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EasyJet Subvert - Do It Yourself!

Katy | 28.06.2003 23:19 | Culture | Education

Have you seen this ad from EasyJet- a two-foot picture of a pair of breasts with the tag-line 'Discover Weapons of Mass Distraction'? We found that the ad was dehumanising and patriarchal, not to mention inane, and contributed nothing to the cultural or esthetic character of our community. So we altered it, and so can you! Write your own rant to paste over the ad or download the ready-made .rtf file!

Altered EasyJet Ad
Altered EasyJet Ad


If you can't download the file for some reason, the text is at the bottom of this posting. We used 28pt bold Times New Roman,and you have to reduce all the margins to 1cm to get all the text to fit on one page. Set the format to wide/landscape, not tall/portrait.

To make the text big enough to (mostly) cover up the two-foot disembodied breasts: print it off on a normal A4 sheet (wide not tall). Cut the sheet in half to create two A5 sheets. Use a photocopier to blow each one up to A3 (ask someone at the librairy/newsagent for help with this). Tape them back together. Stick them on with wallpaper paste (costs about £2 from DIY shops).

Here's the text of the subvert, please alter it to more accurately reflect your own sense of outrage:




Thank you, EasyJet, for this sexist, dated image which you have imposed upon our community. I thought this kind of blatant, woman-as-a-piece-of-meat imagery disappeared in the seventies. It’s nice to know that, even in these modern times, corporations can still be counted upon to undo fifty years of Womens’ Liberation in order to make an EasyAdvertisingGimmick. I guess peddling this kind of EasySleaze is Easy-er than coming up with a real ad design. Every time I walk past this ad, I contemplate how the female body has once again been commodified and devalued by some corporation out to make an EasyBuck, while promoting cheap short-distance flights at a time when greenhouse emissions from your EasyJets contribute to climate change at an unprecedented rate, almost certainly leading to EasyMajor-Climatic-Disasters-And-Large-Scale-Environmental-Devastation within my lifetime.

Katy

Comments

Hide the following 7 comments

Can't see the image

29.06.2003 00:05

Can't see the image - was it uploaded ok?

jan


Why not be concise?

29.06.2003 00:07

The whole point of subvertising is to demolish the corporate bollocks in just one sentence. Do you really think the average tired commuter would read all of your ramblings?

short & to the point


We are one sisters!

29.06.2003 01:54

WIMMIN YOONITE!

Millicent Tant


fantastic

30.06.2003 08:18

Thanks for taking out this despicable ad; I think the length is really effective,
and that there shouldn't be any rules about how a subvert should or shouldn't work.
After all, there's usually plenty of time before the next bus rolls along.

But how great would it be to see this text pasted over one of the massive billboard versions of the ad?

Nice one...

Harry from London Rising Tide
mail e-mail: london@risingtide.org.uk
- Homepage: http://www.burningplanet.net


Come off it guys

30.06.2003 20:03

Guys, no offence but I think whoever initiated this attack against Easyjet is either a complete hypocrite, completely detached from reality or acting on behalf of rival airlines.

Is EasyJet the only company attempting to use sex to sell?

This has been happening for the last 50 years!
Look around you!

Duhhhhhhhh

john smith


Oh dear, Oh dear

03.07.2003 11:49

You wimmin really do not do you yourself any favours by having a rant at this sort of very tame advertising. If it had been a picture of a blokes underwear with a big package would you be complaining about that as well?


Nelster


They use sex because it works

17.08.2004 14:43

Andrea Dworkins would be thrilled by the outrage this advert has caused. However, half the population aren't offended by the sight of a woman's breasts, and half of the other half are looking enviously, wishing they didn't sag where the subject of the advert doesn't. No-one is making you fly EasyJet. If they've offended you that much, fly Virgin.

Richard Roper