Joe Boxer “Jingle Balls” ad illustrates gender double standard

With less than 20 shopping days until Christmas the seasonal advertising has been ratcheted up to maximum. Some are old tried and true – and a bit tired as well –  while others are making their first appearance. Among the newbies is an ad for Joe Boxer underwear that features a row of men in tuxedo tops and boxer shorts of various holiday colours. The lads shift their hips about, one assumes causing their testes to sway, resulting in a bell sound that one is lead to believe comes from their nether regions, their choir buttons, their ‘nads, their … well you get the idea. The bell sounds play Jingle Bells or perhaps Jingle Balls! (Thankfully they aren’t playing Jingle Bell Rock or God knows what they’d be shaking!)

Click on the photo to see the ad

A group of guys playing Jingle Bells with their nuts is fine, but can you imagine the hue and cry if the bell were on another body part, say a woman’s breast?

The ad is cute. The viewer is given the impression that the bell sounds are coming from the men’s shaken bollocks that are free to sway about in the boxers. These musical cojones are not offensive nor likely to attract any serious number of complaints. A group of guys playing Jingle Bells with their nuts is fine, but can you imagine the hue and cry if the bell were on another body part,  say a woman’s breast?

What if a tee-shirt company had a group of braless women, allowing for similar movement of “instruments”, allegedly playing Jingle Bells by moving the corresponding muscles so that their breasts moved much like the men’s testicles? Or maybe Once In Royal David’s Titty. A group of women playing Jingle Bells thus would have never made it to air, and if it did the uproar would be immediate and vociferous.

Bit of a double standard, no?

DCMontreal is a Montreal writer born and raised who likes to establish balance and juxtapositions; a bit of this and a bit of that, a dash of Yin and a soupçon of Yang, some Peaks and Freans and maybe a bit of a sting in the tail! Please follow DC on Twitter @DCMontreal and on Facebook, and add him on Google+