YahooUnless you spent the weekend vacationing on a remote island with no Wifi, you've probably watched the Yahoo Sketchy viral video "Dannon Birth Control on the Bottom Yogurt" created by Parks and Recreation comedy writer Megan Amram and directed by Payman Benz.
The video, which also stars Parks and Recreation actress Retta Parks, Parenthood actress Rosa Salazar, Diane Mizota, the host of Yahoo Shine's parenting show, Away We Grow, plus-size model and actress Sonibert Rodriguez, and writer Laura Dziamba, depicts five women of different ethnicities drinking cocktails in a backyard, eating yogurt in a kitchen, and giving each other manis and pedis. "It's tough to be a woman in post-racial America," says Amram. "That's why Dannon has created the two favorite things of diverse girlfriends in commercials: Yogurt and birth control….now you don't have to choose between the only two things that matter to you as a woman, according to commercials."
The video pokes fun at not only the media's characterization of women when it comes to their friendships ("We're all friends with one black girl, one Latina, one white girl, and one deafsie!" quips one) their obsession with figuring the perfect birth control, but also the way that food is categorized according to each sex and always in the same way. For example, a women eating chocolate is being naughty and decedent, salad is always eaten alone while laughing, women only eat yogurt when they're bloated and then everyone gathers in yoga class to burn it off. At the end of the video, there's even a cameo by Weird Al who tries to join the girls—"Ooooh yogurt!" but when he's told "No boys allowed!" looks crushed for a very awkward drawn-out silence.
We emailed with the hilarious Amram who explained her motivation behind writing the spoof. "Women's commercials never fail to make me laugh out loud," she says. "It's just so silly and cartoony the way they boil women down to this "universal" caricature. I'm definitely not the first to spoof the whole world of women's advertisements.""The biggest mistakes [that advertisers make when marketing to women] is that the ads aren't long enough," says Amram. "Thirty seconds is a travesty! I'm just starting to become attached to the characters. Also, all those spoilers. I want to find out the side effects for myself!"
Amram and her co-stars filmed the video over the course of one Saturday and for Amram, the experience has been humbling. "The reaction has been so incredible!" she says. "People seem to be really on board with the whole world of the spoof and with Weird Al's demon face! We approached him because we knew he'd nail an almost non-speaking role and he immediately agreed which is the best thing that has ever happened to me."
So can we expect a sequel, perhaps as Amram suggested, a three-part commercial for Mai-Tai NuvaRings? "No part two for 'Birth Control on the Bottom' planned," says Amram. "But I will keep making videos."
