Been on the tube lately? You might have the WeSwap currency exchange ads gracing London Underground carriages, with lines (and clichéd pictures) such as, ‘We can’t swap your missus for a Swedish supermodel, but we can swap your money for her krona’.
There’s also FairLife – the milk brand had to pull their ads last December - after accusations of sexism for depicting semi-dressed women alongside slogans of ‘Drink what she’s wearing’. And who could forget those ‘Beach body ready’ Protein Worlds billboards that sparked a national backlash.
You’d image that admen would be treading more carefully now. Not so. The gates seem to have opened for more ads that shame, shock, offend, or all three. For instance, a recent poster for a taxi firm in Southampton featured a larger older woman posing suggestively with the slogan, ‘If I start to look sexy book a taxi’ as a drink-and-drive deterrent.
I’m a partner at ad agency Anomaly London, and one of the youngest female executive creative directors in the industry. I had nothing to do with any of those campaigns, but I have commited my own share of crimes against women – picture an ad set at the Miss World contest where a contestant’s special talent is pulling a pint.
When I started out, I didn’t question the bigger implications of the ads we were writing. I was just answering briefs, making my (mainly male) colleagues laugh. But a year ago I got involved in a project on feminism, which opened my eyes. So I’ve tried to change. Things I haven’t done since: unthinkingly cast men in roles such as the boss or unthinkingly cast women as parents.
It felt like the industry was changing, but there’s been such a spate of sexist adverts lately. When you’re writing an ad, you have to communicate something quickly, which is why every cliché is used and cheap gags often work to get attention.
We need more women in the industry, and advertisers need to realise there’s a responsibility when you’re putting out a message seen by millions.
Protein World used the most cowardly tool in the advertising book – shame. For every person who buys into their ad, there are thousands of women who are left feeling crap about themselves.
Annoyingly, these tactics pay off – Protein World’s head of global marketing Richard Staveley recently boasted it had made the brand an extra £2,000,000 in sales. WeSwap have since switched their provocative ad campaigns for slogans such as ‘Why go to a banker for your money when you could go to a fishmonger’. A spokesperson said, ‘No offence was meant by our original ads.’ Which begs the question, are we fuelling the fire by getting furious with these ads?