Devondale ad showing woman struggling to climb fence ruled not sexist
The Ad Standards Board has ruled a 15-second ad for dairy brand Devondale which depicted a businesswoman struggling to climb a fence at a dairy farm was not sexist, after ruling earlier this week an ad depicting two Asian men struggling to herd cattle was “demeaning”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5JA1hL-wbY
The 15-second ad is taken from the minute-long execution which launched in July aimed at highlighting how Devondale is owned by Aussie farmers, showing a group of people in business dress from various backgrounds struggling to manage a dairy farm.
Complaints against the ad argued it was “sexist”, asking “Are Murray Goulburn really trying to suggest they have no women in business suits employed in their milk company?”
Murray Goulburn, the parent company of Devondale, defended the spot saying the casting brief called “for a group of people who could believably depict corporate executives”.
“We wanted to represent a range of ages, genders and appearances, to reflect the diversity of contemporary corporate Australia. Each character in the ads is equally incompetent at his or her farming tasks – clearly these people’s experiences lies in an office environment, not on a farm,” it said in its response to the ASB.
While a minority of the board held the view that the focus of the 15-second spot is on the woman and the suggestion that she is incapable and hopeless is a negative stereotype of women in business, the majority of the board considered the ad showed a woman dressed inappropriately for an activity such as climbing a fence.
The board considered “that the overall impression was not negatively suggesting that the woman wasn’t capable of farming but clearly identified that the outfit she was wearing was completely inappropraite for the environment she was in and that the comical nature of the advertisement was evident”.
The complaint was dismissed.
Miranda Ward
Linkedin
Isn’t it time that this kangaroo court was compelled to reveal the names of the vexatious complainants who live their pathetic lives seeking to be offended?
Then we can ridicule them publicly. Then they can complain again.
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If you’re offended by something, changing the channel might be less cumbersome than writing an angry letter.
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I’m sure that most men in high heels would have just as much difficulty in getting over that fence. Complaint dismissed.
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