Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Sex and Vegetables

New York Magazine's Vulture blog reported today NBC's decision to reject a PETA advertisement that sported scantily clad women aroused by vegetables, with the tagline, 'vegetarians have better sex.' Citing "rubbing pelvic region with pumpkin," "licking eggplant," and "screwing herself with broccoli (fuzzy)" as reasons to not accept the ad, NBC proved to be both liberally blunt with their choice of words and rigidly conservative in their rejection of a hilarious ad that certainly would spark conversation about healthy eating habits...among other things.


'Veggie Love': PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad


In all due fairness, as a "family affair" (which is a ridiculous assumption of traditional sex-less values), the decision not to have the ad during the Super Bowl is not surprising, but the ad is actually an ingenious take on the sexuality of advertising and the sensuality of food. No matter your opinion on PETA, this is yet another reminder of our nation's fear of female sexuality. And perhaps also PETA, as this is not the organization's first ad banned from the airwaves. For the rest of the videos, check out the PETA site.

In the midst of roughly four hours of men beating each other in sport, backlashes come out when a breast is exposed for a split second, so quickly most people probably didn't notice until it was in the news later. But the discussion about it burned it into our brains forever. Janet and her nipple accessory. If any child missed it, hir parents ensured ze got to see it over and over again during the aftermath. And now we can't handle women in lingerie with vegetables for 30 seconds.

Perhaps we would be a healthier, less violent, and more pleasant population if we embraced the natural and enjoyable necessity of sex instead of the Doritos-eating, Budweiser-drinking, Boob-Tube-watching, couch-potato-inducing events such as the Super Bowl. Alas.

While I could take the flip side of the coin and argue against the ad's objectification of the female form yadda yadda, I won't. Because as Ross aptly stated, "that is an ad." So while none of us will see it this Sunday during the game, props to PETA for their inventiveness in making vegetarianism never seem more enticing.