COMMENT: Going easy on OverEasy
By Zul Othman
OverEasy at One Fullerton (picture: Facebook)
These buns were considered too provocative and unpalatable for the Orchard Road masses.
But now that the dust over the OverEasy affair has settled - you’ve got to wonder if this was all a case of overreaction?
Earlier this month, a billboard ad appeared at Liat Towers, announcing the arrival of new burger joint OverEasy Orchard, which is scheduled to open on 3 August.
However, many took issue with the large ad outside the 3,500 sq ft space, formerly occupied by fast food chain Wendy’s.
The ad – featuring three models with barely hidden bums – came with the tagline: “Seriously sexy buns. Two are better than one. Smack that. Aug 2015.”
Passer-bys were scandalised and the virtuous blushed.
One woman even went online to air her grievances, telling citizen journalism website Stomp that she was “terribly offended” for having gazed at such a daring and dastardly display of derrieres in one of Singapore’s busiest hotspots.
“As an independent modern woman, I take great offence with this image,” said the woman who was identified only as Susanna on 6 July.
“These highly sexual images not only objectify women, it promotes a false perception of beauty. Besides, Orchard Road is a place where families with kids hang out, and these graphics of bare buttocks and slogans like "seriously sexy buns” and “smack that” are clearly inappropriate for the young, she wrote.
She added, “By allowing such hoardings to be put up in Orchard Road, what kind of values are we promoting as a Singaporean society? I sincerely hope that the Orchard Road management does something about this indecency soon.”
Complaints were made to the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) about the “indecent” advertising, reported The Straits Times on 23 July.
The eatery was then ordered to remove the ad as “it was deemed indecent and in breach of the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice”, an ASAS spokesman told the newspaper.
Earlier this week, the image was removed and Lo And Behold, the company behind OverEasy, apologised. The company also runs another OverEasy outlet located at One Fullerton.
OFFENSIVE?
So was the ad offensive?
Personally, no.
It’s tongue in cheek, irreverent and memorable… just an exercise in witty marketing.
The people at Lo And Behold certainly thought so too.
Speaking to The Straits Times on 23 July, a spokesman for the group said the ad was meant “to celebrate the female form” and that it intended to showcase OverEasy’s “characteristic cheekiness and irreverence”.
“The Lo & Behold Group apologises for how our advertisement might have made women feel,” said a spokesman for the group.
She added that the marketing for OverEasy, including the ad’s design, was done by an all-woman team.
“To us, it is about women feeling sexy and confident in their own skins,” she told the newspaper.
But what is interesting is how the issue is being debated online, especially on the Association of Women for Action & Research (Aware) Facebook page.
Observers are split down the middle.
One commentator by the name of Sarika McLay said that she was “disappointed” such images have crept into Singapore.
However, some neitizens were also in the ad’s favour. A user by the name of Anjie Wong argued, “Being offended doesn’t give you the right to demand that the rest of the world conforms to your expectations. The billboard isn’t hurting anyone, nor is it encouraging discrimination or hatred against any group of people.”
But in the end, I also have to wonder if we are practicing double standards here when it comes to advertising.
No one batted an eye when retail clothing chain Abercrombie & Fitch paraded a line of shirtless models when it opened in flagship store in Orchard Road in 2011. But to be fair to ASAS, they did also object to Abercrombie & Fitch’s oversized advertisement featuring a topless man with a six-pack and low-slung jeans, which was erected a couple of months before the 21,000 sq ft Orchard Road store opened.
Let’s be clear. It’s not that I’m pushing for sleazy advertising.
All I’m suggesting is maybe we should take the naysayers with a pinch of salt.
Give advertisers a little room to breathe and let’s just laugh along when something funny comes our way.
Like the OverEasy ad, for example.
