.....to think using photos of half naked women on a company van to sell workwear is wrong, wrong,wrong?

[Imnotonajourney]

I ve been getting more and more angry about this as the day has gone along and felt I must share.....
This morning on the school run with my three dcs, all under 8, I sat behind a Dassy company vehicle whilst in a traffic jam. My son pointed out that there was a 'naked girl' on the van in front. To my amazement the entire back of this large van was covered in a photographic scene. A workman fully clothed with tool bag entering a room with a woman stood at the door wearing nothing but a pair of lacy pants (bum cheeks on clear display), stockings and suspenders. Nothing more. I was struck dumb until my son pointed out that 'that you can even see a bit of her boob!' (Which you could). It was then that I tried to calmly discuss how ridiculous the whole scene was and that it was absolutely wrong. I still can' t sort of believe that any company, in the 21st Century thinks this is ok. I have looked at the company's website which prides it self on equal opportunities, ethics and so on. Yeah right! However the image we saw on the van is there along with others that look like they re straight out of an adult movie. I've emailed the company to complain. Do you think I m overeacting? Your thoughts please.......

Well, I hope they put up a better argument than the last one.

My point was very much about misogynistic double standards...

Yep. I struggle to get suitable workwear. It's incredibly annoying. Steel toed boots in particular. Most companies don't produce anything below a size 7.

Thank you DoraGora for putting it succinctly.The image I saw was not of the handcuffed woman but of the back/semi side shot of a half naked woman inviting a fully clothed workman in to a room. Maybe there are more images on other vehicles? Just to remind people this was a large image taking up the whole of the back of a van. I can't turn this image off in front of my children. I am far from being a prude but I think this imagery placed where it was is offensive, mysoginistic and wholly unnecessary. Thank you all for links. I m rubbish at all that. Keep complaining if you agree we need less of this stuff around. I m off to research ASA and attend school Christmas Fayre!

In the days when women were pretty much excluded from the sort of jobs that required trade work wear a lot of companies sent calendars with pictures of semi naked women on them to their trade customers every year.

At some point - probably in the 70s - it was decided that they were not acceptable things to have hanging in places of work where the general (a lot of garages would have them as they seemed to be favoured by tyre companies) and they, thankfully, disappeared to be replaced by calendars depicting more rural scenes and pictures of furry animals.

Forty years on and we seemed to have moved backwards with a vengeance.

some odd words: ie where the general, seemed to have crept in there don't know why.

I suspect that either Dassy thought that it was being clever, or that we were stupid. It's also possible that the man who designed this advert (and I bet it was a man or men) are/is too young to remember naked women calendars.

Given that the “extremely irresistible campaign” is far from intended to be disadvantageous to women, we have send you a message to explain the aim of this campaign more thoroughly.
With kind regards
Elyn and Pauline, Marketing Dept.

From here

I'd love to hear the aim of this campaign personally.

OK red, pax

well, I had to get my steelies from a specialist women's workwear shop in London when I first started out. And trousers from a company in Norway, for Pete's sake.

I think Safpro do a women's steel-toed boot in size 6, at least.

Imnot, have you though of e-mailing it to Everyday Sexism? This is exactly the kind of stuff they cover.

I wouldn't say it was just decided out of the blue that they weren't acceptable. It only happened because women objected. And kept on objecting until the penny dropped, which, by the look of things, we need to start doing again.

I've tweeted it around the Womens Engineering Society etc. I work in construction, I think a campaign for "equal opportunities" employers to boycott that company would be no bad thing. It is completely offensive and undermining and in really bad taste. It's not empowering to me.

I see Dassy have a rather pathetic womens workwear selection - is that why those women can't get dressed??

£20 says Elyn and Pauline have never tried to establish themselves as respected equals on a building site staffed entirely by blokes.

Honestly, this is so depressing.

Ah, I think it is the same image except on the van/billboard they've airbrushed the handcuffs out. She's not wearing them, she's holding them behind her back.

It is so true about the girlie calendars. Companies started having to be scored by clients on their equal opportunities policy and all of a sudden those kind of things were seen to be undermining it or putting them at risk of a complaint, after a lot of objections from women starting to move into the technical jobs.

Is there more to Elyn and Pauline's message, or is that it. Just a message to say we've sent you a message, which is another half naked woman with a builder staring down her front?

Also, that e-mail is so disingenuous.

'Irresistible?'

Is the sight of another woman posing provocatively in her pants 'irresistible' to most women?

No.

So it's only aimed at men, then. Because women aren't builders, or engineers, or blacksmiths or carpenters or architects or roofers or electricians . . .

. . . but it's not disadvantageous to women. Because we can all stand around in our pants for the delectation of men! Huzzah!

dora thats just the comment on the photo on their facebook page, if you click on the link you can see someone complained about the picture and I assume then the Marketing Dept messaged them directly.

I love this quote from the guardian article linked above... Is this milk for drinking, or are you just expected to pour it lavishly over your head as you sit at the breakfast table, pouting sexily at your dry cereal?

op, I would love to hear their response if you complain.

Floisme No I know it wasn't just decided out of the blue, it took a long time and a great deal of campaigning from women's groups to get it changed but when I typed that I was in rather a hurry so didn't put in relevant details of how it happened.

And yes, it does look as if we're back to square one.

No probs, pigsDofly I wouldn't say we're back to square one quite yet but yes, we will be if we don't get our act together quickly.

Well, as long as she's not breastfeeding, it's OK.

I've just googled... How bloody depressing.

It's a porn trope isn't it? Workmen and underwear clad women in their homes? How is that supposed to be empowering? What a load of sexist shit.

Hi there. I m back you ve sure been busy! I know it's such a hectic time of year but I m just not gonna let this slip. An email to everyday sexism and to ASA are great suggestions. I m going to start with those. The tweet around the Women's Engineering Society is a fabulous way to go. Thank you. Now if I can I will post the email I sent to Dassy, their response and my subsequent email back. Not quite sure how I do that though.....

Isn't it just that Sandor!