Rape: Both Marketable and Hilarious

Bitch reader Amy Pitts wrote in with a heads up on a new ad campaign from fancy messenger-bag peddler Timbuk2 that appears to play the rape of a teen for big yuks. Featuring a tear-stained, prom-dressed blond on one side of the page and a greasy, bewifebeatered guy on the left, the copy reads “Just like that jerk who stole your virginity, these bags are only around for a short time.”

A post on the site NowPublic quotes a Timbuk2 representative as saying that the folks behind the ad considered “softening the copy to something like… ‘just like that guy who never called…’” but noted that “The powers that be didn’t think it packed the same punch… or was as funny.” And boy, it certainly would be a shame not to mine “stolen” virginity for all the laughs you can.

Pitts says she was told that the company “was happy to see that ad go out.” So she wrote a letter to Timbuk2, and you can too at customerservice@timbuk2.com or pr@timbuk2.com. Or hell, call them up at 1-800-865-2513 and let them know just how funny insinuations of rape—whether they’re sellling overpriced bags or not—aren’t.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 11:43 am and is filed under Advertising, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.