Ceiling Cat Is Watching This Cartoon
March 25, 2011 5:36 AM   Subscribe

Either the Best or Worst AIDS Awareness Video you'll ever see features "Smutley", a silent-era-style animated cat having sex with everything in sight, to a soundtrack of Joan Fucking Jett's "Bad Reputation". Kinda obviously NSFW although lacking any cartoon genitalia. And where's the message? Wait for the end. From the French non-profit organization AIDES, which has been even more NSFW in the past, like a year ago with an animation which was, well, all genitals. Coming next: a site about "a better way to talk condoms" at BlahBlahBlahBlah.org. Oh, those French! (via Adrants)
posted by oneswellfoop (39 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
Is this an "awareness" video? Because this is what I am aware of after watching it - AIDS is something that mostly affects people who engage in extremely reckless behavior the risks of which they're fully aware of. Was that the message?
posted by falameufilho at 5:44 AM on March 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


Wow. I will have a hard time not thinking about a cartoon cat hitting up every imaginable animal when I watch the intro to Freaks and Geeks now. Thank you internet!
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:50 AM on March 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


Wait, you can catch AIDS from animals? That's not in the THT leaflets...
posted by londonmark at 5:56 AM on March 25, 2011


Good for them for trying something a bit different -- I think we are hitting the limits of the effectiveness of the regular HIV prevention messages. There are large groups of people whose behavior isn't being affected, and who are continuing to practice high-risk activities.
posted by Forktine at 5:56 AM on March 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


Well, OK.

I was expecting him to die a slow and horrible AIDS-related death at the end. Missed opportunity? Honestly, I sort of think so. They're basically saying "here, watch 2 minutes of this really funny/weird cartoon, and by the way when you're done laughing at the antics of this promiscuous cat, be sure to wear a condom".

It feels like the entertainment-to-message ratio is quite a bit off in this one.
posted by HostBryan at 6:14 AM on March 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


All the inter-species fucking made me more uncomfortable than I was expecting. Is it because I have a cat?
posted by greta simone at 6:19 AM on March 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


When the dolphin (or was it a porpoise?) showed up I thought, "No he won't! He'll suffocate the poor cetacean!" And the chicken thing looked more painful than enjoyable. But it was entertaining. The message was more subtle than I expected, but that may be because I am used to being hit over the head with media messages in the US.
posted by TedW at 6:23 AM on March 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


I was like 'no not the fish', 'no not the dolphin', 'surely he can leave the little chickens alone?'. But they all smiled afterwards, so mainly it made sex look like fun for everyone. Yay!
posted by Summer at 6:27 AM on March 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


It feels like the entertainment-to-message ratio is quite a bit off in this one.

Same here. I thought that was a long way to go for a nine-lives joke.
posted by jquinby at 6:30 AM on March 25, 2011


I'm jealous of that cat's sex life.
posted by chillmost at 6:31 AM on March 25, 2011 [6 favorites]


All the little creatures should have died afterwards because he infected them.
posted by Summer at 6:40 AM on March 25, 2011


Is this the same organization that had the person having sex with the giant freaking spider (no, no I will NOT Google for it)? Because at least this is free of giant arachnids *shudder*.
posted by pointystick at 6:40 AM on March 25, 2011


Hey my nickname in college was Smutley.

not really
posted by Sailormom at 6:43 AM on March 25, 2011


Seeing this "It's Never Just HIV" ad on the subway yesterday really brought it home for me that HIV/AIDS apparently isn't scary enough anymore. Improvements in HIV/AIDS treatments of the ilk that have kept Magic Johnson seemingly healthy for two decades have made the disease a lot less menacing.

But osteoporosis, Oh NO! The brittle bone disease that some grandmas occasionally get? Anything but that!
posted by etc. at 6:46 AM on March 25, 2011


"Before I die, I gonna fuck me a fish."
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:47 AM on March 25, 2011 [6 favorites]


And then Benson and Stabler showed up, arrested him and charged him with numerous counts of attempted murder.
posted by bwg at 6:48 AM on March 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


I liked the ad that the same group made with Sugar Baby Love. That song has since become the mental soundtrack to the low points in my sex life.
posted by creeky at 6:53 AM on March 25, 2011 [4 favorites]


I've been fucking tortoises for years and no one ever says good for me

You need to speed up the recording to hear what they've been saying.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 7:01 AM on March 25, 2011 [4 favorites]


I'm not in the target market, but it worked for me.

(I winced when the fish filled the bowl and when the ball gag came out of the pig's mouth. But the pig was grinning afterwards, so I guess the pig liked it. Harder to tell with the fish.)
posted by immlass at 7:01 AM on March 25, 2011


Btw, dolphins apparently do have blowhole sex with each other, oddly enough.
posted by Maias at 7:04 AM on March 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


I've been a big fan of this organization's campaigns because they're focused on the realities that sex is fun, the average person is going to have sex with at least a few people in their lifetime, and it's possible to have fun and experiment while protecting yourself. It never shames the characters for having sex, unlike the infamous sex with Adolf Hitler campaign. This particular campaign isn't my favorite, but it's not bad.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 7:07 AM on March 25, 2011


They pretty much lost any chance of having this be a serious message with Bondage Hog. This is about as much about STDs as those old-timey porn films that were supposedly about "hygiene" and tacked on a message about venereal diseases after all the boffing. That having been said, it's a pretty hilarious evocation of old-school animation.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:08 AM on March 25, 2011


Btw, dolphins apparently do have blowhole sex with each other, oddly enough.

So they do.
posted by TedW at 7:09 AM on March 25, 2011


P.S., re: Sugar Baby Love, it's 10:30 am on a weekday and I, um, I think I have something in my eye.
posted by en forme de poire at 7:33 AM on March 25, 2011 [3 favorites]


I'm surprised he didn't try to fuck the little squirrel that cranked (heh) the scenes.
posted by notsnot at 7:36 AM on March 25, 2011


falameufilho: Because this is what I am aware of after watching it - AIDS is something that mostly affects people who engage in extremely reckless behavior the risks of which they're fully aware of. Was that the message?

If that's what you think AIDS is all about and you live in New York, your problem is deeper than any awareness video can cure.

HostBryan: I was expecting him to die a slow and horrible AIDS-related death at the end.

1985 called. It wants you back.
posted by blucevalo at 7:45 AM on March 25, 2011


en forme de poire: "P.S., re: Sugar Baby Love , it's 10:30 am on a weekday and I, um, I think I have something in my eye."

Aw, dammit.
posted by jquinby at 7:47 AM on March 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


My favorite AIDES campaign: Explore… just protect yourself.
posted by smammy at 8:06 AM on March 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


I was immediately taken by it, first because I've had that song "Bad Reputation" running through my head the last few days, and then I got drawn in trying to locate the small round orifice in each new scene Smutley entered. "No, no, no way, oh my lord, yes."

But I don't see why people are decrying the low entertainment-to-message ratio in this. The message is short and simple - protect yourself, use a condom. The difficulty is getting people to take in that small message. And I'll bet more people watch this all the way through ("what's next? omg no way.") than a clip preaching about all the horrible forms of death, Death, DEATH that await you with unprotected sex.

To pervert Brecht, "'Erst kommt das Lachen, dann kommt die Moral!
posted by benito.strauss at 8:58 AM on March 25, 2011


The Grim Reaper ad by comparison.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:07 AM on March 25, 2011


Sugar Baby Love was awesome. Thanks!
posted by dobbs at 9:35 AM on March 25, 2011


blucevalo, you totally missed falameufilho's point.
posted by londonmark at 9:51 AM on March 25, 2011


If I missed his point, I apologize.
posted by blucevalo at 11:20 AM on March 25, 2011


they lost me at SMUTLEY :P
posted by liza at 11:45 AM on March 25, 2011


Joan Jett rules!

that is all.
posted by jammy at 2:35 PM on March 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


i worry about issues of consent in this video.
posted by PinkMoose at 2:37 PM on March 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


PinkMoose: "i worry about issues of consent in this video."

I had this idea once for a spoof version of "Barely Legal" magazine.

"Meet Edna, she thinks you are her grandson, but she wants to do you anyway. The psychiatrist had to deliberate seriously but deemed her capable of consent despite her Alzheimer's".

"If Betty's IQ was just one point lower, she would be required to live in a group home, but she's barely legal. And she wants to give you a big hug."

"Steve's been ever so horny since that head injury. He would be quite grateful if someone would take care of him."

Then it made me sad so I stopped thinking about it.

But if I had thought about it more I could have included things like cartoon animals and Ewoks and non sentient social constructs like the Tooth Fairy, that are also dubiously capable of consent or lack thereof.

More seriously - they actually make a real clear effort to make sure you see just about every sex partner smiling after the act.
posted by idiopath at 6:34 PM on March 25, 2011


What I'm getting from this is that I kind of want to be sucked off by a goldfish. I don't think that's the message they wanted to send.
posted by DecemberBoy at 9:01 PM on March 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


This is what actually goes on in Homer Simpson's head when he's pretending to listen to someone.
posted by not_on_display at 11:07 PM on April 5, 2011


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