'Light-hearted' degradation.

While skimming through Parents magazine recently, I came across an ad for method cleaning products which got be mad enough to send an email to complain. The ad features the naked legs of a man and woman, intertwined in a sexual manner as they are lying on the floor. The rest of their bodies are obscured by a wall, but you can see part of the woman's derrière. The title of the ad is "make floor love, not floor war." After the title follows a paragraph describing how method cleaning products have no harmful chemicals, so you can "do the mommy-daddy dance right on the floor" without fear of harsh chemicals irritating you. It ends with, "now, doin' the nasty is anything but."

I was so appalled to find this imagery and this wording in a magazine for parents, where any kid could get to it, that I tracked down some contact info. I have to admit that I was shocked to get a response. (Honestly, I wasn't sure if my email would make it through office anti-smut filters, as I had to use the words sex and sexuality so many times.) I was not shocked however by the type of response that I received. It was the typical, 'shrug, sorry we offended you, but we thought it was for the best.'

Here's my favorite quote from their response:

"With the ad itself, the copy was meant to be fun, light-hearted and
fresh. If we have offended you through the images and/or wording, our
deepest apologies; however, in this situation, we felt it best to
demonstrate the point through a sort of humorous analogy rather than a
black-and-white explanation." (emphasis mine)

I don't know about you, but I don't find the use of sex to sell a product "light-hearted." Nor is it "light-hearted" to use slang terms for sexual relations. It is degradation, pure and simple. Sex is far too important to be taken lightly.

Note also relativism in action. We apologize for the offense, but "we felt it best." Note also that she used the word felt as opposed to thought. This is relativism at it's best... no need to use reason, just do what feels good.

Even though I see ads all the time that annoy or anger me, this was the first time that I felt moved to write to complain. The response I received did not give me good feelings about the effectiveness of my complaining. However, I may still try it again, if for nothing else than to have some interesting nonsense to blog about.

If you would like to complain about the ad, even if you haven't seen it, here's all the info you need:

August 2007 Parents Magazine, Method cleaning products, "Make floor love, not floor war" campaign.

Complain to: Nancy Alcott-Lie (nice name, huh?) - nancy@methodhome.com

Or send a letter:

637 Commercial Street
San Francisco, CA 94111

If you write or email, leave a comment and let me know how they responded to you.