Um… has anyone else seen this Lime-A-Way commercial?
Am I the only one that think it reeks of undertones of domestic violence? Like, why would you have to be embarrassed and lie about how you injured yourself if you had done so scrubbing hard water stains? You wouldn’t. And lying to cover up bruises and injuries is almost always associated with abusive situations. And it almost makes a joke of the fact that many, many, MANY women *do* have to come up with lies to explain away injuries suffered at the hands of their partner. Like Epiphora said, I don’t think it’s making fun of DV, per se, but I think it’s a poorly conceived and horribly insensitive ad, whether they intended to be or not. I’m sorry, but this rubs me the wrong way. Major fail, Lime-A-Way.
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9 Comments
To me it comes across as pretty light-hearted. Kind of like the woman is embarrassed that she hurt her arm scrubbing her shower so she’s making up elaborate things she could have done that broke her arm. I’d liken it to a commercial where a man hurt himself doing something ridiculous and lied about it to make himself seem more tough. The woman doesn’t want people to know her shower is that dirty, not that her husband beats the shit out of her because it’s not clean enough.
I don’t see it as “she gets beat because the tub isn’t clean enough.” I’m more disturbed by the fact that it makes light out of the fact that millions of women really DO have to make up excuses to hide the real cause of their injuries every day. It’s the stereotypical image of a battered woman, “Oh, I’m so clumsy!” “I ran into a door!” etc.
I’m pretty sure it’s not (intentionally OR unintentionally) making light of domestic violence. I think you’re letting your bias color how you perceive a pretty innocent commercial.
I am still in awe of how fucking weird this commercial is. I just can’t believe that they thought using imagery of someone breaking their arm from cleaning would help sell their product. I keep imagining how hard a person would have to scrub, and it is hella disturbing.
The point of this commercial is ‘Hey, you don’t have to scrub hard with our product lile you do with others! Buy it!’ It doesn’t ‘make light’ of anything. I think that being able to read rape & DV contexts into innocuous situations speaks more to the viewers mental state than it does to the company’s marketing choices.
I learned long ago that allowing your victimization to color the way you see EVERYTHING is not a fun way to live: I was molested by a family friend who I thought of as my grandfather. A few years ago, I was watching some made for tv movie & there was a scene where a grandfather put his granddaughter on his lap. It was a completely innocent scene, but it was a trigger for me. Was the script writer to blame? Was he/she insensitive to victims of molestation? No, it was MY way of thinking that was the problem. I started counseling soon after that & it has made all the difference in the world.
This does play on victims of abuse. Perhaps the ones who don’t think so have never witnessed abuse up close and personally.
It’s the child who has to make up stories why his arm is broken, “I fell on the swing” or the spouse that has to lie because her husband beat the shit out of her, “No, I was roller blading and fell”…. I have seen it. It is an ugly thing.
All this coming from a guy with a 14 year old’s sense of humor…it’s that fucking obvious!
Interesting analysis, but I think you’re overthinking it.
I watched it. She’s not referencing domestic abuse, she’s ashamed that she hurt her elbow/arm/wrist while doing something that embarrasses her, mainly scraping soap-scum off the shower. Do you think the women she bumped into in the supermarket (also wearing an arm sling) sympathized, and maybe had a similar injury? I do agree though, it’s a dopey add that goes along way to say very little. and her injury does take the matter away from the product. But I don’t care about the product. And by the way, how much soap scum could you have on a shower that you could hurt yourself removing it?
Eh… I’m kinda with Sarahbear, here. I know *I’d* be ashamed if my tub was so dirty that I injured my arm cleaning it. Ew.