This Government advert was withdrawn for its ‘sexist’ depiction of women
The Government has withdrawn a ‘“stay home, save lives” advert after it was deemed as depicting women in a sexist way.
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Hide AdThe advert, which intended to encourage people to remain at home during the Covid pandemic, showed multiple images of people following the message.
However, the images on the poster were criticised as being sexist, as one showed a woman looking after a small child, another homeschooling her children and another doing domestic chores. The remaining image featured a man relaxing with his family on a sofa.
Labour MP, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, wrote on Twitter: “Women! Stay at home, do the ironing, look after the children, clean the house and turn your clocks back 60 years.
“To think, this actually got through Government sign-off.
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Hide AdAnother Twitter user said: “It’s not just offensive to Women. It’s offensive to my husband who is doing (again) 3/4 of the homeschooling in our house & equal share of the domestic chores!”
“Did I wake up in the 1950s??,” another Twitter user commented.
‘It has been withdrawn and removed from the campaign’
The backlash from the advert caused the Government to withdraw the poster, stating that it did not “reflect” its views on women.
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Hide AdThe Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It has been withdrawn and removed from the campaign.
“I will make clear that it does not reflect the Government’s view on women which is why we have withdrawn it.”
When asked whether the infographic was checked before being produced, the spokesman added: “We have provided and have produced information throughout the pandemic to try and ensure that we can communicate our key messages, specifically around the importance of staying at home to protect the NHS and to save lives.”