Hoax or not: really bad taste

I occasionally turn to Google Images when I want to find a picture to illustrate a point in one of my blog postings.  You type in a topic in Google Images and hundreds of pictures or images will be presented.  For a previous posting on this blog, I typed, “What were they thinking” into the Google Images site.  I didn’t actually find what I would have considered to be a suitable image to use for that posting, but what I did find was this:

UNBELIEVABLE!  I was floored by what I saw, which seemed to be a print advertisement for a flavor of Breyers ice cream.  What were they thinking?  What incredibly bad taste and amazingly poor judgment!  I couldn’t believe it and wondered how a company that makes, arguably, the best ice cream in the world (or at least in my freezer), specifically, Breyers Cookies & Cream with Oreo (yummy!), could publish an advertisement as tasteless as this.

I was relieved to find out that this remarkably crude ad, apparently first published in 2005 or 2006, was a hoax and not a real advertisement from the folks at Breyers.  How do we know it was a hoax and not a real advertisement?  Well, first of all, the ad copy reads as follows:

Luscious, smooth, sweet and fun. These are just a few of the words we used to describe our new Vanilla Orange Sherbert Creamsicle. These words also aply equally to America's 2005 Olympic Rhythmic Gymnastics Team and the beautiful young ladies that comprise it. In responce, Breyers has created a flavour inspired by the sassy metallic orange leotards of our young feminine gymnists who are eagerly busting their fresh asses to make every American proud. And of course, our RSG themed Creamsicle is as fun to eat as the girls are a pleasure to watch! So come join in on the action. All proceeds to sales from the Vanilla Orange Sherbert Swirls line go to help sponsor our young ladies in competition against other rhythmic gymnists from around the world.

Notice the misspellings: “Sherbert,” “aply,” “responce,” “flavour,” “gymnists.”  It seems to have been written by a Brit who is also an incredibly poor speller, which may be redundant.

I guess someone thought it would be funny to show two young girls in tight orange leotards bent over in such a way as to highlight their “nether regions,” with the tag line “lickable.”  The bogus ad is disturbing for what it suggests, not for what it actually shows.

Sorry, but this bogus ad, even as a hoax, is in really bad taste (and that’s not a play on the “lickable” theme, by the way).

Comments

[Sally Baker]

Yes i strongly agree about this disturbing picture that must be deleted or changed. Nice article. this will serve as a lesson for those who want to advertise something.