Sexist Australian Ads

In bwhaley’s famous blog, “A White Boy in Japan,” he often posted photos of Japanese advertisements that didn’t quite make sense in English. This has inspired me to begin an advertising segment of my own, in which I showcase the many chauvinistic Australian ads I’ve been encountering. They’re kind of amazing in their overtness. These first few ads are copies from the Internet – I didn’t have my camera with me when I saw them. I will be more vigilant in the future.

STA Travel
Originally an Australian company; it used to stand for “Student Travel Australia.” These ads are everywhere in Brisbane. And it really speaks for itself… (click to enlarge)



Australian Army
There’s a whole series of these Angelina Jolie recruitment ads – kind of a sexy take-off of Uncle Sam’s “I want you.” My question: what is she holding, and, more importantly, whose shoes are those?? Are they stepping on her?



Today I saw an ad for Boost Juice (an Australian smoothie bar) where a girl was holding a banana to her face, and the caption read, “It was good for me, was it good for you?” It didn’t make sense to me at all, and the banana was disturbingly phallic.