According to Hofmann: For immature audiences only
I鈥檓 always striving to make the world a better place. I mean, I fail miserably every time, but I do strive, which is an aggressive form of trying.
My latest strive is to prevent businesses and organizations from ending up behind the eight ball when it comes to public outrage over unintentional offensiveness.
Even if you鈥檝e never heard of the phrase 鈥渦nintentional offensiveness,鈥� you know about it, especially in the last couple of years when everyone has been offended by everything anyone has ever said.
An example of an unintentional offense could be when a company releases a marketing campaign of their product featuring a cartoon of, let鈥檚 say, the North American Red Fox, which is more an orange-colored fox, but it鈥檚 red for cartoon sake.
The company had the best of intentions in releasing what they hope would become a recognizable mascot, but someone is offended.
The backlash could cause embarrassment to the company, loss of revenue and even some lawsuits because if the lawsuit fits, wear it 鈥� and pay for it!
The truth is, companies normally don鈥檛 blindly agree to put just anything out there (unless it鈥檚 Netflix, of course).
Whatever concepts and ideas are pitched are normally discussed in company meetings, focus groups, scientific equations and seances with a spiritualist 鈥� all geared toward finding the best way to get the information out to the masses.
However, as we鈥檝e seen, even the most well-intended unintentional offenses slip through the cracks and catch these companies and organizations totally off guard.
That鈥檚 why these places really need to hire what I call 鈥淒ude-Bros鈥�.
Dude-Bros range in ages from 16 to 52, they always have either sunglasses or hats on their heads or both at the same time, they like to party, a lot of them are named Cody, and they always start a sentence with the word 鈥淒ude鈥� or 鈥淏ro鈥�.
Their most important attribute is what the French call a 鈥渧ision tr猫s inappropri茅e et offensive de la vie鈥�, which means, 鈥渉ighly inappropriate and offensive outlook on life.鈥� I don鈥檛 know if that鈥檚 a real French saying or not; it just looked cool on the translation website.
Dude-Bros are needed in boardrooms, focus groups, private bathrooms 鈥� anywhere big decisions are being made.
Don鈥檛 get me wrong, there are people who aren鈥檛 considered Dude-Bros involved in decision-making roles, but they don鈥檛 want to be labeled being a problem so they don鈥檛 speak up when they see a potential issue.
Most Dude-Bros are not equipped with a filter between their brains and their mouths, and they don鈥檛 care one bit to let everyone know when they catch a blunder from a mile away.
Let鈥檚 say, for example, an advertising agency pitches an idea to a seat belt safety coalition featuring a seductive woman buckling up in the driver鈥檚 seat.
Then, all of a sudden, a voice half-full of Doritos bellows out in the boardroom and says, 鈥淒ude, that chick is awesome!鈥�
Or let鈥檚 say a company is launching a new trail mix product, featuring an image of a rainforest tribesman as the mascot on the label.
All of a sudden, a voice speaks up following a belch and says, 鈥淏ro, the Yanomami chieftains would be insulted to see a warrior pictured without a ceremonial spear. Not, cool, bro. Not cool.鈥�
Companies all over are looking to get people back to work, so my suggestion is to look for Dude-Bros to come in and raise awareness on what people find inappropriate (yet funny), what鈥檚 offensive (yet funny) and what鈥檚 not funny (yet funny).
And, yes, anyone who reads my column on a regular basis can certainly determine that I don鈥檛 use the services of a Dude-Bro to try to avoid writing something that will offend.
What can I say? That鈥檚 something I should strive for, but since I鈥檓 lazy, maybe I鈥檒l just give it a try.
According to Hofmann is written by staff reporter Mark Hofmann of Rostraver Township. His books, 鈥淕ood Mourning! A Guide to Biting the Big One鈥nd Dying, Too鈥� and 鈥淪tupid Brain,鈥� are available on Amazon.com. He co-hosts the 鈥淟ocally Yours鈥� radio show on WMBS 590 AM every Friday.