While the majority of the TV-viewing public was busy either photoshopping Katy Perry onto the “The More You Know” star or coming to grips with the idea that their children could easily be crushed to death by the same TV reminding them of their children’s mortality during Super Bowl XLIX last night, a small, dedicated group of online complainers were standing up to the injustice of a product designed for use by women not catering to men in its advertising.
That would be the creators of the hashtag #LikeABoy, the “meninist” response to an Always Super Bowl ad that wants to re-contextualize the negative connotations of the phrase “— like a girl” with the hashtag #LikeAGirl. (It also wants to sell menstrual pads.) Some might argue that labeling any behavior explicitly “masculine” or “feminine” hurts all people by trapping them in a narrowly defined set of impossible-to-realize cultural expectations, and that breaking down the gender binary would help men as well as women by freeing them from the constraints of stereotypical masculinity. Others might argue that “like a boy” is not used as an insult in the same manner as “like a girl,” particularly in a sports setting. But a third group argues that a feminine hygiene ad that doesn’t speak to the male experience is inherently offensive. That latter group sure does like to tweet, and people offended by their offense like to tweet back at them.
Later in the broadcast, a Sarah Silverman joke was inserted into a T-Mobile ad, and from their chalet nestled high in the Alps the Illuminati toasted to their own cleverness. Their plan to keep the populace drunk on Budweiser and arguing amongst themselves so they could never unite in revolution was working perfectly. In exchange for her cooperation, Katy Perry‘s application would now be approved.