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Original poster

The banner ad for the flowers: is it just meant to be degrading to men or insulting to women's intelligence too?

7 replies

CelineMcBean · 03/10/2012 20:51

The bizarre banner ad with the semi naked men (probably described as "hunks" by the ad agency). Erm, seriously? On Mumsnet? You know we have a full compliment of brain cells yes?

Scantily clad men to advertise a product is fairly insulting all round. Tell me there's something witty and ironic I'm missing in this campaign please because I am baffled as to why you're permitting sexist crap like this on the site.

Not to mention no man looks good in dungarees

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MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 04/10/2012 11:22

Morning. Thanks for raising this - we'll take a look.

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 05/10/2012 18:34

Hello. We believe that campaign has now ended.

So Thanks all round? (With clothes on)

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 06/10/2012 17:53

Afternoon Celine/Bonnie

Not sure we can retrospectively changed the OP of a sponsored discussion, tbh (bit like rewriting history) but I'm pretty sure that discussion has run its course now and is no longer appearing on Active etc.

Ads should no longer to appearing, either. But do please let us know if you spot one - and we'll investigate.

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 06/10/2012 20:08

Ah! OK, shall investigate...

MNHQ

RebeccaMumsnet · 08/10/2012 17:46

Hi CelineMcBean ,

Apologies, it was our mistake. The ads will be turned off this Friday.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 10/10/2012 16:54

@CelineMcBean

But why are you running them? How can you have all these fabulous campaigns against scantily clad ladies on lads mags and the we believe you anti-rape campaign then accept the money from a company who are suggesting we're so dim we might buy more flowers from an ad campaign that features scantily clad men in exactly the same gratuitous fashion that we (quite rightly) complain about when women are depicted that way?

No apparently we will buy more flowers if a hunky man is clutching them to his bare chest Honey. At least I think that's the idea. You know, what with us being simple wimmins.

We don't actually vet ads before they're booked. We rarely see creative beforehand. So the answer in it's most simplistic sense is that we're running it because it was booked in - it's not that we'd had input into it and given it our blessing.

That said we wouldn't decide not to run an ad campaign or indeed pull one because it was a bit crass/ unsubtle/ patronising/ silly. If so we'd barely have an ad on the site.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 11/10/2012 11:41

@CelineMcBean

Thanks for your reply Justine but it was more than a few banner ads. There was a whole campaign in Sponsored Discussions with an OP written by a MN staffer.

Would you have run the campaign if it was for, say cars, with some ladies posing without all their clothes? Or some other stereotypical male product?

While I don't expect you to preview all advertising before it goes up, I do think if the sexes had been reversed you would, quite rightly, have been all over this once it was pointed out.

Yes you're right, we would, of course be all over it if the sexes were reversed. But that's not just a simple case of anti-maleness - it's more complicated than that.

We are, for example, we are much more likely to be protective of/ delete disparaging comments about about discriminated groups than non-discriminated groups in general on Mumsnet. Women, in general, are much more prone to being objectified than men - think that's why we would respond differently.

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