Feminists Outraged After Company Puts Nude Woman on Motorcycle

Feminists have accused MV Agusta of misogyny after the Italian motorcycle manufacturer last week released an advertisement that features a naked woman gyrating atop one of its products. 

MV Agusta published the video to various social media channels last Wednesday as part of a rollout of a new motorcycle, the Superveloce 800 Serie Oro. The one-minute-long ad features close-up shots of the model in suggestive poses along with thumping electronic music and the sounds of a woman moaning.

“Desire is about contemplation and then, ultimately, desire is about possession,” read a caption accompanying the video on Facebook.

[the_ad id=”16463″]

More than 30,000 views have accrued to the clip on YouTube. Many commenters there, as well as on Facebook, Reddit and Twitter said they were offended by the commercial.

“We don’t even see the motorcycle.. that kind of sexist ad in 2019…” a user wrote on Facebook.

“As a female motorcyclist, this is very offensive. I am not a decorative sex object. This kind of stuff needs to stop. I am never buying an Agusta motorcycle,” read the title of one thread complaining about the video on the r/feminism subreddit.

Several feminist redditors concurred with the original poster, slamming MV Agusta’s purportedly misogynistic advertising tactics.

“When I studied Advertising in college, we were told of ‘buffoon advertising’ which is a practice targeting men by showing them a sexy woman. It’s a sexist tactic as it assumes men turn to horny idiots and only care about hot woman so they’ll buy whatever she’s selling. I thought we were past this,” wrote one user.

Another complained that the company was using “women’s bodies to sell their products to the point it seems they’re selling the women.”

“Essentially they are saying look at this big cock between your legs, look how much this women is enjoying it. the advertisers have only a few markets, thrill seekers and gear heads will do their own research and not sold on advertisements. Men who are incomplete in some way, that is who this ad is for,” someone else commented.

One outraged Twitter user had a visual response for MV Agusta.

Wow. I just saw the unbelievably sexist online video ad for MV Agusta motorcycles. https://t.co/RnlrqoeTwz
Bite my fat KLR-riding ass, you misogynistic dick heads.
Actual female motorcycle rider pictured below (ME). pic.twitter.com/jgCkCvxzua

— (((CoyoteBroad))) (@jayne_a_broad) June 5, 2019

The company is no stranger to using overt sexuality to advertise its products. An ad for the Brutale 800 RR released last year was shot in a similarly risqué style.

MV Agusta controversy highlights a feminist divide

Feminists have largely abandoned their predecessors’ hangups about male “objectification” of women. For the most part,”sluttiness” is now celebrated as a form of female empowerment. However, there are exceptions to every rule, and a woman humping a motorcycle is apparently a bridge too far for some.

About Post Author

Pluralist

See author's posts

Tags: feminism, Italy