Where Do You Keep Yours?
The latest ad for Tunnock’s Tea Cakes landed its creators in hot water after a complaint to the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ad in question depicts a female tennis player lifting her tennis skirt while holding a tea cake beside her hip instead of a tennis ball, with a caption ‘Where do you keep yours?”. This imagery, along with an additional phrase ‘Serve up a treat’, led ASA to deem the ad as demeaning to women.
NEW PURITAN MADNESS
— Man in Black 🏴 (@69mib) 7 февраля 2018 г.
Tunnock's Tea Cakes has become the latest to be felled by the current hysteria about sexism, with an ad featuring a tennis player holding a tea cake on her thigh. The advert was withdrawn after just one complaint. pic.twitter.com/PfOAZLMBDM
‘Leftover Women’
Furniture giant Ikea ended up apologizing for an ad it aired in China deemed offensive to single 27-year old and over women who are sometimes referred to as ‘leftover women’. The 29-second video featured a mother scolding her daughter for not "bringing home a boyfriend" to meet her parents.
China's Leftover Women Outraged at Satirical Ikea TV Commercial https://t.co/fl1yBDFwcq HT @thebeijinger #thisischina pic.twitter.com/2r6KmmVVX2
— Chinese Treasures (@emramsden) 28 октября 2017 г.
PinarellNO
Late in 2017 Italian cycling company Pinarello released an ad promoting the launch of its e-bike for casual riders and women who want to 'follow easily the men's pace', which prompted many to condemn it on social media as sexist using the hashtag PinarellNO.
A post on the company official Instagram page featured a picture of a woman described as a ‘couple rider’ and with the following caption: 'I've always wanted to go cycling with my boyfriend but it seemed impossible. Soon everything will become possible.'
Women around the 🌍 rejoice thanks to the new @Pinarello_com e-bike you can now keep up with the men 🚴♂️!! Classy campaign you planks 😞 #deflated #cycling pic.twitter.com/a4bG6uTIst
— Luke de Costa (@NewsLukedC) 30 ноября 2017 г.
Pandora’s Bracelet
Danish jewelry brand Pandora got accused of sexism because of an ad displayed in the Milan subway. The billboard was devoid of any provocative imagery and merely followed a question directed at shoppers seeking to buy Christmas presents for ladies: “An iron, pajamas, an apron, a Pandora bracelet. In your opinion, what would make her happy?”
Used Cars and Women
An Audi commercial aired in China last year drew sharp criticism from the local social media users who blamed it for effectively equating women with used cars. The video features a mother roughly inspecting her son’s bride during a wedding ceremony, and then shifts to a red Audi sedan driving through an empty highway, with narrator warning the viewers that “an important decision must be made carefully.”
