scary bikers like beer

October 3, 2011 5:59 PM

This ad from a beer company raises interesting questions about acceptance and prejudice. What would you do?
posted by wilful (98 comments total)

I think I need a Carlsberg.
posted by Shit Parade at 6:05 PM on October 3, 2011

This ad from a beer company raises interesting questions about acceptance and prejudice.

That is probably more philosophical heft than any beer ad, including this one, can reasonably be expected to carry.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:05 PM on October 3, 2011 [8 favorites]

I saw this a week ago or so. I think it depends on whether I was alone or not. If alone I would have sat down. With another I would have taken my queues from that person.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:05 PM on October 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

I have an overactive bladder so I would probably Carlsberg'd my pants.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 6:06 PM on October 3, 2011 [6 favorites]

I tend to glaze over when trying to find that last empty seat, so I don't think I'd get the beer even in Peoria.
posted by michaelh at 6:06 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

If they were drinking Carlsberg, I'd turn and walk away.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 6:08 PM on October 3, 2011 [10 favorites]

I would sit down, but then a goodly number of my friends look like that, so I may not be a valid market test.
posted by dejah420 at 6:08 PM on October 3, 2011 [8 favorites]

I've never walked out of a nearly full theater before for being too crowded, so I can't see not sitting down though I would have kind of hated it since I usually sit on the aisle to stretch out my long legs. Funny ad though.
posted by mathowie at 6:08 PM on October 3, 2011

Oh man, beer at the movies? Where can I get this?
posted by not_on_display at 6:09 PM on October 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

If I sat down, and the entire audience (regardless of how they looked) started clapping and then gave me a beer, I'd probably be too freaked out to actually enjoy the movie.
posted by stinkycheese at 6:12 PM on October 3, 2011 [5 favorites]

I'd likely hesitate, but then I'd sit down.
posted by caphector at 6:12 PM on October 3, 2011

I would submissively urinate on the screen, but that's what I normally do when I go to the movies, so I'm not sure that counts.
posted by dirigibleman at 6:14 PM on October 3, 2011 [6 favorites]

Since this is an ad, those couples must be actors, right? I can't imagine those who didn't take their seats signing releases.

DFW talked about making a conscious, "adult" decision about how to think about situations that irritate/trouble you in your day-to-day existence. I try to keep that in mind whenever I am in those situations. I imagine that I'd probably take my seat despite a moment's hesitation.
posted by vidur at 6:14 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh man, beer at the movies? Where can I get this?

Portland, Oregon. We also have bikers.
posted by elwoodwiles at 6:14 PM on October 3, 2011 [17 favorites]

I grew up going to biker rallies, so.
posted by desjardins at 6:15 PM on October 3, 2011

I would be so focused on "where the hell is a seat???" that I doubt I'd even register what the rest of the audience looked like in the first place.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:15 PM on October 3, 2011 [17 favorites]

Wouldn't it depend on what movie you where going to see?
If I was with my girlfriend going to some romantic comedy and that was the crowd I walked in on, I would probably walk out, just to double check that we're in the right theater.
posted by Iax at 6:17 PM on October 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

I've seen enough comedies and commercials to know that bikers really have hearts of gold and are cute adorable puppie dogs on the inside, so I would've sat down and smiled coquettishly at the person next to me.
posted by naju at 6:18 PM on October 3, 2011 [18 favorites]

I was already sitting down drinking a beer.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:18 PM on October 3, 2011 [12 favorites]

I hear there is an excellent theater chain in Texas called the Alamo Drafthouse that serves craft beer and food. And also strictly enforces no talking/texting, as in, the usher will boot you out.

As well as an AMC in my NJ mall that has crappy beer and what looks like chicken fingers from a cafeteria. Good effort, I guess, but I wouldn't pay for it.

Also, I like that the ad brings up the issue that a lot of people think, subliminally or otherwise, that prejudice is okay if it's fear rather than judgement or scorn.
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:19 PM on October 3, 2011 [3 favorites]

Oh man, beer at the movies? Where can I get this?

At the world's best movie theater. Or, you know, the Brattle and Somerville, which aren't quite as cool, but substantially closer.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:20 PM on October 3, 2011 [7 favorites]

I wouldn't click on the ad from the beer company, that's what I'd do.
posted by MegoSteve at 6:20 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also, I would've thought "These guys have meetups where they all go see movies together! That's adorable and awesome!"
posted by naju at 6:20 PM on October 3, 2011 [25 favorites]

and now, for our feature presentation -

"winnie the pooh"
posted by pyramid termite at 6:22 PM on October 3, 2011 [16 favorites]

Let's try this at the next $20 Glenn Beck moviecast thinger.

(Fully aware of the irony of stereotyping Tea Partiers in a social experiment on tolerance)
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:26 PM on October 3, 2011

> Portland, Oregon. We also have bikers.

You beat me to it.
posted by mrzarquon at 6:27 PM on October 3, 2011

Get drunker.
posted by tumid dahlia at 6:28 PM on October 3, 2011

Did they simulate the burnt cigarette, sweat & stale beer stank of real bikers?
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 6:29 PM on October 3, 2011 [3 favorites]

I'd like to see them extend the concept and film alternate versions with 148 pirate captains, 148 people in comically large hats, 148 Howard Cosell impersonators, and 148 Snuggle Fabric Softener Bears.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 6:32 PM on October 3, 2011 [27 favorites]

I'm with the Empress- if I even noticed the audience before I tramped to a seat it would be more than I usually do.

Also maybe I've just been oddly sheltered my whole life and go to the mean gym too much, but I would feel far safer in a group of be-tattooed scowling muscle men than in a theater full of frat boys.
posted by winna at 6:34 PM on October 3, 2011 [9 favorites]

beer at the movies?

I can think of a few in Minnesota.

zeitgeist
suburban world
posted by Winnemac at 6:35 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hold on. Are you trying to tell me that you "win" if you are able to sit amongst these "bad boys?"

This is a meta-setup. You are told they are "bad boys," so you, the viewer, know that they are NOT "bad boys", so you are already are prejudiced against anyone NOT willing to sit with them. Note the "winners" clearly brand themselves, are advertising themselves as distinct from the "bad boys:" pink shirt couple; black couple; "nerds." So the point is not that those people were comfortable; the point is that those minorities are better than the dumb white couples who were too stupid to sit with, gee, I don't know: thugs? Is that wrong to say? They did smuggle beer into a movie theater.

I know the world wants to pretend racism and sexism and homophobia is "bad" is bad, which is its, but it's disingenuous to pretend it is "wrong."

At what point is it not ok to sit in a crowd because you fear for your life? Ok, it's a movie theater, maybe not a high lethality scenario, but what if the black couple refused to stay? Is that some weird reverse racism, or merely a practical understanding that in George Bush's America (I said it right) bald white guys with goatees are always 100% a problem, except the few times they're not, but why stick around to find out? Ok, so if a black couple gets a pass in this scenario, why don't whites? Why can't it just be a simple case of, "I saw Sons Of Anarchy, and I don't want to know if that was actually a reality show"?

And here's a superbly sexist thing to say: they were couples. i.e there's a woman there. I'm not saying their individual behavior would be different, but when a guy is with a woman there is/should be an entirely different calculus. Yeah. I may love to get drunk to the point I can't see blue or yellow but if you're "responsible" to another person even I switch to decaf.
posted by TheLastPsychiatrist at 6:37 PM on October 3, 2011 [4 favorites]

I'd probably leave because I spend enough time sandwiched between strangers.






On public transit, get your mind out of the gutter.

Seriously, though, is the idea that these biker guys are going to, like, beat you and your girlfriend up in the middle of Midnight In Paris? What's the big deal.
posted by dixiecupdrinking at 6:38 PM on October 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

They didn't show the couples who got the crap beat out of them.
posted by goethean at 6:39 PM on October 3, 2011 [9 favorites]

That looks like a regular night at the movies, here (although I'd be a little taken aback by a 100% male audience, for sure.)
posted by restless_nomad at 6:42 PM on October 3, 2011

Also:

Oh man, beer at the movies? Where can I get this?

Corner bodega, paper bag, you can thank me later.
posted by dixiecupdrinking at 6:44 PM on October 3, 2011 [5 favorites]

I couldn't imagine not sitting down just because they were bikers. The whole idea that you wouldn't is silly in my experience. Although, TheLastPsychiatrist brings up an excellent point in that the fact that it is a couple changes things and not because of prejudice.

As far as being uncomfortable that would be normal and not due to bigotry. It would be due to standing out. If it was room full of eagle scouts all in uniform I'd feel a bit odd for a moment and then sit down - the same as if it was all bikers.


I wonder what the reaction would be if it was an elevator with 6 or 7 bikers, gang members, military men, or whatever.
posted by 2manyusernames at 6:45 PM on October 3, 2011

Did they simulate the burnt cigarette, sweat & stale beer stank of real bikers?
Perhaps they will...

I believe the outside of the theater was promoting Planet of the Apes, so the audience demographics may have resonated strangely with the "innocent" couples. Perhaps moviegoers bracing themselves for the thematic content of the movie instantly reached their discomfort threshold before the curtain opened. Speaking of which, I'll stop blathering, sit back and enjoy the deconstruction of the above eponyscary? comment..
posted by obscurator at 6:45 PM on October 3, 2011

That is just like a screening of Scorpio Rising I went too. Kenneth Anger was supposed to speak and he never showed, I was kinda pissed.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:49 PM on October 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

Haha ok, I'll be the first in the thread to say that if I went there with my boyfriend we'd probably chicken out. But you know what? I have been yelled at/threatened with violence for being pretty clearly a gay couple in the real world, and a HUGE CROWD of people is always 48,000x more dangerous than a single person on their own. Bikers aren't really notorious for being the world's liberal, queer-accepting people. And I like to lean against my boyfriend during movies. So yeah, I probably wouldn't put myself in a position where my movie is likely to be ruined by heckling in a best-case scenario.
posted by kavasa at 6:55 PM on October 3, 2011 [9 favorites]

Even the crappy AMC megatheater near us has beer in the reserved section.
posted by octothorpe at 6:58 PM on October 3, 2011

I'm the asshole that only has maybe 5 seats in any theatre that I deem acceptable. If they're all taken, I go get my money back. This commercial woulda made me look bikerist.
posted by dobbs at 7:11 PM on October 3, 2011 [4 favorites]

"Oh man, beer at the movies? Where can I get this?"

Just about anywhere in Europe, this was Belgium.
posted by Blasdelb at 7:12 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

As a big bad biker babe herownself I'd check their colors first to see if they were 1%'ers, then find me one that didn't have an ol' lady. *snap*
posted by ~Sushma~ at 7:24 PM on October 3, 2011 [3 favorites]

"Oh man, beer at the movies? Where can I get this?"
ACK (oh how I miss that place)
posted by pjenks at 7:27 PM on October 3, 2011

Meh. I see what the ad is trying to do, but it seems to be more reinforcing the negative stereotypes against both bikers and young urban non-biker couples and actually promoting misunderstanding between disparate groups than anything else.

Bikers are just people. As are young urban non-biker couples. It's not a big act of bravery to walk in amongst a big group of people who aren't part of your in-crowd and take a seat in a movie theater. If anything, a movie theater is one of the few public places where real mixing still exists in our culture.
posted by hippybear at 7:28 PM on October 3, 2011 [5 favorites]

What would you do?

Start looking for the hidden camera.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:31 PM on October 3, 2011 [4 favorites]

I'm way more intolerant of crying children with neglectful parents in a theater than I am with any group of adults. Perhaps I would feel uncomfortable if they all looked like LDS missionaries though - I'd think I was in the wrong screening room.

I'd leave because those seats available were not where I like to sit.
posted by _paegan_ at 7:31 PM on October 3, 2011

Start looking for the hidden camera.

Yeah. It's not just that they are bikers- it's a theatre full of 100% bikers, minus two seats. Just a fundamentally weird situation. I don't know what I'd think if I were to walk in there. I don't agree that it's an exercise in tolerance. It's a completely fictional and unrealistic situation.

In my opinion, this beer commercial has nothing to teach us about acceptance.
posted by beau jackson at 7:35 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

I wouldn't feel welcome in any group of 148 people who were told to cross their arms and glare silently at me when I entered the room. If a couple had walked in while the dudes were laughing and throwing paper airplanes, how many would have walked out?

It seems that paying attention to overt social cues is not exactly the same thing as intolerance.
posted by mullicious at 7:37 PM on October 3, 2011 [15 favorites]

I don't know what I'd think if I were to walk in there.

Bear festival?
posted by kirkaracha at 7:41 PM on October 3, 2011 [20 favorites]

First off, if adult beverages in the movie house baffles you, you deserve to get beat up by bikers. As noted above, paper cup, meet bodega sourced beer and/or wine if you had the foresight to think things through.

Second, wouldn't it be weird to wander in and find the two best (non-isle) seats in the theater left, while some three hundred pound dude cranes his no-neck in the front row to see the bottom half of the screen? That wouldn't set off some internal alarms?

Plus everyone knows Euro-bikers are pussies.
posted by Keith Talent at 7:52 PM on October 3, 2011

I thought these were the leather-wearing patrons of the Blue Oyster Bar from Police Academy, and everyone was going to start dancing.
posted by 4ster at 8:05 PM on October 3, 2011 [6 favorites]

I'd be pretty happy that it didn't look like a text message and cell phone call during the movie crowd, but if I was with my wife we probably wouldn't sit down (I have no idea how I'd react on my own).
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:05 PM on October 3, 2011

> Oh man, beer at the movies? Where can I get this?

I worked at a movie theater as an adult. It was educational and liberating. There really isn't an easier job on the planet. I just did whatever the kids didn't want to do. Clean the popcorn machine? Sure. Pick up the theaters between movies? Sure. Put out the new titles on the marquee? Sure. We had a service that did the bathrooms at night, so it wasn't like they ever had to do this.

Anyway, pretty much every day there was at least one liquor bottle or beer cans in at least one showing. My favorite was an empty 6 pack at a noon showing of "Toy Story 2."
posted by cjorgensen at 8:09 PM on October 3, 2011 [3 favorites]

That fanfare at the end of the commercial was hysterical.
posted by carping demon at 8:09 PM on October 3, 2011

First of all, "we work hard, and we play hard." Secondly, I'd be suspicious that the only two contiguous seats were the best seats in the theater. THIRDLY, what I would "do," is "be late," like I always am, so it would be dark anyway and I wouldn't see anyone.
posted by rhizome at 8:11 PM on October 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

YOUR MOVE, ADVERTISING INDUSTRY
posted by rhizome at 8:11 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'd like to see Hank Williams Jr. in this situation.
posted by stinkycheese at 8:22 PM on October 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'd have been like, oh shit, which one's the narc.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:34 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Now, replace those bikers with small children, and I'd totally have been one of the guys running for the exit.
posted by schmod at 8:40 PM on October 3, 2011 [11 favorites]

Two seats left in the whole theater? I'd be pissed, too, and not because the theater was filled with a bunch of leather-bound white guys. Hell, I'm one of those guys. I go to the movies at 11:00 am for a reason.
posted by Huck500 at 8:44 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you go to any kind of bear bar you know a good sixty percent of these guys collect rare Disney figures and do inspirational needlework on the side.
posted by The Whelk at 8:46 PM on October 3, 2011 [11 favorites]

I'd probably grab the seat. After all, it was Toy Story III coming up onscreen and sometimes guys that look like this'll surprise you.
posted by Mike D at 8:50 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Damn. The Whelk got there just ahead of me.
posted by Mike D at 8:51 PM on October 3, 2011

Metafilter: The Whelk got there just ahead of me.
posted by schmod at 8:58 PM on October 3, 2011 [5 favorites]

The Whelk: "If you go to any kind of bear bar you know a good sixty percent of these guys collect rare Disney figures and do inspirational needlework on the side."

As Exhibit A, I present one of Metafilter's own....
posted by schmod at 9:00 PM on October 3, 2011

I probably would have gone to the movie alone, since I am unattached. I probably would have been scared.
I probably would have left.
That said, awesome beer ad,
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 9:01 PM on October 3, 2011

I’m don’t go to movies much because I don’t like crowds, and won’t sit in a crowded theater, or stand in line for tickets, so basically I would never have to make this choice. It wouldn’t matter if it were 148 grandmothers. I always ask how many seats are left before I buy a ticket.

If for some crazy reason I was going to sit with that many people I wouldn’t really care who they were. I wish they wouldn’t glare at me though.
posted by bongo_x at 9:28 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think I would have been weirded out by the uniform demographic rather than the crowd itself (I hang a bit with bikers, anyway).

My first assumption would be I walked in on someone's reserved theater.

My second assumption would be that the occupants were out peeing or getting snacks, and the stupid theater had over-sold the show.

My third assumption would be because of the location of the two seats, there was something wrong with them, ie, body or other fluids on them. I mean, if there are only going to be a couple seats left, they'd be dead-center front or way off to the side.

I'll tell you this: If I walked into a theater and the audience was nothing but lovely 19-25-year-old-women glaring at me, I'd be way the fuck more freaked out and uncomfortable.
posted by maxwelton at 9:53 PM on October 3, 2011 [3 favorites]

I'd look at the taps at the bar in the middle of BF nowhere, and wonder: How often does *anyone* get a pitcher of Carlsberg?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:54 PM on October 3, 2011

one one hand, Sydney has dangerous motorcycle gangs. on the other hand, we have cool metalheads and pub rockers. either way, I paid for the movie. I'll sit in the seat
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:31 PM on October 3, 2011

my neighbor is a biker. most of his friends are bikers. im certain they would find this funny. and yes, they are all softies on the inside. but i do think this is more about social cues instead of stereotypes.
posted by captainsohler at 11:26 PM on October 3, 2011

I am never that person to begin with. I'm never the person who enters just in time, just before the lights dim and most of the seats are taken. I'm there early, before any rush happens, preferably the first person there. Some people meditate in church; I go to the movies. I want to get a good seat, which for me means an aisle seat. I'm borderline claustrophobic when I have to sit in the middle seat like that, so I avoid that whenever possible.

If I had walked into this theater, I might've just walked back out, no matter if it were full of bikers or not. It was full, and that's reason enough for me to catch the next show. Though, me being a big pussy, I probably would've been scared of the bikers as well.
posted by zardoz at 11:49 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Dear Carlsberg. You are going to have to do a LOT better than this ad to get us to drink your weak-ass, cat-piss, dishwater-strength beer. Love, Belgium.
posted by creeky at 12:05 AM on October 4, 2011 [4 favorites]

I'm there early, before any rush happens, preferably the first person there.

I'm the guy who shows up just after you and exclaims, "Dammit, that's where I was going to sit!"
posted by ODiV at 12:19 AM on October 4, 2011

I've hung with bikers (some really sweet guys), and I've been scared by them as well. Depends on the biker, eh? And sometimes their club. If I was going in alone, no way would I have sat down in the middle of an audience of 148 guys who wear their culture on their sleeve like that. Actually, a theatre full of 148 guys of any culture would scare the shit out of me. I'd be uncomfortable in a theatre full of beauty queens, but I wouldn't be scared.

Am I wrong? Am I bad for this?
posted by b33j at 1:28 AM on October 4, 2011

My favorite was an empty 6 pack at a noon showing of "Toy Story 2."

Best way to see that turd, for sure.
posted by chavenet at 3:13 AM on October 4, 2011

Some of those bikers were pretty hot, I would have sat down....
posted by dave99 at 4:35 AM on October 4, 2011

I think it would have worked better if the spotlight shined on people who turned around.

*alarms blariing* WHOOT! WHOOT! *
"YOU GAVE UP FREE BEER, YOU GAVE UP FREE BEER. YOU ARE A FAIL."
posted by Fizz at 4:35 AM on October 4, 2011

When I was about 6 years old, my family stopped at a 7-Eleven after church so Dad could pick up some milk or something. We were sitting in the car in the parking lot when a group of bikers rolled up (this was the mid-70s), surrounding our car by taking the other available parking spaces. Most of the bikers walked directly into the store, but one big, huge guy looked into our car and started to lumber over towards us.

"Roll up the windows," said Mom, locking the door next to her. She sounded panic-stricken, even though it was broad daylight and Dad could be seen through the store windows.

The big guy (about 6'4", well over 250lbs, with long hair, a big bushy beard and tattoos) kept approaching the car. We got the doors locked and the windows up, but he went straight for the passenger's side front door, raised a ham-sized fist and knocked loudly. He indicated that my Mom roll down the window, and for some reason, she did.

"Auntie Brenda?" he said.

It was my cousin Steve. We hadn't seen him for a couple of years, but he babysat us every once in awhile. He did so after that incident, too, and we always had a couple of Harleys parked outside when he was in charge.
posted by xingcat at 5:06 AM on October 4, 2011 [13 favorites]

Kept waiting to see if two guys walked in, looked around, looked at each other, and squealed, "HEAVEN!!!!" in unison.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 5:49 AM on October 4, 2011

Reminds me of nothing more than the crowd at the Washington, DC, Uptown Theater when Wizard of Oz was re-released a few years ago.

I just don't find "bikers" intimidating, usually. Oh, sure, there are some real hard-core types out there, but most bikers that I see are suburban moms and dads who like to play gangster on weekends, or Vietnam vets out on some memorial ride. More like the King of the Hill episode when they went to Sturgis than a Hell's Angels gathering.

My uncle is one of these guys, leather-clad, intimidating-looking, big as hell. But he's also a Baptist deacon, and he and his Baptist-deacon friends like to think they shock the squares at Southwestern-Virginia Waffle Houses by getting all gussied up, going for rides, walking in all tough looking, then having prayer breakfasts.

It's cosplay, plain and simple. If I'd walked into this theater, I wouldn't have taken my seat despite being afraid--I would have taken my seat without fear, since I'd figure it was some sort of silly little convention or something. I wouldn't be afraid of getting beaten up--I'd be more afraid they'd witness to me about their Christian faith
posted by MrMoonPie at 6:06 AM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

Not a problem. I look just like a lot of those guys. I've hung around with bikers most of my life. But I see why it might make average folks nervous.
posted by Splunge at 6:23 AM on October 4, 2011

Maybe this shows I have a different stereotype about bikers, but... I think I would sit down without too many worries, but I'm impressed that the black couple that sat down.
posted by maryr at 7:51 AM on October 4, 2011

I absolutely would not have a problem with that because I have known many hairy biker types in my time, been good friends with some and never had a problem with any of them. To be fair to some of the couples though, some of those dudes were trying pretty hard to look unfriendly and intimidating.
posted by Decani at 7:54 AM on October 4, 2011

I would have headed straight for the exit.

Because the movie hadn't started yet, and would have meant that I had like nearly two hours to steal as many motorcycles from the parking lot as I could.

(Having grown up around bikers, my first reaction, assuming this was local theater, would have actually been to see if there was anyone there I knew...)
posted by quin at 8:40 AM on October 4, 2011

None of 'em are wearing colors or sporting 1%er ink, so I'd assume it's just a bunch of middle managers playing dress-up. I'd be more worried about cell phones going off than getting beat up. Funny ad though.
posted by calamari kid at 9:05 AM on October 4, 2011

First of all, those were some primo seats... in the middle, a third of the way up?
Second, I saw a movie in that theatre! Can't remember which one.
posted by JBennett at 9:14 AM on October 4, 2011

I don't know what I'd think if I were to walk in there.

I expect my reaction would be the same as any other time I've walked into a jammed theater: "Jesus Christ, did the WHOLE WORLD show up for this movie?"

Then I'd sit my ass down. I don't have the time to be fussy about who I'm sitting next to at the movies.
posted by MissySedai at 9:33 AM on October 4, 2011

Plus everyone knows Euro-bikers are pussies.

What about the ones who steal anti-tank rockets from army bases and use them to blow up the clubhouses of rival gangs, gun down their opponents in airport parking lots, and generally practice open urban warfare with assault rifles and car bombs? They're probably not pussies.

Given the events of the mid-1990s, I'd think that your average Scandinavian couple on a date, unable to distinguish between actual 1%ers and poseurs who simply like to play dress-up, might by leery of bikers.
posted by snottydick at 10:03 AM on October 4, 2011

I'd probably grab the seat. After all, it was Toy Story III coming up onscreen and sometimes guys that look like this'll surprise you.

Count me in as a biggish bearded tattooed dude who just got momentarily misty just THINKING about the end of TS3.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:21 PM on October 4, 2011

Shit, I'd run home and enjoy the peace and quiet. If everyone's at the movies, that means the biker bar across the street with the shitty, shitty cover band is closed.

One more endless Doors tribute and I don't even know anymore...
posted by Space Kitty at 1:34 PM on October 4, 2011

Maybe it's just me, but I didn't even really see what the problem was. Yeah, I'd have just sat down without even thinking about it. That doesn't make me less prejudiced, just less worrying about these sort of things.
posted by salmacis at 3:34 PM on October 4, 2011

The problem is that there are many bikers connected with organized crime, at least where I live. OTOH, the motorcycle shop near me also chargers $14 for an egg and toast and has tables filled with The New Yorker and Harpers. So I dunno anymore.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 3:50 PM on October 4, 2011

I would have assume it was a Burning Man DPW staff reunion and hit them up for a smuggled PBR and Zeitgeist drink tokens.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 4:46 PM on October 4, 2011

The bigger test: Make it a theatre full of teenagers texting, talking on the phone, surfing the web, putting their feet up on the seats, yakking, flirting, and laughing. As long as those bikers can keep their fucking mouths shut and watch the movie, I'm gonna take those last two seats, thanks.
posted by antifuse at 12:53 PM on October 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

This commercial makes me feel uncomfortable about my prejudices so I'm going to nitpick it and offer a range of weak excuses about how if I walked out it would be for all the right reasons.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:32 AM on October 8, 2011