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Nice to see WKD going down the Yorkie bar route with their recent ads. I wonder if they will cause a wave of young ladies to down their last cheeky vimto before switching to that more girly of drinks, the bacardi breezer? No, thought not…

Barbara Felix

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18 Responses

  1. Redheadinred

    I noitice this, too. Thing is, many female friends drink WKD, it seems to me to be a very unisex drink, so why are they doing this?

  2. Redheadinred

    Also… it seems to reinforce the idea that having a ‘WKD side’, i.e. fun side, or ‘being one of the lads’ means being sexist. Because we all know that misogyny is just lads having a bit of fun, really!

    Screw that.

  3. rose_hasty

    I know! So hideous. There’s one at the end of my street. Anyone got any tips for destroying adverts on bus stops without smashing the glass??! There seems to be a whole load of these adverts going around this past year. Great!

  4. EM

    I haven’t seen the WKD advert as I live in Belgium but there is an advert on the radio here for Jupiler beer. It’s quite light hearted, trying to suggest that men have been emasculated by women (forced to go to the supermarket, learn about women’s bodies, go to ante-natal classes etc.) and the only way to be left in peace as a man is with a Jupiler beer. I don’t find it particularly offensive but it does seem to suggest men only go shopping to ‘help’ women and that they deserve a beer as compensation. There is also this question of ‘what is happening to our species’, the idea that equality is taking away men’s role.

  5. fenris

    ugh, I havent seen these recent wkd ads yet but I have seen a lot of this sort of crap. Reminds me of a few years ago when lambrini did a series of ads based around a group of young women getting together and humiliating men for a lighthearted girly-bonding-jape type thing, or something along those lines. Yuck. I find it a bit tiresome the way ads pit women and men against each other like some playground one-upmanship battle, surely once you get past the age of 8 you start to realise that the opposite sex doesn’t *actually* have the lurgy…

  7. Redheadinred

    Catherine Redfern:

    There’s a whole series. Some of them are okay. Some of them say things like ‘Send your wife somewhere really cool… the fridge, for a pork pie!’ or ‘Get a new car for your wife… it’ll be a great swap!’

    Yeugh.

  8. Laura

    If I was criminally inclined, I would sticker “Have you got a SEXIST side?” on these adverts. But, of course, I’d never do anything like that.

  9. Redheadinred

    ‘Laura Woodhouse said:

    If I was criminally inclined, I would sticker “Have you got a SEXIST side?” on these adverts. But, of course, I’d never do anything like that.’

    I hope that was said sarcastically, lol. If it was, do post a photo, won’t you?

  10. Jennifer

    I haven’t seen these adverts. But it is nice to know that another thing I like is now advertising to exclude me AND insult me. Wahey!

  11. Laura

    Well, if someone somewhere takes my suggestion to heart, and I happen to walk past it, I will of course take a photo ;-)

  12. Charlotte

    These Wkd adverts are in some cases sexist but really, am I the only person here who thinks it’s not exactly the most important challenge facing feminism at the moment? I really don’t even think it’s worth the amount of time it’s been given on here.

    It doesn’t really give us a good press either- to some, this sort of petty argument is yet another reason to believe that feminists have no sense of humour!

  13. Dæge

    Charlotte:

    It is important to feminism. Everything with gender inequality should be pointed out because it’s the little things that build up to become the big things, after all.

  14. chem_fem

    I like to know about these things so that I can stop wasting my money buying products from companies that perpetuate sexism.

    Sadly this doesn’t apply here as I’ve never drank this drink. I’m surprised that they wish to alienate half the population from buying their drinks though, I mean Bicardi Breezers (while not perfect) at least managed to be all inclusive in there advertising and did very well.

  15. Tom

    Err.. I’ve not seen these ads (have they been stopped already!?), but I liked the old WKD ad, where the guy does ‘the robot’ to the noise of a drill.. I think everyone (maybe every bloke, you tell me) has done that, so it gives it a degree of recognition. its stupid, but it’s funny. These new ones don’t really sound that funny.. just stupid and offensive.. and whats the sense in that?

  16. Tom

    ok, trying to find this ad (in vain, all i can find are folks offended by it.. is it a billboard campaign?) I discovered an E.U report into alcholic advertising.. ec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2004/action3/docs/2004_3_16_frep_a5_en.pdf

    And, chapter 7 is “Overview of the most appealing alcohol marketing practices”. Folks, as bad as this crap is here, be thankful you are not in Bulgaria wherein we see girls in their frillies apparently riding (writhing?) on a mechanical bull, and another where an “Angel of Alcohol” forces a woman to go to the room of a man she met at a party. .. yes.. forces?!

    Both of these are for “flirt vodka”.

    Looking back to the bad old days of UK advertising – it was never as bad as that.. was it?

  17. Kim

    They could make it appeal to men without making it sexist.

    Or are they just not clever enough to come up with anything?

  18. Monty

    I think i know why they need sexism in their advertising.

    Firstly they don’t need to market it to females, because brightly coloured sugary alcoholic beverages are mainly a female market anyway. If it’s behind the bar, then this half of the demographic will buy it.

    To counter the very un-masculine reality of WKD they add sexism in a bid to make it appear acceptable for males to drink.

    Then theres the fact that it’s sugary to the point that it’s just disgusting, further cause for drastic marketing techniques. The poorer the quality of the product, the more impact the advertising has to have.

    So really it’s just teeth rotting sexism in a bottle.