Speaking Out Against Sexism Earned Me Free Mentos

I'm singing Regina Spektor's "Carbon Monoxide" -- I'm so cool, I'm so cool, I'm so cool.

Feministing posted a video of a parody Mentos commercial. Here's the scenario. The commercial takes place in a bar, and one guy puts a Mentos in a woman's beer, causing her to pass out. He then drags her out of the bar. So the Mentos is like a roofie! Tee-fucking-hee! Rape is funny! I was very offended by this. It stunk of sexism, but it also stunk of lawsuit. So I e-mailed Mentos with this message:

I just saw a video on YouTube. It's a parady [yes, I misspelled it] Mentos commercial that uses your jingle and your product to promote date rape. The video shows a young man in a bar dropping a Mentos in a woman's beer, and then he drags the unconscious woman away. I think it's horrible that your quality product was used to promote such a disgusting act. I think your company should do something about it. The video is here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox34fs_eH0g

I do believe Mentos is great, by the way. I love the mixed fruit kind. Haven't had it in a while, but I might be eating some very soon *wink wink.* Readers of Feministing were flagging the video on YouTube, so I figured that the video would be taken down before Mentos read my e-mail. But an hour later, the Mentos Brand Manager e-mailed me back:

Thanks for bringing this video to our attention. We agree that it isvery offensive and we are going to work with our legal department to get the video removed from You Tube as soon as possible. I appreciate your email.

And it was not an empty promise, because an hour and half later, I got this e-mail from their Legal & General Affairs Coordinator:

Thank you very much for your message. We will request that YouTube remove that video immediately. I will also send you some MENTOS as a"Thank You!"

Free Mentos! Woo! This was at 2:46pm today. At 2:49, one of the commenters at Feministing said the video was taken down. Now, I don't know if Mentos acted that quickly or if there were enough flags to take the video down. Either way, free Mentos for me!

And just as added information, both the Brand Manager and the Legal & General Affairs Coordinator are women. Kick-ass women.