Is this women-only Cillit Bang cleaning advert sexist ?

 

A TV ad campaign has been branded ‘sexist’ for only featuring women in their adverts promoting cleaning products.

The ads, by the well-known brand Cillit Bang, have been banned after they only showed women doing housework.

The three ads feature 35 women actresses playing housewives and show them introducing themselves and happily doing the cleaning.

One woman says, in Spanish, ‘Hi, I’m Monica. When I started work, I never had time to spend with my kids’ while another says Cillit Bang cleans ‘just the way I like it’.

The ad concludes with the line ‘Try it and you’ll be convinced’, using the Spanish feminine pronoun.

Following an influx of complaints, Spain’s advertising standards board has declared that the ads ‘show women as the only user of the promoted product and are discriminatory for assigning a role according to gender.’

They added that they are calling for all media to ‘put a stop to sexist stereotypes that belong to the past and should have no place in modern society.’

One moment of the adverts banned as they are "sexist" because they show only women doing housework.nnTV watchdogs in Spain have banned a series of "sexist" ads for Cillit Bang cleaning products because they show only women doing housework.

The three ads included 35 women actresses playing housewives and did not feature a single man, the advertising standards board concluded. Even the use of language in the adverts - using the Spanish feminine form - was declared sexist as it was only addressed to women. The British manufactures of the products - Slough-based Reckitt Benckiser - claimed the ads were not sexist because women were the biggest buyers of the products.

Spain's advertising standards board brought the case after a series of complaints from viewers and equality groups.

The adverts all show women taking on cleaning chores using the Cillit Bang products.nnNow the watchdog ruling has declared that they "show women as the only user of the promoted product and are discriminatory for assigning a role according to gender."

Spain's Consumer Association had referred the ads to the standards watchdog after a flurry of viewers' complaints. They said: "We appeal to producers, advertisers and the media to once and for all put a stop to sexist stereotypes that belong to the past and should have no place in modern society."

The association added: "Advertising that presents women according to stereotypical roles violates the foundation of our legal system and helps perpetuate gender violence."

The group's spokeswoman Maria Alvarez told local media: "It is quite difficult to get an advertising campaign pulled just for being discriminatory because the fact that only women might appear in a campaign isn't enough for it to be considered sexist."

She added: "But the protagonists teamed with the feminine form of the final phrase in this campaign made it a clear cut case."Cheesy British ads for similar Cillit Bang products have become cult viewing in the UK and feature a single man promoting their cleaning values. Manufactures Reckitt Benckiser said they had simply been targeting their main customers. A statement said: "The advert showed no harassment of women and indeed was designed to address the female audience who represent the majority buyers of the product."(ends)n The three ads feature 35 women playing housewives and show them happily doing the cleaning.

Reckitt Benckiser, the company who manufacture the products, maintained that the advert showed no harassment of women and said it was designed to target its female audience who are its main buyers.

Speaking to The Independent yesterday, Cillit Bang apologised for the campaign and insisted that as a company it ‘defends gender equality in all areas.’

Reckitt Benckiser declined to comment further.

What do YOU think ? : is this simply a case of Political correct-ness gone crazy, or does this kind of stereotype have no place in the modern world ?

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