Female Student Slams UCT For Allowing Breast-Emblazoned Coffee Cups On Campus

Coffee cups bearing a pair of lacy bra-clad breasts have caused a stir at the University of Cape Town in recent days. Part of a promotional campaign by Axe deodorant, the controversial cups have prompted a number of complaints and have since been removed from the Upper Campus coffee shop where they were being distributed.

Take-away coffee cups bearing highly original pay-off lines like “Got Milk?” have been doing the rounds at UCT’s Leslie Social Sciences Building

A student, Olivia Walton, summed up the sentiment of some of her peers:

UCT is an academic institution. Its stated ideals are transformation, equality, and intellectual excellence. All of these things necessitate one other quite important thing: thought. [...] If you allow the naked body of half of your population to be splashed across campus for all to see (and hold and laugh at) at a place where, it is claimed, all are assumed to be equal in their intellect, their capacity, their rights, their opportunities, then you have not thought.

UCT has declined to comment on the matter.

[Source: Cape Times]

http://URL Andrew

what a grumpy bitch
http://URL Really?

First of all, if you cannot spell “though”, you should possibly refrain from quoting ideals like “intellectual excellence”. Probably equally true for not knowing the (relatively simple I always thought) definition of “naked”.

Of course you will always have those who were not unduly blessed with the imaginative faculty, living in the past, holding on outdated viewpoints and not realising that the world has moved on. I fail to see what an example of nice cleavage has to do with intellect, capacity, rights or opportunities, and I would love to know if a photo of a man’s six pack would have raised in her the same level of ire.
http://URL Jarred

Did a quick facebook search of her and found out she has no boobs. Conflict of interest … I think so.
http://URL Marc

Bet she’s fat and ugly!!
http://URL Johnny

Definitely an A-cupper by the sounds of it, should have her tossed off campus for infringing on others’ right to satire.
The PC crowd has too much coverage in the media, no wonder you have trolls like me scouting the comments section.
http://URL Jane

What a predictable bunch of responses from the guys…
http://URL Cathy

Jeepers Seth, you have a nasty bunch of followers. Proud pappa? I doubt it.
http://URL Evyn

What a typical reaction- insulting some one’s appearance when you disagree with their opinion

Watch this and see why it DOES matter how women’s bodies are portrayed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTlmho_RovY
http://URL Adriana

Well done Olivia!

We all grow up in a culture in which women’s bodies are constantly turned into things and objects.. And this is everywhere, in all kinds of advertising. Women’s bodies are turned into things and objects. Now of course this affects female self esteem. It also does something even more insidious – it creates a climate of widespread violence against women. I’m not at all saying that an ad like this directly causes violence, it’s not that simple but turning a human being in to a thing is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person. We see this with racism, we see it with homophobia, we see it with terrorism. It’s always the same process. The person is dehumanised and violence becomes inevitable. And that step is already and constantly taken against women.
http://URL bobby

definately an a cupper…and a fembot.
http://URL Siya

It’s just breasts for heaven’s sake. Breasts! And why would we laugh? God! What an overly-sensitive girl
http://URL @Evyn from Dear Johnny

Don’t agree with that vid;
1. I fail to see how expression of the female form translates to objectification and violence. If anything, it makes for a good looking world.
2. Low self esteem amongst females has now crossed the gender gap after a painting of our President with his significant package hanging out.
3. Eating disorders? Sure, last I heard the US was battling with Obesity…
4. Photoshop? Not needed for pics taken on the Camps Bay strip in summer.
http://URL Jo

This just in: the human body is a “thing” and an object… and ja, cleavage begets violence, it’s inevitable… every time…

None of my female friends would take offence because of this… you have to be really insecure for something like this to bother you.
Martin

Her name is probably Hettie. Hettie tiete nie!!!!
http://URL Matt

How sad that someone can get worked up over ‘concealed’ breats on a coffee cup. Man up sweetheart, you’re a big girl now
http://URL Tom

Matt, Jo, Dear Johnny, Siya, Bobby, Johnny, Marc, Jarred, Really? and Andrew.

You guys just don’t get it do you? How long did it take you to go for that gut reaction, “what a slag… a-cupper etc”. What a bullsh*t response! You have just proved the truth of her article 100%. Patriarchy comes from exactly the same place as racism, homophobia etc. If you read the full article that appeared in the Cape Times this morning you would see that she is not saying that we can’t laugh at each other, poke fun and be politically incorrect. But we cannot afford to let casual sexism become so common place that your instant reaction to being challenged is to call someone ugly or reach for other sexist weapons in your arsenal. If the person responsible for the cup had instead printed something racist and someone complained would your gut reaction instantly be, “stop complaining you stupid “insert whatever racist slur you choose here”. I hope not.

And if your next reaction is, “but racism is not the same as putting boobs on a cup”… just take more than the half-a-second it took for you to label this girl a “bitch” to think about it.
http://URL Hettie

Not fair to shoot the messenger, she spoke on behalf of other students. As for the “highly original pay-off lines like “Got Milk?” – the “Got milk?” advertising started on the 24th of October 1993 in California to encourage the consumption of cow’s milk, not coffee or breast milk. What has Axe to do with coffee anyway? Just axeing.
http://twitter.com/philmanners Phil

dude, nobody who i know complained about those cups. we all thought they were quite a laugh, to be honest. everybody knows that the Axe ad campaigns are juvenile and harmless. so get over it. you see worse on prime-time TV anyways…
Alex

This girl has really made a fool of herself.. Yes I see how it could maybe have been inappropriate had the advert been of a woman in lingerie grabbing her tits.

A woman’s breasts, if they are adequately shaped and sized, are a natural “magnet” for men. We are programmed to look at them and dream about them.. Hell
Alex

This girl has really made a fool of herself.. Yes I see how it could maybe have been inappropriate had the advert been of a woman in lingerie grabbing her tits.

A woman’s breasts, if they are adequately shaped and sized, are a natural “magnet” for men. We are programmed to look at them and dream about them.. Hell we nestled up against them sucked them for the first few months of our lives. This does not in any way make us sexist or womanisers. We can’t help it.. We like breasts(c-cup for me) in the same way that woman like six packs and broad shoulders. Whats the bet that if this girl had boobs, she would wear a top that showed off her cleavage? Im Pretty sure the ladies who posted in this thread would do/do the same.

All this advert did was use a natural human instinct to attract a bit of attention to the lovely java available on campus.

There are plenty of worse adverts out there if you want to bitch and moan about sexism, inequality and what not. This is not one of those ads.
http://URL Kayla

I think Tom has summed up the issue perfectly. Personally I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about the cups – perhaps it’s because women are objectified so often that it has become something we don’t raise an eyebrow to. You may disagree with Walton’s views, that’s fine, you are entitled to your opinion just as she is entitled to hers. She is arguing against sexism, and yet the knee-jerk reaction from the majority of the men commenting is to call her a silly over-sensitive woman with small boobs? It makes me think that perhaps she has a point.
http://909pop.com mike

she has a valid point. its an educational institution. what would have been the response if the cups had an oke’s nuts on them? peeps would probably be bleak.
http://WebsiteURL bobby

if tommy and the fembots views were entirely correct why isnt this fembot going to the bccsa about every tv show, radio show, magazine etc etc…

people these days want to protest and throw their toys out their cots for every trivial thing…

a storm in an (te)a cup!
http://URL Rob

guarantee this chick studies art or women studies or something…
http://www.iamcomic.co.za peter

as a dude… I’m embarrassed by some of these responses from men.

ever wonder WHY “women studies” course exist in the first place?
http://URL Summer

To all the people calling Walton names and saying rude things, I would love to hear what you would have say if it was your mother’s or sister’s breasts plastered all over those mugs!
john

In the spirit of anti objectification I’m gonna start complaining anytime a dude with huge pecs and 6 pack abs is used in an ad. Ladies better get used to moobs and boeps from now.
anon

I know, like how half the population uses there bodies to exploit the other half. Equality !?

Finance

Brent Crude Oil	104.84	0.20 ( 0.19%)
Rand / Euro	12.15	-0.00 ( -0.05%)
Rand / Pound	14.34	-0.02 ( -0.18%)
GOLD	1390.00	-3.25 ( -0.23%)
Rand / Dollar	9.41	-0.01 ( -0.18%)

Female Student Slams UCT For Allowing Breast-Emblazoned Coffee Cups On Campus

29 May 2012 by Janey Bee in Vibe

Latest News

It’s Basically Official: Foxconn Is Making Screens For iWatches

Oklahoma Tornado Survivor Finds Her Dog In The Rubble Of Her Home During Live Interview [VIDEO]

Tuesday Tabs #352 – Zoe Saldana

Brand Of Thrones: Your Favourite Game Of Thrones Houses As Corporations [PICS]

NASA Cranks Out Largest Ever Continual Panoramic Shot Of The Earth

Most Read

2oceansvibe Partners

Finance

Josh Thompson – Beer on the table [Video]

Follow