This Audi commercial is one that I enjoyed, though not enough to rank it in my top ten yesterday:
The internets* are all incensed because of this commercial, which is apparently about a high schooler going up to a girl he doesn't know at all and forcing a kiss on her without her consent.
I don't know about you, but that's not the story I saw.
I saw a self-conscious kid who finally got up the guts to announce his feelings to the friend he's had a crush on for months (or years)... a kid to whom his new black eye doesn't matter at all, in the exhilaration of a long-awaited risk finally taken, and in the excited hope that it might have paid off.
And you know what? I'm okay with that message. Sure, I think a kiss is not the ideal way to open such a conversation, but he manned up and made his intentions known, leaving the decision in her hands. Some days, that sounds like a dream come true!
This video leaves a lot to be inferred, much of which reflects more on the viewer than the directors. For those particularly sensitive to misogyny, I can see how this could be upsetting. But I simply cannot believe that their read of the situation is the more plausible one.
*Or at least the corner of the internets that I've been inhabiting lately...
Huh. I guess people see what they're looking for. I would totally agree with you about the message. I mean, it's not soul-shatteringly profound, but it's cute and innocuous.
ReplyDeleteYup. Agree 100%. I've seen people online classify that as sexual assault. People are crazy.
ReplyDeleteI know a lot of very shy nerdy types who occasionally confide in me their interest for a girl. No matter what the outcome will be, unless I know she's married or engaged or something, I always tell them to go for it. Being rejected and learning how to take it is part of being a man. I wouldn't usually counsel to go for a kiss, but if done with the right flair and timing, it could be effective.