How'd They Get Away with THAT?

[Deleted]

Someone at work was talking about how in the 80's a lot of people wouldn't be caught dead in anything other than designer jeans that cost a fortune. It was a huge status symbol. Anyhow, Jordache (are they even around anymore?) had an ad for Jordache jeans for kids. The ad, I guess, showed a classroom full of little kids suddenly jumping up and singing the Jordache jeans theme song ("You've got the look I'd like to know better!") and there are close-ups of little girls' butts swinging around provocatively and little boys looking admiringly at them. My co-worker said there was an uproar about it.

How'd they get away with that?!?! Probably for the free publicity -- Just like Abercrombie & Fitch puts out those bound-to-cause controversy ads and ends up with more air-time than they'd ever get otherwise.

[chiqui]

In the late 80s/early 90s the Italian clothing manufacturer Benetton did the same thing, featuring ads of dying AIDS patients with no clothing (that is, no Benetton clothing) visible in the photo with only, I think, a Benetton logo at the bottom. Caused a lot of controversy.

OT/ I miss Benetton. Their stuff was well-made and colorful, and lasted forever. Did they pull out all their US stores, or go out of business, or what? /OT

[dwanollah]

Anyhow, Jordache (are they even around anymore?) had an ad for Jordache jeans for kids. The ad, I guess, showed a classroom full of little kids suddenly jumping up and singing the Jordache jeans theme song ("You've got the look I'd like to know better!") and there are close-ups of little girls' butts swinging around provocatively and little boys looking admiringly at them. My co-worker said there was an uproar about it.

And it ended with a very overtly sexual close-up on one girl in particular.

My mom actually got so pissed when she saw it that she wrote a letter to the network. And she NEVER usually did shit like that!

[whistletops]

Can someone enlighten me on the A Low Vera/Julia Roberts thing?

I must've missed that when it was all goin' down...

[Deleted]

I think the gist of it was something like...Danny Moder was still married to a woman named Vera when Julia decided she wanted him. When Vera was less than happy to grant a quickie divorce, Julia was pissed and wore a shirt in public that said "a low vera" (ha ha get it? A pun! Is she talking about lotion or a dirty playing person?) on the front knowing she'd be photographed. Apparently, the message got across and Vera granted the divorce. I think J Ro gave her like $100k as a settlement.

ETA the lesson is: don't mess with celebrities. If they want your spouse, don't put up a fight. Just hand over your husband or wife for fear you'll be publicly humiliated by a message t-shirt.

[Deleted]

I start foaming at the mouth whenever anyone brings up that A Low Vera incident. Seriously, how DID she get away with that? She's still portrayed as America's Sweetheart when she is actually a conniving bitch.

[january]

Reminding me of Nickelodeon, has anyone caught commercials for cds of popular songs, but sung by kids? Am I the only one disturbed that in one of them, Maroon 5's This Love was on there? Yes, the song with lyrics saying "pressure on your hips, stickin my fingertips, every inch of you cause I know that is what you want me to do". This particular cd also had Toxic. Yes, Toxic.

Those CDs creep the shit out of me. Those are eight-year-olds! Shouldn't they be singing "Old McDonald" or something? Aaagh.

I heard the story from a VH1 documentary on South Park, but I'm still not clear. Just how did those guys get away with saying "shit" over 100 times in that one episode? I keep hearing "shit" on basic cable now; I heard it during Sleepless in Seattle the other night. Is it okay to say that on TV now? Where have I been?

[mrpancake]

Well, maybe Cubans or Spaniards were treated differently, but my cousin married a Puerto Rican and her bigoted parents nearly disowned her.

My mom is Puerto Rican and Mexican and she said when she went to elementary school (early and mid 60s), people said some pretty derogatory things about her. But being Mexican is a lot different than being Spanish, as far as how they were/are treated in America.

[fflover]

Roman Polanski owns this thread. Not only is he an admitted child rapist who fled the country so he won't serve jail time, he has the English courts bending over backwards by allowing him to sue a magazine without facing arrest in their country by doing his testifying via video, and he has a standing ovation at the Oscars by his peers. He still has a career because A list actors still are dying to work with him, and he has the respect of many common people. Ugh. He got away with so many damn things that it makes my blood boil just thinking about how he is never going to get his comeuppance in any aspect of his life because people are so blinded by his apparent genius that he feels that he doesn't have to answer for his horrid crimes. It just saddens and angers me so much. In my opinion this instance was the worst of a celebrity getting away with it.

[schmoosie]

I heard the story from a VH1 documentary on South Park, but I'm still not clear. Just how did those guys get away with saying "shit" over 100 times in that one episode? I keep hearing "shit" on basic cable now; I heard it during Sleepless in Seattle the other night. Is it okay to say that on TV now? Where have I been?

Several weeks ago. I was watching The Banger Sisters (I didn't watch the whole thing), and in once scene Goldie's character says fuck. They didn't bleep it out so I was a bit surprised. I thought! Wow they've really started letting those kinds of words on regular tv (I've heard the F bomb slip by A LOT lately). I thought maybe they let it slide because it was after 10. I didn't watch the whole movie and it started playing again right after the first showing ended. I watched again long enough to see if they were going to bleep, and they did! I thought! What the hell?? SO NOW I can just imagine there is some bleeper person sitting out there going. "Hmmm I wonder if I can get away with this" lets not bleep out the fuck. LOL

Also, on some award show in the early evening awhile back Paris Hilton said the F bomb (like some little kid knowing she was being bad and not caring) and there was no flack at all about it. AND then there was the Motley Crue F-bomb on New Years Rockin Eve.