'Toxic Masculinity’: Outrage as Pakistan’s 'Liberal' Detergent Ad Comes Under Frenzied Attacks

Pakistani television has recently aired a curious advert for one of Proctor and Gamble’s detergents, Ariel that was found to back women breaking away from conservative views, most particularly, on gender.

The campaign promoting the washing powder played upon the notion of a “stain” that appears to be charged with social meaning after it was used to describe the statements women typically hear with regard to themselves and their commonly expected roles:

“You have studied enough, now look after the house”, “What will people say?”, “You are a woman” and a wealth of others, some of which were verbally stressed.

The ad campaign hit a raw nerve with conservative religious audiences who demanded that the campaign should be halted and all ads taken down from social media platforms where it promptly went viral, with a respective #BoycottAriel starting off its crusade on Twitter.

A number of netizens claimed the campaign was forcing them to go around well-established religious norms, while others noted that the ad actually blasted a Quranic verse as stained, opting to quote lines from religious books as proof.

“Kindly have a look at this cheap ad of Ariel, they are making fun of our religion", one put it urging to join the flashmob.

Others went as far as to put the country’s electronic media watchdog, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulation Authority (PEMRA) on alert, calling for them to ban the ad with an administrative gesture.

 “Arial’s [sic] ad that calls our religious and social values as [sic] 'stain' has been an attempt to promote secular agenda in the name of freedom. We strongly condemn it and demand PEMRA to take strict action against it”, a different user remarked.

Another picked a flowery comparison, likening a hijab-wearing Muslim woman to a “Starbucks” coffee cup, suggesting that with the logo removed it “becomes cheap just like when you remove the head cover from a Muslim woman”.

However, there were those who didn’t jump on the bandwagon and defended the ad arguing the Islam allows women to show independence.

“Pakistanis: Islam is the most feminist religion. It already gave women all their rights 1400 years ago”, researcher Ammar Rashid weighed in.

“Just checked out #BoycottAriel hashtag trending in Pakistan. Apparently Pakistani men are furious that women r being told they shouldn't stay indoors and most cite religion as a justification. When will we get rid of such toxic [religious] masculinity?” Journalist Taha Siddiqui tweeted in indignation.

Some other person reminded the audience of Prophet Muhammad’s first wife and follower, Hazrat Khadija, and her much rewarding and profitable occupation, to prove the point and argue that the hashtag shouldn’t actually be trending.

“Why is #BoycottAriel trending. Prophet’s (pbuh) own wife H Khadija was a successful businesswoman. H Omar appointed women as the market controller in both Makkah and Medina”.

Many more echoed the stance:

Despite the pro-voices, the Ariel advert was formally taken down from most Pakistani social media sites and TV, however, it was already filed and managed to gain traction on Twitter outside the country.

Another advertisement didn’t sit well with the public several months ago either, when Careem, a ride app, produced an ad stating that if a bride wanted to run away from her wedding she should call the service, with the campaign prompting an equally strong backlash as the Ariel commercial, as well as a pulldown from media.