Misogynistic candy?

[jay]

While in Gibraltar two weeks ago, I was looking for examples of British culture... not Milton or Shakespeare, but the sort of ephemeral culture that one can buy in a convenience store. Digestive biscuits. Tabloids. Bovril. And a couple of yellow-foiled candy bars... "Yorkies", some kind of honeycomb bar. Their slogan, blazoned across the bottom: "It's Not For Girls!" accompanied by a red slash through a miniskirted figure with a purse. On the reverse, next to the nutritional information was a smaller no-females icon with the slogan "Don't Feed The Birds!".

The latter is mystifying... unless somehow bird = woman in Yorkshire slang. The candy was made by Nestle, at an address in York. For anyone reading from the UK... have you seen this? Is this kind of perceived anti-female sentiment commonplace in advertising there? Am I reading too much into a simple confectionery?

Comments

[feline.livejournal.com]

I stumbled across your journal and yes, in fact, 'bird' is slang for woman. I'm not from the UK so I couldn't answer teh rest.

[mhw.livejournal.com]

No, you're quite right. "Bird" = "woman" in English slang, most often in a sexual context. "Let's go clubbing and see if we can pull a couple of birds" would be readily understood here.

See here (http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/tv/misc_tv/yorkie_bar_quot_not_for_girls_quot/) for discussion on the campaign.

No, I wouldn't say that that degree of blatant misogyny is a common feature of UK advertising.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Bird is common British slang for a woman, Nestle are a big chocolate company here, selling Yorkie bars. Their ad range in the 80s featured a big hunky trucker, with the idea that a Yorkie bar was such a hunk of chocolate it was a man's thing. I've not seen the recent ads, but chocolate ads in the UK have been passing strange of late so I wouldn't be surprised. Its supposed to be ironic, I would imagine, or just the usual surreal stuff dreamt up by ad-men..

[ame-chan.livejournal.com]

We are rather fond of Yorkie Bars and in fact, my girls both eat them with great relish and defiance. My oldest, So-chan, has one of the wrappers up on her bulletin board with all of her Girl Power stuff. I think it's pretty harmless.

bird does = girl in Britspeak, too.

[p3aches.livejournal.com]

what are the hard rock cafes like in spain?

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I don't really get this campaign, either - I mean, why alienate half your potential customers?

[trinker.livejournal.com]

There's a Pocky flavor called "Mens Pocky", which is dark chocolate.