Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Women Are Brutally Savaging Discovery's New Sexist Campaign In The Best Way

Women Are Brutally Savaging Discovery's New Sexist Campaign In The Best Way
Discovery Channel, @Julia_SCI/Twitter

Women call out the channel for its tone deaf new ad.

For a brand dedicated to science, learning and exploration, Discovery Channel's new ad campaign seems to have skipped over one pretty important fact:

the existence of women.


For over 30 years the Discovery Channel has been celebrating the beauty and craziness of this tiny planet we call home, but somehow in its latest ad campaign the educational channel managed to forget about half of the people who live here.

As part of its global re-branding this week Discovery launched a TV spot featuring its new tagline "The world is ours."

The only problem, except for one naked women the ad featured nothing but men.

Set to the tune of Hooked on a Feeling male stars from a number of Discovery Channel shows laughed, danced and sang along in an unmitigated "bro-fest."



Now women all over, including a group of female scientists are calling out the channel for its tone deaf "bro-down", reminding the brand that women like discovering things too.






Science communicator and aspiring wildlife host Ashley Gary was one of the many women disappointed by the ad.

Gary told CNET in an interview:

"So many girls and women look to that channel for not only entertainment, but information about our world, but yet we weren't included."

So Gary and a group of other women scientists teamed up and put together their own video.

Gary said:

"If no one else will promote us and our work, we'll be our own cheerleader and promote ourselves."

Lead by biologist Sarah McAnulty a group of women scientists, communicators and researchers set out to remind Discovery that the world was a much bigger place as they lip-synced and danced to Eve's Let Me Blow Ya Mind in their labs and out in the field.

Watch their video here.


Needless to say minds were blown by the amazing celebration of women in the STEM fields.









As amazing as the response was, many were disappointed that it was necessary in the first place. Though for many women in the STEM fields exclusionary thinking like that shown in Discovery's ad is nothing new.

Before the ad aired Vulcanologist Jess Phoenix was already familiar with Discovery's attitude towards women in STEM.

Phoenix told CNET:

"When members of my team have pitched me as a show host to Discovery and other networks, we've been told that their audiences won't believe I'm a scientist."

Women like neuroscientist BethAnn McLaughlin who is leading the #MeTooSTEM movement keep McAnulty feeling optimistic about the future for women in STEM though.

"These groups make me feel hopeful for the future women in STEM, even if it feels depressing from the trenches right now."
"These women turned one more negative in a long line of exclusionary nonsense into a funny, light-hearted, defiant reminder that women in science are not going anywhere."

And with "mind blowing" efforts like the response to Discovery's ad it's obvious the amazing women of STEM aren't going to take being forgotten about any more.

More from Trending

Screenshots from ​@Parksyyyyy's TikTok video
@Parksyyyyy/TikTok

Family Called Out For Pranking Family Member's New Fiancée Into Thinking They Run A 10k Every Thanksgiving

Most of us have been in a serious enough relationship that we had the chance to meet our partner's siblings, parents, and possibly other family members.

We can all attest to how nerve-wracking that moment was and the pressure we inevitably felt to impress our partner's family and try to "fit in."

Keep ReadingShow less
Radoslaw Sikorski; Elon Musk
Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Just Epically Ripped Elon Musk After Musk Called To 'Abolish The EU'

Billionaire Elon Musk was mocked by Polish Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski after Musk called for the European Union to be abolished.

Musk spoke out after an EU decision to penalize X with a €120 million fine (about $140 million) over what regulators described as a misleading use of blue checkmarks and insufficient transparency in the platform’s advertising database.

Keep ReadingShow less
Miss Harris in season 5 of "Stranger Things"
Netflix

'Stranger Things' Creator Shares Sweet Connection To Actor Who Plays Teacher In Final Season

The fifth and final season of Netflix's blockbuster Stranger Things dropped its first four episodes (Volume One) over Thanksgiving weekend, just in time for people to digest from their Turkey dinners.

The hugely popular sci-fi show launched its final season with record viewership. Over the course of Stranger Things' five seasons, several notable actors have made appearances alongside the main cast, including Sean Astin, Matthew Modine, and Paul Reiser.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tim Allen in 'The Santa Clauses'
Disney

Conservative Tries To Claim Disney+ Show Is Somehow Satanic Due To Joke—And Gets Instantly Fact-Checked

It's the holidays again, which of course means the yearly tradition of Christians having a meltdown about supposedly being persecuted by the existence of non-Jesusy Christmas stuff is back with a vengeance.

But the latest flap online is really a doozy in its audacity both because it's incredibly dumb and also a lie, obviously posted as a purposeful attempt to get attention.

Keep ReadingShow less
Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge; nativity scene outside a church
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; John Nordell/Getty Images

Massachusetts Catholic Church Angers Conservatives With Its Brutal ICE-Themed Nativity Scene

The Christian Bible teaches that the Holy Family—Joseph, Mary, and Jesus—were residents of the Herodian ruled Nazareth, Galilee. Having traveled back to Joseph's ancestral home—Roman ruled Bethlehem, Judea—for the census, Mary and Joseph, in modern American parlance, would have been homeless immigrants/tourists having an "anchor baby" at the time of Jesus' birth.

While Joseph considered Galilee his immediate family's home, the trio would eventually flee to Egypt as refugees to escape from King Herod.

Keep ReadingShow less