This was entirely predictable. Axe, the deodorant company with the really horrible sexist ads, is doing something admirable, sponsoring a contest to send people to a space camp in Florida. They’re doing it with a poll, unfortunately (please, people, just stop! Popularity contests are not measures of merit!), and the one woman in the Malaysian contest got a flood of sexist remarks — tampon jokes and that sort of thing. Apparently, having human physiology disqualifies you from being an astronaut. Clearly these arguments are being made by anti-human robots! Someone needs to point out that all of the contestants poop and pee and sweat and drool and sneeze, and some of them even ejaculate.
You know what to do. Vote (on Facebook, which means a lot of you won’t be able to). The backlash is already favoring Roshini Muniam (Rose), so I think you’ll be just adding the final fillip, but that’s OK.
Adam 15198
Han 10950
Firdaus 28620
Rose 41217
Ishyhara Rio 26479
theoreticalgrrrl says
Just voted. :) Remember you can vote once every hour!
theoreticalgrrrl says
p.s. I hate those AXE commercials.
Lars says
Hm. The Axe poll wants access to my contacts before it lets me look at it. I’m not sure what it can do with them, and I guess I’ll never know, because that’s out of the question.
theoreticalgrrrl says
@Lars
The plan is to be able to send you and your friends coupons for $1.50 off your next Axe purchase.
bruceheerssen says
I would like to help, but as Lars already said, Axe wants my friends list. I’m not giving them that, even for a good cause.
bruceheerssen says
theoreticalgrrrl, perhaps so, but that is, IMO, entirely too cheap. ;)
Lynna, OM says
Yeah, access to the poll was dependent on giving Axe access to my friends list. So, no, not going to do that. I later received a notice that the Axe poll was “misconfigured.”
A Surprise to Many (formerly Mattir) says
Not gonna give Axe my friends list.
I did discover this summer, at Boy Scout camp, that Axe Anarchy for Her, in its nice pink can, makes an excellent flame thrower. Only good use I’ve found for such products.
John Horstman says
@Lars #3: The plan, as with all special offers, polls, etc. through Facebook is to get you to give them permission to harvest your user data to use for market research and targeted advertising. Access to one’s account name is the only thing they need to verify identity and prevent double-voting; treat anything else with intense suspicion. (Sadly, I was not able to play the fun-sounding alien-language-decoding (letter substitution) puzzles on the Futurama page, because Comedy Central wanted access to gads of my personal info. Asshats.)
Also, fuck Axe and its deplorable sexist bullshit.
Ibis3, Let's burn some bridges says
Sadly, Axe (aka Misogynist Body Stuff for Men) is made by Unilever, the same people who make “feel-good” Dove (aka We’re So Feminist You Can Trust Us Skin Care for Women). The hypocrisy makes me sick.
Samuel Vimes says
I created a FB account just so I could vote for Rose. Apparently, one may vote every hour, so I’ll be voting for her a few more times today, and if I remember, a few times every day until the contest closes.
Caine, Fleur du mal says
Ibis3:
Isn’t it Dove who does those incredibly stupid ads for men, saying that ‘man hide’ is oh so special, blah blah blah?
microraptor says
I believe so.
I can’t stand Axe. Not only do they have the jaw droppingly sexist commercials that everyone has already complained about, their deodorant stinks. One of my sister’s former boyfriends left a container in my car after I gave them a lift and I opened it and immediately regretted having done so. I can’t imagine why anyone would voluntarily wear it.
Caine, Fleur du mal says
Microraptor:
For those old enough to remember, the Axe thing reminds me of the Hai Karate ad campaigns. Brut ad campaigns weren’t any better. Some things just don’t change.
MJP says
AXE logic: if you smell like a dry erase marker, hundreds of good-looking women will come from miles around to chase you down and have sex with you.
moarscienceplz says
Nope, not gonna get a Facebook account. Wouldn’t be prudent.
PDX_Greg says
Knew that facebook account would be useful for something some year. Voted once, will do again. Go Rose!
JohnnieCanuck says
Friends don’t give friend’s names to marketing departments to use and sell however they want.
Ichthyic says
my ADD compels me to blurt out…
poleaxe
that is all.
Ichthyic says
confirmed.
friend game me an “axe pack” for my birthday a couple years back… all it took was opening it to tell I would NOT want that smell on me :)
but, i suppose it’s the thought that counts…
Caine, Fleur du mal says
Ichthyic:
In that case, it was a bad thought.
mrpeach says
It’s stuff like this that keeps me coming back to Pharyngula!
Richard Smith says
If they allowed write-ins, I’d nominate the frog…
Samuel Vimes says
@Richard Smith
Sir, I like the way you think.
Usernames are smart says
HOW TO USE FACEBOOK TO VOTE
1. Create fake facebook account using “realish” name and working email address that isn’t you*
2. DO NOT friend anyone
3. Sign up to vote
4. Friends? Sure, you can access my “friends” list.
5. Vote. Every hour
*You’ll get deleted otherwise