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05. Winston Cigarettes - The Flintstones

Ah, those womenfolk sure do work hard, but hey, the guys do too. Somebody's gotta develop the lung cancer around here. After all, lung cancer doesn't develop itself. Oh, and hey, we're marketing cigarettes to children here, because those little shavers are gonna want a smoke after a long day of murdering people with their Mattel Tommy Gun.

04. Combos - Man Mom

In a not-so-distant future women will cease to exist, and without their wise influence, men will feast only on processed cheese paste-cracker hybrids and sports drinks like Brawndo, leading to the fall of human civilization in a scurvy-riddled plague.

03. Rose Petal Cottage

Little girls, realize your dreams of growing up to do household chores. There's no glass ceiling in the go-go world of homemaking. If that sentiment sounds antiquated, think again: this spot came out last year.

02. Mystery Date

Sometimes a commercial is sexist because the product itself is sexist. And so we come to Mystery Date. It's hard to tell to whom this would be more offensive. Is it more degrading to girls and their depiction of waiting for a cad with seventeen ponies worth of swoon? Or is it worse for the guys, who get reduced to either tuxedoed studs, perpetually skiing douchebags or duds who, because of their inability to tuck in a shirt, are completely unacceptable for procreating?

01. The Game of Life

Who let the squares in? It's like chess club versus the Aryan society. (I'm rooting for the squares, but only because I wear glasses just like those.) This commercial lays out the life options for boys and girls pretty simply:

Boy: Become a stock trader or millionaire.
Girl: Have twins (every player in Life must get married), go to the poor house or become a star (i.e. spend the best years of your life being hospitalized for "exhaustion" and the remainder as a talking head on VH1 specials).

The game of Life is supposed to mimic the real lessons of life. And in many ways it does:

1)Life is essentially based on random chance (you spin a wheel and pick cards that decide your fate).
2)Going to college does practically nothing to help you win the game of life.
3)And as this commercial ably demonstrates, in the end it's all about getting revenge. And thus, marriage was defined for the baby boomer generation.


Any other ads from today or yesteryear that made you stop and say, "damn, that there is sexist" come to mind?

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