Um, East Coast Trains? I really don't think you want to go there

[snorkackcatcher]

East Coast Trains here in the UK have quite a neat ad campaign for special-offer tickets called 'Miniature Prices', featuring pictures of toy trains and themed model figures related to the general selling point of the offer. However, the London-York one, suggesting a visit to Viking museum the Jorvik Centre (seen while aimlessly looking around on a crowded Tube journey) left me somewhat gobsmacked. The offer page helpfully includes the relevant figures as part of its icon:



http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/special-offers/Miniature-Prices/

(Same icon for the return journey promoting the Globe Theatre; wrong sort of culture?) Er ... it would have fitted right in in Donald McGill's day, but I'm surprised to see it now. Maybe it's just me who was struck at the time by the rather dodgy underlying assumptions about what is and isn't funny, though I'm hardly the most alert person on the Internet here.

Comments

[woldy]

I suspect it falls into the category of 'ironic sexism'. I'm with you in finding the reference to kidnapping (and implicitly to rape) unfunny & in poor taste.

[snorkackcatcher]

Yes, indeed. I do wish they hadn't done that (some of the other 'model shots' are very good).

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

Ugh. It rather reminds me of this video (David Mitchell ranting about why "rape" becomes more lighthearted when paired with "pillage").

[snorkackcatcher]

Yes, exactly ...

[dreamer-marie.livejournal.com]

Come on, they're only doing a bit of harmless S&M roleplaying: they have safewords. I mean, why else would the guy be wearing a horned helmet? It's completely anachronistic.

[snorkackcatcher]

I didn't realise York was such a renowned centre for that sort of thing. Well, well, you never know.

[dreamer-marie.livejournal.com]

I know, right? Who would have thought that York, of all places, was a hotbed of historical inaccuracies?

[snorkackcatcher]

I think it shows the modern decline of standards, personally.

[dreamer-marie.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. You should write a stern letter to the Daily Mail. It would definitely teach them. What, I have no idea, but they would learn something.