hot” because the patriarchy seems to be convinced women don’t benefit from scoring hot guys, but it clearly sees how they can benefit from scoring rich ones.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Ugh. I loathe those commercials SO much. Aside from the horrible message, they’re just irritating. The guy in question is a pathetic example of a human being and I really don’t know why ANYONE would want to be like him, nor can I figure out why he seemed like a good face to sell their product.
Neev(Quote) (Reply)
And then of course there’s the other one, where a woman asks her boyfriend if her red pants make her look fat. He just shoves the whole candy bar in his mouth, makes some muffled noises, and she hugs him, tells him he’s the best and that she loves him, and waltzes out, in all her fatty ignorance. (Actually, I thought she looked pretty good, but that’s beside the point.) Gosh, that was annoying, and it didn’t help that he was fatter than she was.
Thal(Quote) (Reply)
I haven’t seen these, but they do sound grotoesque. I’d ask a similar question as I did about the Rustlers Microwave ad: if you want to make a joke about using Twix to give yourself time to think, why not when a driving instructor asks you a difficult question? Why are jokes apparently funny only when they’re at women’s expense?
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
Purtek said:
It’s always the way. Men “take” and “score” and “win.” Women “give” and “settle” and “get.”
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
BetaCandy said:
Yeah. I’m still appalled by the MegaMillions billboards that accentuate this fact. Why would a woman want a hot man when she could have a rich one?
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
Neev said:
It’s a shame, too, because I LOVE Twix. Mmm, shortbread and caramel and chocolate.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
Thal said:
Yep, hate that one, too. It’s part of the reason I hate the LifeSavers ad campaign as well. It’s remarkably similar in theme: lying to people is “sweet.”
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
SunlessNick said:
There’ve been a very few like this, though even they were borderline. There’s one where a guy is making fun of his boss, who walks in on him, I think and he has to cover his six.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
that is so funny you mention these ads because I always go off on a mini tirade whenever it comes on when I am watching TV with someone. The one *I* hate it the guy who is coming in at 5 in the morning and gets undressed and she asks if he just got home.. Then shoves a twix in his mouth and says “no I wanted an early start!” And then puts his pants back on. ARRRGH.
So not only has he been out all night, the implication I think being that he has been “unfaithful,” but also she is stupid enough to blindly fall for his routine. IT MAKES ME SO ANNOYED EVERY TIME.
I am glad you brought this up. There are so many commercials with this sort of casual norm of “getting one over on the chick.” And I have actually thought of Hathor Legacy when I see many of them.
Don’t even get me started on domestic beer commercials. Those are just flat out misogynist.
thisisendless(Quote) (Reply)
Okay, I haven’t seen that, but that’s disgusting. Men sure don’t think cheating’s hilarious when it happens to them.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Never saw that ad here, but got the same concept for an underwear brand, Rio. Some guy came home at something in the morning and acted like he’d pulled an all-nighter. DON’T SEE HOW LYING ON TOP OF INFIDELITY IS FUNNY, PEOPLE!
scarlett(Quote) (Reply)
thisisendless said:
Nothing says funny like watching someone trying to cover ass after implied infidelity. ::rolls eyes::
I’d successfully blocked that one out of my memory. Honestly, there are very few in the Twix campaign that are more funny than offensive.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
Couple of days behind on the replies, sorry…
sbg:
But women aren’t even the ones who lose the game, and I think that’s even worse than if they were. Men “win”, but they win against other men. Women aren’t even really participating in the “game”. It’s like they’re the ball, the object you score with.
And anyone who thinks we don’t tacitly condone/excuse male infidelity needs to watch those commercials as an example.
Purtek(Quote) (Reply)
One of those devastating one-sentence summaries.
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
The commercial is even worse than you give it credit for, sbg, when you consider it in context to another commercial in this “series.” The book gawking man who “wins” in this commercial, and the girl he walks off with are the same characters/actors from another Twix commercial. They are supposed to be a husband and wife / cohabitating couple, and when the woman catches guy coming to bed in the wee hours of the morning after a night out, he eats the Twix bar and then lies about actually having just gotten up.
This guy character in these two commercials is clearly a cheating douchebag, but the commercial is attempting to appeal to men who empathize with him, and want to see him “win” by cheating and getting away with it. As a man, I find these commercials equally offensive as many women do, because they are helping perpetuate the image that it’s cool to be a “player.” IMO, the idea that the macho man is an unfaithful tramp is very degrading to what men SHOULD be aspiring to– being chivalrous, faithful, and having healthy and open communication with their significant other. These commercials are trying to sell men the idea that they should be none of that, and to me that’s just as offensive as if I was a woman seeing a commercial telling me that to be the ideal woman I need to be a sex object.
Timstuff(Quote) (Reply)
Seriously? Dude.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
Someone left a comment on this post that explained how we were all misinterpreting the commercial. Because it actually said “shame on you for ranting”, which violates, you know, several of our commenting rules, I did not allow it through moderation.
I did however think it was interesting that the commenter claimed the commercial was making fun of cheaters because we all know in reality they could never get away with it so easily. Now, on the planet where I live, cheaters get away with it all the freakin’ time, so that POV struck me as a real stretch, designed after much hard work entirely for the purpose of silencing us. I found it interesting that someone would concoct something so blatantly divorced from reality in an attempt to prove we shouldn’t be complaining about a commercial that suggests Twix enables you to break your promises without consequences.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
I wondered how that comment had gotten through. All I could do was splutter at the tsk-tsk shame on you note.
Good gravy.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
So was the “seriously dude” aimed at this goblin? I took it as a reaction to the crap Timstuff was describing.
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
Yes, Nick, it was. It was the “shame on you” that got me. I don’t think even my mother ever used that one on me.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
Ah. I missed the goblin’s comment entirely, and your response made sense either way. Which I find mildly amusing.
Back in the realm of topic…
Someone left a comment on this post that explained how we were all misinterpreting the commercial.
How else it is to be interpreted? It’s presenting the Twix as a way to get round an awkward situation – and where the situation is getting caught doing something wrong, that translated into a way of avoiding consequences for that.
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
Oy. I never thought about just how many of those “Need A Moment?” commercials make women the butt of inane jokes… O_o
From poking around a bit on YouTube, here’s a link to the book store spot that sbg was referring to – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyBGRhbdfsU
And some other choice selections – the one Thal mentioned – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8eR4mDKH_c
As well as one that’s almost tailor-made for Hathor Legacy visitors, and their ilk – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQJ2SegGWyc
I couldn’t find the out-all-night husband/boyfriend one, but I remember it well. *sigh* I discovered a ton of Twix parody ads done by regular people on YouTube, as well; many of them have the same theme of “high-LARIOUS misogyny” – guys trying to fool or escape the wrath of a girl/woman. Depressing to see how influential just one series of commercials have been. It’s shocking in general when one pauses to think of the percentage of media advertisements that disparage women to in order to sell their products… and how it’s so blithely accepted by the majority of the population as a perfectly normal occurrence.
Lindsay(Quote) (Reply)
“Someone left a comment on this post that explained how we were all misinterpreting the commercial”
Of COURSE! The guy’s not cheating, he’s a professional vampire hunter who’s trying to keep the horrors secret from his wife!
(Maybe)
Charles RB(Quote) (Reply)
This is interesting, I never thought about the commercials that much. Then again, all of the observations made might indicate that the targeted market is ignorant and uneducated, I imagine that the marketing department would have done their homework regarding who will find these commercials appealing. Is it any more of a surprise that Disney’s vacation commercials show a beautiful mid 30s woman: cycling, exercising, participating in Yoga, climbing and staying generally fit and active. While the supposed husband (fat, balding and at least 10 years older) is shown sleeping the entire time, presumably tired from winning the bread. Why do the women have to look perfect and the husbands presumably “normal” or average, that’s a true gross travesty. It makes this twix commercial look like a fly-speck in comparison…
Chancho(Quote) (Reply)
Has anyone seen the new-ish Twix commercial? Things only get worse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh1nZ5lfcco
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Ah, Twix. Keepin’ it classy. Ugh. And to think that schlub is basically rewarded for being gross.
In general, if I asked someone a question or was in a situation where I was looking for some type of feedback, the last thing I would want them to do would be to shove food in their mouths and chew it in front of me, pretense of “thinking” or not.
It’s a thing.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
Am I allowed to say that I’m glad I live in the UK where this sort of advert wouldn’t even make it past the regulator to be shown, and if it was shown would get so many complaints that it would be banned, twix would be fined, and the companies that showed it may also be fined.
DragonLord(Quote) (Reply)
My e-mail to Mars Inc. – submitted through Twix.com;
Subject: Your commercials are so funny!
Wow, I just saw your recent commercial where the African-American male lies to his partner about who ‘Terry’ is when she calls. Brilliant! If I ever decide to practice infidelity and be a cheating scumbag I’ll be sure to try a twix! Until then I’ll stick to Hershey’s – Thanks.
- Jackwagons (-_-; I’m not supporting a company that thinks such marketing is acceptable.
Richard(Quote) (Reply)
{ 2 trackbacks }