Belvedere vodka was lambasted in the press last week after the company posted an ad on its Facebook page depicting a man grabbing a woman from behind. The copy on the ad, "Unlike some people, Belvedere always goes down smooth", led people to comment on Twitter and Facebook negatively, like this tweet from @hswindell that said:
@belvederevodka nope. Not "sorry we offended you." Try, "Sorry for our part in promoting rape culture. We will do better" #apologyfail
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The issue has gained so much international media backlash that the vodka company's home page features an apology from its president Charles Gibb, as well as a statement the the company has made a contribution to RAINN, America's largest anti-sexual violence organization.
Though Belvedere has pulled the ad in question, this is not exactly the first time that a company has used controversial or sexist tones to sell a product. In fact campaigns for alcohol especially feature scantily dressed women to sell their drinks to what seems like a male-dominated audience. Here are the ten we found the most offensive.
10. Bacardi Breezer gives a great new way to look better in time for beach season. Let's see... hit the gym? Train for a marathon? Stop eating junk food? Nah! Just place your pale beer gut body next to a fat ugly chick! See? You instantly look better in comparison!
9. In this classic Schlitz ad, the little woman can't do anything right. She burned the dinner, but thankfully, hubby can still get shit-faced on beer.
8. Svedka's robot has always creeped us out, so we're not sure why men would want to trade in their human wives for this piece of metal and plastic. We only guess that if you marry the fembot there's no messy divorce -- just an off switch.
7. Stil vodka seriously held a contest a few years ago where the grand prize was a trip to Russia to pick out a wife. And most companies just give out tickets to the Superbowl.
6. Here's a fun game for all you guys out there. Next time your wife or girlfriend is in a bad mood, just read her the copy from this ad and see if you can duck fast enough to not catch a fist in your face!
5. Why have one when you can have a whole six pack of skinny blondes?
4. As an extra bonus, every bottle of Wodka vodka comes with a free trip to the clinic of your choice for an STD test.
3. This ad features the unspoken reason why you should never party with relatives (ugh)!
2. We've gotta give props to this Budweiser billboard for being equally offensive to everyone in the Judeo-Christian population. It's not easy figuring out how to piss off just about everyone with only two lines of copy.
1. It's not booze, but coffee is a beverage and we're sure that this spanking ad pretty much violates every code of conduct imaginable.
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