Breaking down borders in video games.
Taco Bell Ad – A HUGE Border House success!
Last week, we posted a quick post about the transphobic Taco Bell commercial that I heard on my morning commute into work. Today, GLAAD has not only linked us as the most complete source of this offensive ad on the internet, but also announced that Taco Bell have removed this ad from the radio.
Spokesman for Taco Bell, Rob Poetsch, confirmed that descriptions of the ad by concerned advocates were accurate and quickly began the process of taking the ad off the air. He issued this statement to GLAAD late today.
“We sincerely apologize as the ad was not meant to offend anyone and as soon as it was brought to our attention, we immediately stopped airing it.”
This is an enormous win for the transgender community, and for the Border House. Directed to those who asked me, “Why are you wasting time posting about this? You’re giving it attention, which is what they want.”…this is EXACTLY why. Raising awareness is a huge step in moving forward with equality.
A big thank you to all of you who contacted Taco Bell about this. :) Good work, readers!
Related posts:
- Off-Topic: Taco Bell’s Transphobic Radio Commercial [This post is off-topic, as it doesn't involve games, social...
- Why The Border House has a need to exist When we first launched The Border House just over a...
- The Border House is Recruiting Writers! Now that we have gotten settled and have established a...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Cuppycake on January 13, 2010 at 4:54 pm, and is filed under Off-Topic. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
No trackbacks yet.
“Everyone is doing it” Stimulus Package advertisement
about 1 month ago - 18 comments
A television ad for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2′s DLC pack, the Stimulus Package, is using the idea of sex to sell their product. The ad involves an older man sitting in a chair, complaining about how “everyone is doing it”. The phrases he uses are meant to make the viewer assume he is
Seen: Nerd=Male, duh.
about 1 month ago - 15 comments
This morning, while reading webcomics in my Google Reader, I came across this little gem of an ad in my Questionable Content feed. “Nerds and lady-nerds”. You know, I usually don’t feel the need to append my gender to any identities or titles I might claim. I’m a geek, a nerd, a writer, a gamer,
Video: Bayonetta: Innovative Advertising or Sexual Harassment Training?
about 2 months ago - 14 comments
This video, from Feminist Frequency, was making the rounds this week. It discusses an advertising campaign in Japan to promote the videogame, Bayonetta, to which we’ve devoted a few blog posts. The video’s description reads: The widely popular video game Bayonetta has had an advertising campaign that matches the on screen sexism of the game
Fallout: New Vegas Set to Feature Transphobia?
about 2 months ago - 21 comments
A bit over a week ago, I read a preview of Fallout: New Vegas on GameDaily. At first, I was excited. I enjoyed Fallout 3 immensely and was looking forward to another dose of more of the same. Then I came to this paragraph: Over time, you learn that a crazy super mutant named Tabitha
Off-Topic: Taco Bell’s Transphobic Radio Commercial
about 6 months ago - 24 comments
[This post is off-topic, as it doesn't involve games, social media, or virtual worlds. However, I have yet to see this reported on the web - so I feel compelled to bring attention to it.] On my morning drive yesterday, I heard a radio commercial for Taco Bell that aggravated the heck out of me.
Rappelz, following Evony’s sexist footsteps
about 7 months ago - 18 comments
Over the past year, Evony has been under scrutiny (and for good reason) for their advertisements that feature scantily clad women and closeups of breasts to entice people to play their Civilization clone. Today, I saw an ad for Gala-Net’s Rappelz that seems to be following the same trends. The ad starts off with “Like
Why The Border House has a need to exist
about 7 months ago - 47 comments
When we first launched The Border House just over a week ago, I posted to the wow_ladies LiveJournal community about its existence. Being that the wow_ladies group is all female WoW gamers, some of whom identify as feminist – I figured this blog would be a great fit for them. One of the very
[Photo] King of Fighters female ‘figure’
about 8 months ago - 4 comments
A new “King of Fighters” figure coming out in Japan next year shows all. More like Queen of Fighters! (via Kotaku) Share This These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. Related posts:Media and “new” female gamers When turning on the television this past weekend I came…
about 6 months ago
I’m gonna eat a burrito to celebrate
about 6 months ago
or a nachos grande
about 6 months ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YCN-a0NsNk
about 6 months ago
Mad mad~ props!
-Ani8
about 6 months ago
win++;
about 6 months ago
Great news!
about 6 months ago
Win! Congrats and good work.
about 6 months ago
Woo! Awesome news! Thanks to all who wrote in to Taco Bell!
about 6 months ago
yay!
about 6 months ago
Excellent!
about 6 months ago
Oh, I don’t know if you know this, but IGN wrote an article talking about LGBT gamers and the abuse they get. Here’s the link: http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/106/1060720p1.html
about 6 months ago
I wrote that poorely. The article talks about homophobic slurs being used constantly in online games and it mentions different LGBT gamer websites and gamers talking about the homophobic slurs they’ve heard.
about 6 months ago
And as always the comment thread is a quagmire of fail. There are people who are like, “Yes this is a problem” and enough other people who are dismissive, silencing and just plain aggressively bigoted.
about 6 months ago
You are correct. With that said, I haven’t seen an article highlighting these issues on most “mainstream” websites, so I’d still consider the article a good thing.
about 6 months ago
Well done to you and to Border House !
about 6 months ago
Fantastic news. A win for Taco Bell, as well.
about 6 months ago
Awesome news!
about 6 months ago
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
about 6 months ago
I’ve been loving Border House ever since I found it.
But after watching this site help raise awareness about a dollop of transphobia in our culture, I absolutely want to hug you all. Thanks a bunch for doing your part. ::hugs::
about 6 months ago
What I hate is the “This was not meant to offend” which basically tells me that “didn’t do the research”. Or that they KNEW it was offensive and just wanted to see how long they can get away with it. Why don’t they ever do a test run on ads, I’m sure MANY people would have reported that as offensive if they did a survey of it.
It just shows me how INSENSITIVE these people really are if they can’t take a look at things and go “You think this will offend anyone?”
about 6 months ago
This is so awesome! I was appalled when I heard about the ad and at the same time sadly I have been numbed to this kinda thing. After a while a person gets used to being the subject of the joke and target of the punchline. I hadn’t even realized how much I back down and don’t confront these types of ads and this really makes me think twice about how passively I approach it.
about 6 months ago
I want to be happy, but the ad is still playing in Boise, Idaho as of January 19. Is there anything I can do locally?