People with allergies are freaks. We’re geeks. We’re undesirable. We’re the weak, and we should have been weeded out with natural selection. The weirder the allergy, the weirder the person.
At least, that’s what I pick up from watching TV. The nerdy kid always has glasses and/or asthma. I guess at least I don’t wear glasses like some of you real freaks out there.
The latest support to this line of thinking that has come to my attention is this lovely commercial:
Of course, I see the humor, and I’m not so offended that it’s ruining my day. It’s just that the general perception of people with allergies kind of sucks.
If the guy had rolled through the door in a wheelchair, or walked in with crutches, missing a limb, blind, deaf, or anything similar causing the date to be undesirable, it wouldn’t be acceptable at all. You could even throw in other stereotypes like a different race or religion. Both would be unacceptable. I bet even if they threw in a guy that was 500 lbs. and turned it into a fat joke it would be considered tasteless… but making fun of a shellfish allergy is apparently acceptable.
They could have done this same joke and just had the guy dressed ridiculously or something… something that’s a choice, not an affliction.
If you’d like to pull apart the commercial for other reasons, check out this blog: Who Are The Ad Wizards Who Came Up With THAT One? Zoosk alors.
There’s a radio commercial I’ve heard recently too, maybe for a phone or something… the line is “Bob is still allergic to shellfish.” I wish I could remember what it’s for. At any rate, it’s not offensive… it just puts the thought out there.
At least the peanut-allergic and gluten-free people have been getting a lot of good press lately. How about passing it along to the rest of us?
All of this happens on the heels of articles popping up about kids with food allergies being bullied at school. I wonder why?
I’m hoping that my #FoodAllergy Tweeps will hop all over this and help me let Zoosk know en masse that this isn’t cool. Maybe they need to read this & watch this.
As always, your comments are not only welcome, but encouraged.
World (and Lunar) Domination 