People with shy bladders aren’t shy about voicing their disapproval with Rob Lowe’s latest DirecTV ad. Steve Soifer, CEO of the International Paruresis (shy bladder) Association, says the ad featuring painfully awkward Rob Lowe in a restroom struggling to pee with people around him, is so not cool, bro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGeJV7_0Wsg
The ad “ridicules a serious problem” experienced by as much as seven percent of Americans, says shy bladder president Soifer. He went on to explain in an exaggerated comparison.
“We don’t mind if people have a little fun with it,” said Soifer, also a social work professor at the University of Memphis. “It’s a situation that a lot of people don’t understand. In this particular case, the portrayal is making it look ridiculous, that this guy is a loser for having a problem.
“What if he didn’t have a leg or an arm?” he continued. “Are you going to make fun of them?”
That’s obviously a ridiculous way to look at it. That’s like asking a comedian why they’re making fun of the way you run, I mean, “you wouldn’t make fun of a mother who was brutally gangraped, would you?!” Anyway, DirectTV chuckled and said they wouldn’t cave.
“The ads will continue to run for the vast majority of viewers who have told us they enjoy the spots and understand that, like all of our commercials, they take place in a fantasy world ad are not based in reality,” said a spokesperson for the satellite provider.
Then they rolled their eyes and made a jerking motion.