Britain Withdraws COVID-19 Ad: The British government has on Thursday taken down a COVID-19 public awareness advertisement which received flak for endorsing sexism.
In the online ad, women can be seen doing all domestic chores in four separate households, where as a man is seen relaxing on a sofa with a lady and baby. Subsequently, this ad caught the attention of netizens and it has led to a wave of criticism, describing it as an example of "1950s sexism". The advert showed a lady holding a baby beside an ironing board, one lady home-schooling two youngsters, and the third lady with two girls who are cleaning their rooms. And a fourth example showed a man who is seen sitting on a sofa with a woman and child.
Netizens Responded
"Who made this? And who approved it? Heteronormative. Reinforcing the view that it is a woman's job to homeschool, clean, do the childcare," Pragya Agarwal, a behavioural and data scientist, said in a tweet, calling out the people behind the ad.
"Are the men out there fighting a war or something?" she questioned the stereotypical representation.
Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper objected saying, "Turns out 1950s sexism is spreading fast too."
As per reports, the ad was taken down immediately after the backlash, confirmed Britain's Advertising Standards Authority. They said it "depicts" gender stereotypes and is likely to cause "harm or serious or widespread offence".
"An ad that depicts a man with his feet up and family members creating mess around a home while a woman is solely responsible for cleaning up the mess" is "likely to be unacceptable," the guidance states.
Meanwhile, as on January 8, Britain reported a total number of 79,833 deaths and the overall number of COVID-19 infections is now close to three million.
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