Simone WilsonWondering what's up with the group of disenfranchised-looking dudes (and some non-dudes) at Selma and Vine in the heart of Hollywood, waving signs and standing beneath a giant new billboard, re: the hardships of being a “man living with PMS”?
Well, as with most things this outrageous, the rally is actually just a PR campaign — this time, for “Got Milk?“, because milk apparently helps ease PMS symptoms — turning heads by touching on a sensitive issue.
The “Everything I Do Is Wrong” support group presser is all sorts of faux-controversial:
“Premenstrual Syndrome or PMS is a REAL condition that affects millions of men every month. PMS places undue strain on personal and professional relationships and for several days in each cycle, men are inexplicably unable to do anything right.”
Seriously?, we asked press officer Angie Valencia this afternoon. That's when she admitted the whole thing is just a “fun and lighthearted way of letting consumers know the calcium in the milk helps reduce the symptoms of PMS.”
Regular Ches
Indeed: Hidden on the side of the “Everything I Do Is Wrong” rally shirts is a small “Got Milk?” logo. (Also, we could have just gone to the Everything I Do Is Wrong website.)
But even still, sounds like the campaign is really standing behind this concept.
“We're kind of looking at this from the men's perspective,” says Valencia. “Everything they do is wrong — because we're moody, and we're cranky.”
We're not the fiercest feminists around, but an anti-PMS rally, run by men? Really? Almost reminds us of the “No Ma'am” club from “Married With Children,” formed because, according to Bundyology.com, which exists, hilariously, “Al and his friends suffered from their wives' and other women's oppression as opposed to their idea of a perfect world.”
Anyway, good to see “Got Milk?”, funded by all the dairy processors in the state of California, is back in the building. We haven't thought about those guys since we tore down the shrine of '90s “Got Milk?” ads — apparently now considered vintage; goddammit — from the ceiling of our childhood bedroom.
In those days, the campaign never really got more controversial than Tyra Banks' bellybutton. But this is a new day of calcium awareness, explains Steve James, executive director of the California Milk Processor Board:
“PMS is a real condition that affects both men and women, and we wanted to make sure people got the message,” says James. “One of the ways you do that is looking at it from a surprise angle. …We were aware that it was going to be a provocative topic. But we're hoping that the humor will disarm the awkwardness.”
Heh.
The “Got Milk?” headquarters are located in San Clemente, but James says the corner of Selma and Vine was chosen for the billboard and rally due to “high visibility” and “traffic.”
Yup. We do have that going for us.
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