Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Georges Laraque Offends Feminists

From the "Are you freakin' kidding me file"....

Montreal Canadiens forward Georges Laraque has apologized for appearing in an internet commercial that a women's rights group says sends the wrong message about women.

Before I comment, why not have a look at the one minute advertisement for Octane 7.0.



Now...the only things that upset me about seeing this commercial are as follows:

1. Georges appears to have better puck-handling skills on dry land than he does on the ice during a real NHL hockey game.

2. Laraque didn't drop the gloves and jersey one of his opponents.

3. No rubdowns on the trainers bench following the game.

But seriously, what is the big deal?

Sure the video shows a team of scantily clad young women preparing for and playing some street hockey. Laraque shows up in time with the beverage he's promoting and sets the cans up as goal posts for an impromptu game with the ladies.

I think this just shows how nice Georges really is. How many other NHL players would take time out of their summer to play a road hockey game with some people in the neighbourhood?

A spokeswoman for CLES, an organization that fights sexual exploitation said "The women don't even talk. All they're showing is a certain part of their body. The camera, the eye, is focusing on certain parts of the body." Well duh! What's the camera supposed to focus on...their brains or their feet?

When will these groups realize that sex sells and this is never going away. I'm all for protecting women and keeping them safe but the ladies in this commercial seem pretty happy so they obviously didn't mind.

Good looking, bare-chested men are exploited in commercials all the time, yet I never hear anybody cry foul over those ads. And don't kid yourself...women love those commercials just as much as men love these and other commercials where bikini wearing young hotties are showing off their "assets".

Of course Georges doesn't want to offend anyone so he's apologized for taking part in the ad saying "I'm deeply sorry that I upset people. But everybody that knows me as a person knows the type of person that I am. Everywhere that I've ever played I've supported many charities, and I do every year."

No apology necessary as far as I'm concerned. This is just one group taking something so small that most people would never have even heard about it and using it to further their agenda.

As far as I'm concerned, the only thing wrong with this advertisement is the fact that Laraque is selling an alcoholic beverage which is not allowed according to the NHL guidelines. No, they can't promote it but the league has no problem with players drinking all kinds of beer and champagne live on TV after winning the Stanley Cup.

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