Students found these beer mats in their welcome packs and it left a bad taste
A toothbrush subscription company – who knew there was such a thing? – called Brushbox has apologised after it put these beer mats in welcome packs for students at Sussex University.
Here’s what they looked like on one side.
And the other.
Apart from everything else – and there’s quite a lot to be filed under ‘everything else’ – spit or swallow doesn’t make any sense when it comes to brushing your teeth anyway.
Here’s what someone made of it on Twitter which seems to sum up the general feeling (and there’s a whole Mumsnet feed here)
Imagine being a bright and eager female student excited to have been accepted into one of the UK's leading research universities (@SussexUni) and you find this in your welcome bag: https://t.co/wfKdr0ODd4
Sexism is sexism even when it's "a joke." Women deserve better than this. pic.twitter.com/Q8epaGuvM8
— RaquelRosarioSánchez (@8RosarioSanchez) September 19, 2018
But… everyone knows you’re not supposed to swallow toothpaste.
— Catherine Ellis (@Catherinellis) September 19, 2018
Yep. The company claims they wanted to be provocative in order to raise awareness to dental health (towards the end of the Mumsnet thread) but imagine what swallowing toothpaste twice a day would do TO YOUR OVERALL HEALTH!
Hey @brushboxuk and @USSU: an apology is in order.
— RaquelRosarioSánchez (@8RosarioSanchez) September 20, 2018
Fucking hell! I bet they thought they’d smashed it when they came up with this idea, had a drink over it, arranged the artwork, created the image, the wording, the work that went into this insult and no-one thought there was anything wrong with it?
— Chatworthy in Essex (@spiritwriter66) September 20, 2018
How clever and original to use a woman’s body in a sexualized way to sell an entirely unrelated product. Revolutionary. Damn, will never get tired of this incredible idea 🙄🙄 smh so intimidated by women why else would they try to tear us down while we’re EXCELLING?!
— Loz (@LaurieButtons) September 20, 2018
“Hello ladies, you might think you’re fully human, we think you’re just receptacles for semen”
— Rachel McCormack (@R_McCormack) September 20, 2018
Would have been much more interesting if they’d used a man’s face.
Here’s what the University of Sussex said although we’re not sure they quite understood the strength of feeling.
We can absolutely see why this promotional material in @USSU freshers packs has sparked such a strong reaction. We’re sure this discussion will continue and that @USSU and other student unions will feed back the reaction to the company responsible.
— University of Sussex (@SussexUni) September 20, 2018
Brushbox – we’ve said their name again, sorry – initially said it was ‘tongue in cheek’ but have now come up with something better.
“We are really sorry if anyone has been offended by the promotional image used in the Dig-In boxes. We now realise it was inappropriate and misguided of us to use this type of image as a way to raise awareness of dental health issues.”
It’s enough to have you spitting nails.
Only one question remains – who the hell has a toothbrush subscription?
