Offensive?

In reading through the various posts of "offensive" advertising on copy ranter.. I found a few things in common. What makes an ad offensive? The problem I had with all of these ads is that it took a very small segmented minority population namely people who are blind or obese, or made light of something various serious, such as the events in Cairo. I really believe, however, that the Mother Theresa and Ghandi ads are not really offensive. Although it does somewhat undermine these individuals, it does not make fun of them, nor does it really offend anyone. Advertising has used association for ages, and I don't think this is really a creative example, but nonetheless I don't really find it that offensive.

The photoretouching commercial as well as the commercial for the blind are actually quite offensive. The woman pictured in the ad for the photoretoucher is obese. The obese population is ostracized as it is, and this advertising does nothing but present this type of person in a way that is dehumanizing. It presents her like she is actually the most person imaginable because of her size. The fact that it is for a photoretoucher infers that she is so ugly she couldn't possible be photographed the way she is. I don't know. I just found this ad so rude. This group of people already is socially disadvantaged.

The advertisement for the blind is just kind of pointless to me. It seems more like the characters in the commercial are taking advantage of the blind. Why would you want to hire a blind person so you could take advantage of them? Its just a sleezy commercial and I'm surprised the client even funded it. It just has nothing to do with the benefits of hiring someone with a disability, or rather, the fact that they are equals.

The Kenneth Cole tweets aren't horrible, just insensitive and not a good idea for building brand character. It's just horrible PR, its not really THAT offensive. It's more just stupid and an example of how an online presence in the social media isn't always a good thing if its not done well.

An ad I always thought was offensive was the Mr. T ad for Snickers. The ad was taken down due to numerous complaints from the LGBT community, and rightfully so. The advertisement did nothing except embed cultural stereotypes of a violent and aggressive african american male, and an effeminate white homosexual. The ad almost promoted violence in that Mr. T. was screaming and shooting at the man for being not masculine enough. It just wasn't funny at all and made the black man look like dangerously aggressive, and the white homosexual look weak and defenseless.