Jack in the Box commercial about menopause--funny or offensive, or a little of both?

in my opinion it's not even a very funny commercial. i think the ones with the stoned guy are much funnier...anyway, it is somewhat borderline offensive, meaning i wouldn't have been the one to say 'wow, great idea for a commercial'. fact is jackinthebox isn't asking menopausal women to buy the drink, they're targeting younger people who will think the commercial is funny.

I have been through menopause, surgical -- nothing gradual about mine. I found the commercial funny, funny, funny! This is not meant to be an attack on menopausal women - when was the last time you saw a real woman in menopause like her? There's nothing real in that commercial. If you haven't been there, lighten up. Once you've gone through menopause yourself, then you might have a truer perspective.

I have lived with and through menopause with three women, my mom, my first wife, and now the woman I have been with for six years. Menopause affected them all (and me) and the only way to deal with it is to acknowledge it and treat it with humor and compassion. It is a passing chemical condition that makes once normal women nuts in one way or another. As you will note,most of the woman who have had to deal with it, think the commercial is hysterical. People, it is a commercial...it is satire. It is only an invitation to buy a cool fruit drink that will help deal with the human condition....CHILL. It is really funny. Thanks to Jack, I laugh every time I see it because it reminds me of all the funny crazy things I have experienced living with menopausal women!

Thank you so much everyone for all of the replies so far! What amazes me is that there is obviously no gray areas for you when it comes to this commercial--either you love this ad or you hate it. I keep waiting for Jack himself to weigh in. So Jack, if you're out there, what do you think?

I am a menopausal woman and I laughed my butt off.

Why is it that if we make fun of other health issues, we are insensitive but making fun of menopausal women is supposed to be funny? I find the commercial offensive and so does my husband. Make fun of men with enlarged prostate next time Jack!

I found this commercial very offensive, not because of the characterization of a menopausal woman but the alternative. To me, the commercial is saying thank god we cooled off this menopausal woman, now she can go back to what she is supposed to be doing. Use satire as much as you want, but their alternative to 'crazy' is the ideal 50s housewife.

It feels like a return to stepford.

One, people need to put their tongue in their cheeks when watching this commercial. My mother, who is 62 and went through her bout of menopause, thought the commercial was absolutely hysterical. I was rolling for minutes after.

Two, the fact that we're talking about the commercial here in a format that isn't mainstream TV... heh, the commercial has done it's job, people. Advertising is about two things, catching a person's attention and making them remember the product. It's managed to do both. Can we leave it at just that?

This was clearly a satirical piece. Satire, by definition, is characterized by drawing attention to stereotypes, assumptions, and irrational presumptions, by making them so enormous that they can't be ignored, and so that their absurdity is made clear.

A satirical commercial that draws attention to the stereotype of the "street-rat crazy" menopausal woman is not insulting women, menopausal or otherwise. Quite the OPPOSITE, it is drawing that stereotype out into the open and magnifying it to its absurd outward limit, in order to point out how preposterous it is, and using that as a source of humor. "Look at this ridiculous stereotype," satire says, "look at how absurd it is. Now laugh at it, take away its power, see it for the farce that it is."

I am still astonished at how many people choose to take offense at satire, rather than observe the commentary it is providing, and partake in the healthy laughter at something so preposterous.

Becoming offended only reinforces the stereotype one dislikes. Laughing at a satire of that stereotype revokes its validity, and contributes to its dissolution.