April 18, 2011

Too Young To Hold Hands in the Philippines?

McDonald's Philippines ad screenshot

According to AdFreak, “McDonald’s, under pressure from Catholic leaders, has agreed to pull a TV commercial because it shows a young boy and girl having an innocent romance and almost holding hands.”

Here’s the ad:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Njqzj8b-o]

I have no idea what they’re saying, because I don’t speak the local lingo. AdFreak’s description is, “the girl asks the boy if she is his girlfriend, to which he replies: ‘I’m not ready. Girlfriends are demanding. They want this, they want that.’ Eventually he relents when she says she just wants french fries.”

Would that all relationships were so simple.

So what’s the big deal? AdFreak says that not one but two purveyors of piety poo-pooed the ad. “Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez condemned the ad for supposedly telling children that ‘it’s all right to enter into courtship, and it could pave the way for the very young to be lax and carefree,'” and “Father Melvin Castro echoed Iñiguez’s sentiments, claiming that the ad cheapens relationships.”

Hey! Those fries ain’t free buddy!

Because we like to add value here at DaddyTips, let’s take a look at the hand-holding. Or almost hand-holding.

Here is a screenshot of the miniature mandible moment:

McDonald's Philippines ad screenshot

Are they touching? We weren’t sure. So here is the image blown up to, um, a bigger size.

McDonald's Philippines ad screenshot enlarged

Still not sure? Let’s look even closer!

McDonald's Philippines ad screenshot even bigger

Oh. My. G-d. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Happy Meal, what is going on here? Is that boy trying to put his hand up up that girl’s dress? Is he attempting to touch her thigh? Is he? IS HE???

Yes, it’s OK to throw up in your mouth a little bit now.

Our deep DaddyTips depiction of McDonald’s Philippines ad clearly shows that the little boy may in fact be trying to hold hands with a little girl, who, according to AdFreak, is only interested in French Fries. (Hey, those fries are good.) And with all due respect to the religious figures who are freaking out over the issue of young love, in our analysis, there really isn’t anything going on here. If anything, one could argue that the ad does a nice job of reinforcing sexist stereotypes, which in general the church should be happy about. Remember, AdFreak’s translation of what the boy is saying is, “I’m not ready. Girlfriends are demanding. They want this, they want that.” Those silly wimmen. They just want stuff.

So no big deal. The church could have said something about the fact that McDonald’s food is insanely unhealthy for you. But why should they talk about something that actually matters?

AdFreak: McDonald’s pulls spot for its too-young love.


Post a Comment