Oscar Mayer roasts Oscars gender gap with jarring 'wiener' statistic

A new campaign from Oscar Mayer is turning up the heat on the Academy Awards for its lackluster record of recognizing female directors. 

The message: “You’re 46 times more likely to take home a director win if you have a wiener.”

The campaign features out-of-home placements around the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, the host of the Oscars this Sunday, and messaging on the meat brand’s iconic Wienermobile, which can be seen cruising the streets around the theater this weekend as well.

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The campaign also comes with its own commitment from Oscar Mayer. According to the company, 50% of the directors it hires for ads will be "female-identifying," starting this year.

On Instagram and Twitter (the work is mysteriously absent from Facebook), the campaign has received mostly positive reactions, although some commenters have pointed out that the campaign’s cheeky language places unneeded emphasis on genitalia in a campaign for diversity of gender identity.

In the Academy Awards' 92-year history, just seven female directors have been nominated for the Best Director prize, with only two taking home the statue. Last year’s broadcast made history as the first to feature two female director nominees in a single year: Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland” and Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman.” Zhao was victorious, becoming the first woman of color to claim gold in the category. 

Although this year's ceremony will have only one female nominee despite multiple buzzy female-directed films, it'll mark the first time a woman has been nominated twice for the directing award. Jane Campion was nominated for Best Directing for her work on “The Power of the Dog,” nearly 30 years after she was for her work on “The Piano” in 1994. That year, Campion won Best Screenplay, while the film's stars Holly Hunter won Best Actress and Anna Paquin won Best Supporting Actress.

Additional campaigns for diversity around this year’s awards ceremony include coffee sleeves, which advertised work from female nominees on film sets, and a Snapchat lens that will teach users to fingerspell in honor of “CODA” and “Audible,” two nominated films that depict deaf communities.