It’s that time of the year again. The mall is jam packed with holiday shoppers, the stores smell like gingerbread houses and date rape jokes are acceptable.
What, date rape jokes don’t sound like holiday spirit to you? Then why is “Baby It’s Cold Outside” still widely overplayed? Why is a shocking Bloomingdale’s ad telling their consumers to spike their friends’ drinks?
You may not have seen the creepy ad because the trending controversial holiday news has been shifted to the much more relevant Starbucks red cup drama, so here’s a quick recap of it. A Bloomingdale’s catalog featured an innocent picture of a woman laughing and a man looking at her. The caption reads, “Spike your best friend’s eggnog when they’re not looking.” I’m not quite sure if I find it more alarming that nobody in all of Bloomingdale’s thought that maybe this ad wasn’t the best idea or the fact that this story stayed out of the lime light.
I’m not too shocked that there was an air of acceptance for the ad because date rape culture is still extremely present and not questioned all too intensely. Like I said before, “Baby It’s Cold Outside” has countless renditions from Zooey Deschanel in “Elf” to children lip-synching to Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé’s version in a music video. A song that not only is based around a female repeatedly saying no, but literally has a line with her questioning “Hey what’s in this drink?” While I can understand that the song was written in a different time when date rape culture wasn’t as questioned, I can’t comprehend why we are still coming out with songs and ads that promote the same message.
We cannot in the 21st century continue with the mistakes of the past. Date rape culture cannot afford to be perpetuated by the mainstream. I think everyone can agree that jokes about rape just aren’t funny. They have no place in advertising. Ignorance is no excuse for disgusting ads to be produced.