To Potami, the party of former TV star and aspiring politician Stavros Theodorakis, came under heavy criticism even by its own members for publishing two election spots with clearly tacky and sexist content. The videos featuring a young and a middle-aged woman have them talk for 40 seconds in what it seems to be their sex life but in fact they talk about politics and voting for Theodorakis and To Potami (the River). The young woman talks about her first time, while the middle-aged one speaks about starting anew – starting anew not …sex but voting.
Furthermore, the two video spots were obviously inspired by a video promoting US President Barack Obama re-election in 2012.
According to latest information, the two video spots were removed from the party’s website. They were uploaded on Sunday, on party’s website and YouTube.
Young woman: Her first time
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YouTube Direkt
“I’ve never done it before. I know that the first time is very important. It can’t be just anyone. The consequences are huge. It needs to be unique. Unforgettable. It should be with someone I trust. With whom I both feel intimate and safe. Who won’t betray me the next day …. You enter the room. You open the curtain and you make the jump. It’s the moment when a girl becomes a woman. …The first time you go to vote is very important. And you’ll remember it forever.”
Middle-aged woman: Her first time
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YouTube Direkt
“It’s not my first time, of course. I can’t remember. It’s been a long time. I didn’t trust anyone. It’s not right, I know, but I couldn’t. I got tired of all those guys. But this year, I’ll do it again. For the first time in ages, I feel happy, hopeful that something is changing. …This year I feel that my vote is once again important.”
Criticism
Vaso Kinti and Periklis Vallianos, two of To Potami EU candidates criticized the videos for being sexist and insulting women.
Periklis Vallianos: “The person responsible for the videos should resign and apologize to all women.”
Vaso Kinti: “The video are tacky and sexist. Why no man was featured talking about his first time.”
SYRIZA EU candidate Dimitris Papadimoulis: “the videos of To Potami are vulgar and insulting to women. St. Theodorakis should remove them immediately.”
Democratic Left / Equality Department: “The advertising of the spots with women as subject are an extreme version of sexism.”
PASOK /Secretariat for Women: “In the absence of political positions in order to gain the votes of young people and especially women, the spots choose to trivialize for votes gaining purposes critical sexual dilemmas of people, in particular the delicate “first time” of a woman (and who not of a man?)”
General Secretariat for Gender Equality: “We can see with joy that the mechanism for political correctness within the society worked in time.”
Having women talk about politics only through clear sexual references is certainly not what many voters of self-called “progressive” Theodorakis and To Potami had expected. Even if party sources claimed, that the videos were created by the social media team of To Potami and one should see the whole campaign.
An internet user asked whether next Sunday, To Potami voters should use a…condom.
sources: enetenglish, protothema, newsit, Lena Dunham/Obama-Campaing
PS No matter how “progressive”a party claims to be chances are high that progressiveness is quickly over when it comes to women. We are in Greece, ladies.
