Viral Toy Commercial Gives Beastie Boys’ “Girls” A Feminist Rewrite

Princess Machine

Viral Toy Commercial Gives Beastie Boys’ “Girls” A Feminist Rewrite

Princess Machine

The Beastie Boys were always vocal about their refusal to license their songs for TV commercials, but it looks like they’ve made a very justifiable exception. For the past couple of days, a commercial for the Rube Goldberg toy the Princess Machine has been burning-up the mommy-blog circuit, and it’s gone viral for a bunch of different reasons. There’s the distinctly feminist viewpoint, the direct appeal to parents who don’t want their daughters playing with Barbies, the gonzo inventiveness of the machine in the ad, and then there’s the music. The song flips “Girls,” the knucklehead anthem from Licensed To Ill, and turns it into a fired-up girls-rule song. My daughter loves it. Watch it below.

Here’s your dailyl reminder that the man who originally honked that song is married to Kathleen Hanna now.

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