Sexist Asda ad cleared - feeling bit depressed about this verdict

[ashesgirl]

www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/30/asda-christmas-ad?INTCMP=SRCH

So the Asda ad was deemed not likely to have caused widespread offence. 8 out of 10 women questioned said it didn't bother them and just reflected reality.

Does anyone else feel a bit disillusioned by this?

The advert riled me, even if it showed dad peeling spuds or helping with the dishes it would not have been so bad.

The ad was highly representative - many (most) women related to the sexist set-up it depicted. Ergo: society is still highly sexist.

What's not to be disillusioned about?

It's fine if you like the ad and had a bit of a chuckle at it. But likewise it's also fine not to like the ad one little bit and be a bit saddened by yet another insidious message being put out there.

It's OK to have either viewpoint, or have one that falls somewhere in between.

Re: the chair thing (just to pick up on one bit of the advert). Why does she have to sit on the pouffe? If dad - or anyone else who was enjoying the food - genuinely appreciated her and the effort that she put in to organise Christmas, then they'd have sprung up to offer her their chair and sat on the pouffe themselves. Right?

The fact that the rest of the family were not bothered about her not having a proper chair to sit on demonstrated a real lack of respect for her. And the point of the ad was that it was meant to reflect what Christmas is 'really' like for lots of families. So for lots of families, it's routine to ignore or dismiss the effort that the women put in to make their lives better - and perfectly fine to take it for granted?

i get that you can interpret the overall ad in a more light hearted way, but this was the bit that stuck in my craw. If they'd changed that one thing, I might have been more inclined to shrug at it.

I'm a woman. I wasn't offended by it. In fact I quite liked it!

Treats - there's something also that I can't quite put my finger on about the chair thing. It's like a hang over from the old image of a woman making a meal for her family table but then standing in the kitchen feeding herself the left over bits. At least at Christmas, she can pull up a pouffe!

Treats...I do exactly this, sitting on the odd chair when we have loads of people over. I want everybody to be comfortable and anyway I need easy access to the kitchen. I don't mind it at all...just love having the house full.

I'm not sure why the fact it was realistic made it not sexist.

I actually think Asda's intention was not to reinforce sexist stereotypes (which it did) but appeal to its core demographic (overworked women trying to make Christmas 'special') by showing that it, at least, understood how much bloody work they have to put into it. But this could have been funny or thought-provoking (in a good way) if Asda had chosen to subvert the stereotype instead of play to it. Instead it was just sad.

Tribot put it perfectly.

This IS Asda's demographic and they weren't aiming for us middle class aspirational Waitrose shoppers.

Doesn't mean it isn't sexist, or realistic. Sadly it is the reality for many women.

Doing all the drudge work and not even getting a seat at the table.

It would have played MUCH better if they'd surprised her by all helping out at the last minute. Or showing their appreciation.

Mme, I can assure you I don't aspire to shop at Waitrose, donchaknow Although Waitrose (or indeed any other supermarket) could have released a spoof version of the Asda advert to great effect. I suggested on MN before Xmas that the better ad would have been the one where at the end Asda mum wakes up, it's still a fortnight before Xmas and it's all been a horrible dream. Her family all pitch in and both harmony and equality are achieved at the Asda house. If anything, the sexism came from Asda not thinking that would appeal to their demographic, but rather that they would prefer just to be put upon.