sexist

Late last week, I talked about how, even as a guy, I know that ads for women's hygiene products are silly. Now, I'm going to talk about an advertiser that hasn't been very fair to the fairer sex for decades: Folgers.

We've written about the supermarket coffee brand's saccharine-sweet advertising before. But one thing we haven't explored with their "playing to middle America" series of ads is how poorly women come off in most of them.

Take this ad that debuted late in 2009 and has been airing incessantly ever since:



At first, it looks like a sweet and kind of old-fashioned spot, with a well-meaning if slightly over-protective dad telling his little girl that her new fiance went to him for his blessing to take her hand in marriage. But one line in the ad drives me batty: After the dad says to his daughter that she was out late the night before, she holds out the ring and says "well, you're not gonna have to worry about that anymore."

Oprah is changing up her scheduled programming today in order to interview members of the Rutgers women's basketball team. The women were the subject of a racial and sexist slur by radio host Don Imus recently. On his show, Imus inexplicably called them "nappy-headed hos" after they lost the NCAA women's championship game. As a result, he was suspended by CBS Radio and has been fired by MSNBC.

Today, coach Vivian Stringer and ten players will appear on Oprah via satellite. It's only the second time they have spoken out in response to Imus' April 4th comments. Yesterday, the coach and several players said they found Imus' comments to be hurtful and insensitive.

Does Imus also deserve a live-via-satellite interview with Oprah?

(S17E19) "Honey, you're just as smart as a man. Sometimes when I'm with you I feel like I'm doing it with a dude." --Homer, to Marge

Last night's episode grew on me slowly. To quote Lisa from an early episode, it started off kind of "meh" but by the end I was drawn into its hysterical appraisal of both sexes and their inherent flaws. The Itchy and Scratchy musical at the beginning had some moments that cracked me up, but spoofing the Lion King musical seems like an idea whose time had passed long ago.