Are the Droid commercials offensive?

[Milehighjc]

The stereotypical man likes to build stuff with wood, they like to design the bud light cooler that doubles as a grill and they like to fix things that are not broken, hence our propensity on forums like these to root our phones, overclock our computers and not read the instruction manual.
...

Oh I forgot to add that I eat meat and I like it. Go America.

Laughing so damn hard I think I just split something... I resemble those two remarks! Didn't even realize that was another reason I liked the droid. No manual in the box. Who needs a manual!

jc

 

[keiichi25]

Well, I am a 37 year old male and personally, I found the ads in general to be more Male Centric for sure. Of course, I don't really find it offensive, but then again, being a male, of course, some might consider us guys just completely insensitive to the whole thing.

But then again, we also live in a world where people make their own interpretations of what something is about.

Case in point, when the movie, 300, came out. I believe it was either the Iraqi or Iranian Minister of Culture flat out believe the movie was a slander towards Persians. The movie was made to make all Persians look bad in general and defaming their history.

Sad thing of it all, 300 was Frank Miller's stylized retelling of the original story of the Spartans epic story of holding the Persians with only 300 or so soldiers. He wrote that Graphic Novel about 1998, and was inspired by an older 1962 Movie depicting the same story. While the style of the story depicts the Persians as being 'evil' in the sense of style and mannerisms, it is also the style i which Frank Miller puts in quite a lot of his stories. His stories tends to epitomize the 'hero' side strongly, and demonize the 'villain' or antagonist.

So what does this have to do with the Commercials? Same thing. The commercials for the Droid focus on what the Droid is or hitting people they want, and that is the people who are practical, who want nitty gritty. The iPhone or competition is all about 'looks'. And frankly, in some ways, it is just that, the iPhone is simple and nice looking. The Droid isn't "simple" and "pretty", it is being promoted to 'doing more'.

 

[LordKastle]

All you have to do to look towards the validity of the Droid is to see the response from Apple. For the first time in its existence Apple (iPhone related) has gone on the defensive dealing with a competitor. This doesn't mean anything except finally there is a war to be fought...for this generation.

No HTC Phone, no BB, no Samsung, no anything ever brought Apple/AT&T to the media to defend and put out competing propaganda. "Better" is nothing more than opinion but one thing that cannot be denied is Apple/AT&T for the first time made a decisive attempt to strike back...because they were threatened.

 

[Monstrosity]

So because the droid wants performance over prettyness means its sexist? That makes me LOL.

 

[goonygugle]

Ok, so. I know this a forum full of dudes and all that good stuff. And nothing I, or blog lady, says is gonna change that. But this is a forum and I'm gonna add my two cents since all you dudes are too.

Honestly, when I watched the commercial for the first time, I found myself getting offended. I'm not easily offended on the subject of feminism, because, well...shut the **** up and do something about it.

Here is why I am offended. The ad clearly says. iPhone = woman, Droid = man. Droid = better, therefore (obviously), Man = better. Obviously, I think the Droid is better or I wouldn't be here. I'm an Android junkie through and through, I like the way the phone looks, I like the keyboard, I like the metal. I don't like rounded iPhone corners or shiny plastic. But something that says, in not very thinly veiled english, women suck and are dumb, and men are smart and do things, IS OFFENSIVE.

Think of your wives and your kids and your women friends, are they retarded and would never like a Droid? Think of those dudes you know that are obsessed with their iPhones. This phone war isn't about women vs. men, it's about the best operating system and the best hardware, and making it into that only perpetuates the stereotype that women are stupid.

in the words of my wife "REALLY?"

 

[keiichi25]

All you have to do to look towards the validity of the Droid is to see the response from Apple. For the first time in its existence Apple (iPhone related) has gone on the defensive dealing with a competitor. This doesn't mean anything except finally there is a war to be fought...for this generation.

No HTC Phone, no BB, no Samsung, no anything ever brought Apple/AT&T to the media to defend and put out competing propaganda. "Better" is nothing more than opinion but one thing that cannot be denied is Apple/AT&T for the first time made a decisive attempt to strike back...because they were threatened.

Well... To be honest, Apple and AT&T are targeting Droid/Verizon because it was also Droid/Verizon that targeted them first.

Verizon started it with the Map Comparisons. Droid aimed at the iPhone with the "iDon't" Commercial. Failure with the Cease and Desist Lawsuit on Verizon, AT&T next result was to attack back with its own campaign of ads to deflect the ads that Verizon has been putting up as a literal viral advertising as well as to defuse the Droid Hype.

HTC's Phone ads never targeted the iPhone nor has Samsung or Blackberry. HTC's have mostly been Windows Mobile phones, along with Samsung's Blackjack, which some are part of the AT&T line, therefore, not an issue. The HTC 'The phone that gets you' commercials have been aiming more on just appealing to the general public over 'just a phone' to a phone you can customize to get you. T-Mobile's MyTouch Campaign only highlighted it was a Google based phone and it could be setup to individual's taste, but in both the HTC and T-Mobile MyTouch campaigns never really made much of the Android based phone, it just made it out to be 'yet another wannabe smartphone.'

Blackberries have had their nitch as far as business is concerned so they were hardly a threat to iPhone in general, and to be honest, the Blackberry is late getting into the general population consumer market. It's Storm 2, even with the new BB OS 5, is still too sluggish to be a concern for AT&T, let alone iPhone when it comes to being General Consumer market competitor to the iPhone.

The Motorola Droid "iDon't" commercial, really made heads go "What is that?". The fact it literally poked at the iPhone, it made itself 'compare' against the iPhone, therefore, made it stand out and be a threat to the iPhone, even though the Android phones have been around a year or two before Motorola Droid was.

I never linked MyTouch or the HTC based phones until AFTER seeing the HTC Eris at the store next to the Motorola Droid and from reading the forums.

This is where AT&T and Apple felt the threat, because now there is actual 'interest' in something that is similar. The Windows Mobile platform was going through too many iterations to be reasonable for some people and the Palm got into the game way too late, even with their Treo. The droid's reviews, both good and bad, were at least more interesting to look into than any other phone to date.

 

[jblaa]

^^so all women are princesses or tiara wearing beauty queens? That's basically what you're saying.

Obviously, that's not what I'm saying, just like all dudes aren't saws that mutilate ripe bananas.

The commercial makes gender roles binary, when they are not. It doesn't leave all this wiggle room that we seem to be imagining. Brains make connections when we watch commercials like this, and like it or not, the obvious conclusion that one can make is that all women are princesses and all dudes are tanks.

This was the only Droid ad the offended me in the slightest, but we need to realize that commercials do things to our subconscious that we don't even know about.

My sister is a "tiara wearing beauty queens" and has no problems with the commercial or the term "tiara wearing beauty queen". If you're going to be up in arms about something, try focusing your attention to something more substantial.

There are many serious examples of sexism out there that really strike a blow to the progress women have made. Getting all fired up over something as trite and meaningless at this only hinders that progress by blinding everyone to the real issues at hand.

 

[atomicwedgie]

My wife, who is an executive in Manhattan, found nothing offensive about it so I'm in the clear.

 

[LordKastle]

Apple/AT&T have always ignored the competition. It has to with more than simply being "struck first." When the Blackberry storm was released there was plenty of propoganda spewed during its initial release. The media is always looking for an "iPhone killer."

The reason why HTC, Samsung, and others never had a direct assault is because they very well knew they couldn't stand up to the scrutiny when it came down to the battle in the trenches (there were simply too many cracks in their armor). Verizon, not Motorola..is what pushed the motorola Droid to be the competitor...and there was a reason for this.

Verizon was planning on doing this with the Storm 1..after all it had the cult following of Blackberry users already and a classy reputation. The problem? After its release it turned in to a dud.

 

[Colin]

to action sports (skating, snowboarding...) people, to gearheads (tuning and racing cars, bicycles, motocycles...).

There clearly is a target audience for these ads, I simply am unsure of who that group is. Cause it's not me, and not anyone I know. Possibly some of my co-workers or friends of friends but it's hard to tell. In my eyes these ads fit in line with something I'd expect to be marketed to gamers - but I could be way off base there.

.

definitely marketed to this group. The commercials are raw. Guys getting knocked out, gears, grease, sparks, explosions, v.o actor, steel, stealth bombers etc etc...

It appealed to me because I myself have a VERY action orientated mindset. Sports, cars, speed, jet fighters, UFC so on and so forth.

Like I posted before the phone did extremely well with Males 18 +....key thing is male. The ads are no doubt geared towards males and you fall into that category : )

Interesting we are having this discussion because I posted an article on this very thing yesterday. check out the link

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...-brand-loyalty-among-men-18-passes-apple.html

Yeah, maybe the people I know are just different and on paper fit into those groups but don't actually act the same way as the group as a whole. In regard to the gearheads thing... the people I know are fabricators and race car drivers we like Forumla 1 and Top Gear (BBC), not Nascar. We don't drive wrecklessly, we don't street race, we didn't like the movie transformers and hated the Fast and Furious movies. We don't want to watch the Blue Angels or Top Gun but would love to be there with the engineers wind tunnel testing wing profiles.

 

[cereal killer]

to action sports (skating, snowboarding...) people, to gearheads (tuning and racing cars, bicycles, motocycles...).

There clearly is a target audience for these ads, I simply am unsure of who that group is. Cause it's not me, and not anyone I know. Possibly some of my co-workers or friends of friends but it's hard to tell. In my eyes these ads fit in line with something I'd expect to be marketed to gamers - but I could be way off base there.

.

definitely marketed to this group. The commercials are raw. Guys getting knocked out, gears, grease, sparks, explosions, v.o actor, steel, stealth bombers etc etc...

It appealed to me because I myself have a VERY action orientated mindset. Sports, cars, speed, jet fighters, UFC so on and so forth.

Like I posted before the phone did extremely well with Males 18 +....key thing is male. The ads are no doubt geared towards males and you fall into that category : )

Interesting we are having this discussion because I posted an article on this very thing yesterday. check out the link

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...-brand-loyalty-among-men-18-passes-apple.html

Yeah, maybe the people I know are just different and on paper fit into those groups but don't actually act the same way as the group as a whole. In regard to the gearheads thing... the people I know are fabricators and race car drivers we like Forumla 1 and Top Gear (BBC), not Nascar. We don't drive wrecklessly, we don't street race, we didn't like the movie transformers and hated the Fast and Furious movies. We don't want to watch the Blue Angels or Top Gun but would love to be there with the engineers wind tunnel testing wing profiles.

you are more cerebral : )

I'm more of the type that likes to get down and dirty in the trenches.

You'll build it and I'll race it kind of thing.

I understand where you are coming from.

 

[Colin]

Oh, forgot to comment about your Moto post... I actually realized that my last 3 phones have all been motorolas.

E815
Z6C World Edition
Droid

I'm definitely not loyal to that brand but everytime I've needed a phone they seem to have the best one for me in regard to price, build quality, and specs. I'd switch to any brand in a second if they had something I felt was better. Funny cause I used to think of myself as not liking the Moto phones, I really liked my old LG (4600 I think?) and hated switching but the other LG's seemed to suck for one reason or another and the E815 was getting great reviews.

 

[windstrings]

Well... To be honest, Apple and AT&T are targeting Droid/Verizon because it was also Droid/Verizon that targeted them first.

Verizon started it with the Map Comparisons. Droid aimed at the iPhone with the "iDon't" Commercial. Failure with the Cease and Desist Lawsuit on Verizon, AT&T next result was to attack back with its own campaign of ads to deflect the ads that Verizon has been putting up as a literal viral advertising as well as to defuse the Droid Hype.

For what it matters IMO I disagree on this point.

AT&T kept taunting the lie that it has the fastest 3G network.. playing on the ignorance of the public by implying that no matter where your at, AT&T was the fastest when In reality they have many holes in their service where there is no speed at all because there is no service!
They did it for quite and while and even I got tired of hearing it.

I guess you can say anything you want as long as no one will sue you and take your money, who cares if there is any truth in it right?

So now Verizon put out the coverage map that implies that you can't even make a phone call unless your in the 3g coverage area, when in reality normal phone extends beyond their weak 3g coverage areas.

AT&T can dish it out but can't take playing hardball. Most bullies are that way..
In fact the Verizon spokesperson "female" even alluded to that fact that AT&T kept claiming the fastest 3G network and that had no foundation when discussing the lawsuit with the press. Possibly some of the reason AT&T lost the lawsuit.

While there are possibly more geeks, technicians, and technical people that are male, that's not really the point.

Pretty in a woman's eyes.... or "cool" in a mans eyes. Both are examples of admiration from two different sexes.

The droid is definitely "cool" in the fact that its heavy, beefy, and feels like its made with quality rather than with budget parts and plastic.

If you call that masculine.. so be it.
For what it matters when I turn mine on with GDE in cube mode, its both pretty and Cool at the same time, and fast too!.... I guess that means its pretty cool!

 

[keiichi25]

Apple/AT&T have always ignored the competition. It has to with more than simply being "struck first." When the Blackberry storm was released there was plenty of propoganda spewed during its initial release. The media is always looking for an "iPhone killer."

The reason why HTC, Samsung, and others never had a direct assault is because they very well knew they couldn't stand up to the scrutiny when it came down to the battle in the trenches (there were simply too many cracks in their armor). Verizon, not Motorola..is what pushed the motorola Droid to be the competitor...and there was a reason for this.

Verizon was planning on doing this with the Storm 1..after all it had the cult following of Blackberry users already and a classy reputation. The problem? After its release it turned in to a dud.

Uhm... No.

Verizon hyped up the Storm with being on the most reliable 3G network. But in all honesty, they never targeted the iPhone, they commented on how it was a Blackberry, but not the same kind of blackberry before.

Even with their Storm 2 Commercial, it never directly poked at the iPhone at all. Only their Motorola Droid commercial with "iDon't" first and following it up with what the droid does commercials, focusing on the Android OS 2.0's features to show that it is on par, if not better than an iPhone in doing.

Verizon and Blackberry never went much further than introducing the first touch screen Blackberry will be with the Verizon network, never mind the fact Blackberries are used on T-mobile, Sprint and AT&T as well as Verizon, so they couldn't really call it an iPhone Killer or competitor.

And again, HTC had several phones with the other companies as well, in fact the MyTouch is, strangely enough, an HTC phone (A co-worker here has it), as well as HTC has their hand in Windows Mobile. And again, HTC is with a few providers, which includes Sprint, AT&T and T-mobile.

 

[keiichi25]

Well... To be honest, Apple and AT&T are targeting Droid/Verizon because it was also Droid/Verizon that targeted them first.

Verizon started it with the Map Comparisons. Droid aimed at the iPhone with the "iDon't" Commercial. Failure with the Cease and Desist Lawsuit on Verizon, AT&T next result was to attack back with its own campaign of ads to deflect the ads that Verizon has been putting up as a literal viral advertising as well as to defuse the Droid Hype.

For what it matters IMO I disagree on this point.

AT&T kept taunting the lie that it has the fastest 3G network.. playing on the ignorace of the public by implying that no matter where your at, AT&T was the fastest when I reality they have many holes in thier service where there is no speed at all because there is no service!
They did it for quite and while and even I got tired of hearing it.
I guess you can say anything you want as long as no one will sue you and take your money, who cares if there is any truth in it right?

So now Verizon put out the coverage map that implies that you can't even make a phone call unless your in the 3g coverage area, when in reality normal phone extends beyond their weak 3g coverage areas.

AT&T can dish it out but can't take playing hardball. Most bullies are that way..
In fact the Verizon spokesperson "female" even alluded to that fact that AT&T kept claiming the fastest 3G network and that had no foundation when discussing the lawsuit with the press. Possibly some of the reason AT&T lost the lawsuit.

While there are possibly more geeks, technicians, and technical people that are male, that's not really the point.

Pretty in a woman's eyes.... or "cool" in a mans eyes. Both are examples of admiration from two different sexes.

The droid is definitely "cool" in the fact that its heavy, beefy, and feels like its made with quality rather than with budget parts and plastic.

If you call that masculine.. so be it.
For what it matters when I turn mine on with GDE in cube mode, its both pretty and Cool at the same time, and fast too!.... I guess that means its pretty cool!

Actually, no... AT&T never directly pointed that to any one given company. They claimed they had the fastest 3G network, never against who. They also claimed 'more bars in more areas', but also put in a small text disclaimer that may vary in the US.

Verizon literally went out of their way to point out coverage map, which also stated, in small text, based on Square foot coverage, which means, while in broad sense, the coverage is much more, but where it 'counts' for Verizon, their coverage was much stronger. Add to that, the "iDon't" commercials was a literal jab at the iPhone.

As far as the lawsuit, if I recall correctly, the issue was AT&T claiming false claims by Verizon with regards to the map. The problem was, it was shot down because of the publically available information verified the accuracy of the map with regards to the stipulation they put in. As I stated before, the 'disclaimer text' is what shot down AT&T's case more so than anything else.

Getting back to the point at hand, I don't find the commercial offensive, but being a guy, that doesn't mean much as it also means most men are 'insensitive' to things of this nature. The ad is definitely trying to hit on the male ego of being simply, "It's a working phone, not a fashion statement."