John Lewis and it’s ‘gender relaxed’ ad

[SouthernFashionista]

Curious to hear thoughts on the new ad from John Lewis. It strikes me as sinister. Why does a small child have to send out a message of LGBTQ equality? Why is he acting like a drag queen.

I also suggested John Lewis was under the cult of Stonewall. Is that wrong to say?

I also said that I believed that John Lewis might be under the cult of St0newall. Is that wrong to say?

@toomanytrees

The response from JL on Youtube says they cover accidental damage. In the video it looks like deliberate damage. It would be good if someone could ask JL whether the damage specifically shown in the video would be covered.

Is there a deductible with this insurance? If so and it is deemed accidental, the policy holder will still be out of pocket, not to mention the time and inconvenience.

They've been asked on twitter, and they totally failed to comprehend the question. twitter.com/GaryJPowell/status/1448224253803892736?t=wLqs8gnisCHfO9yMwW9thQ&s=19

@toomanytrees

The response from JL on Youtube says they cover accidental damage. In the video it looks like deliberate damage. It would be good if someone could ask JL whether the damage specifically shown in the video would be covered.

Is there a deductible with this insurance? If so and it is deemed accidental, the policy holder will still be out of pocket, not to mention the time and inconvenience.

I rang and asked them. If you take out their additional accidental damage policy then it's covered because anything children do is considered an accident according to the woman I spoke to. But their policy also excludes fragile items like glass and ceramics.

anything children do is considered an accident wow! That's changed my view a bit. Like, if your kid is a little shit and deliberately vandalises things don't worry it's an 'accident'. Even if you sit there and let it happen.

@candycane222

Yep, pouting, jutting hips, arm draped up the wall- very sexualised if you ask me. But then in drag culture, women= pouty and sexy so that's probably all the ad directors could be arsed to think of with what appears to have been very poorly thought through brief.

If they wanted to show us a little boy really at ease with his femininity, he could be doing something messy with his sister, or for her - like making clothes out of the curtains or something.

Yes this. Well said. Horrible advert that makes me grimace

Making clothes out of the curtains would have been cute.

@trancepants

I showed it to my mother and she thought it must surely be an allegory for the current situation where males in dresses behave horribly and women are too cowed to say anything. I told her that was a theory some posters had here and she said it's the only thing it could be and she suspects it's a deliberate act of defiance to show what is currently happening and maybe get them to talk to each other about it.

I do think that's wishful thinking but on the other hand it really and truly is the only thing that makes sense.

Occam's Razor applies here.

Why try and attribute a master plan when the simplier explanation is simply that they fucked it up big time?

Idiocy tends to explain more than genuis

My little darling has destroyed my Dior perfume collection, my Balmain suit and has ripped all the expensive flock wallpaper we bought from your Cheadle store last Christmas for our main stairwell. I couldn't stop them because it was important I let them express themselves. Luckily their sister spent 3 hours tidying up after them.
When can I expect my insurance claim to be processed. My reference number is :URFLLOFSH1T 2021

@bellinisurge

My little darling has destroyed my Dior perfume collection, my Balmain suit and has ripped all the expensive flock wallpaper we bought from your Cheadle store last Christmas for our main stairwell. I couldn't stop them because it was important I let them express themselves. Luckily their sister spent 3 hours tidying up after them. When can I expect my insurance claim to be processed. My reference number is :URFLLOFSH1T 2021

What a weird advert. Like others said, ignoring the child, it seems to be a bit of an own goal for JL as it clearly suggests the insurance will pay out for acts of deliberate damage....

Good comment underneath the YT video "Male ‘expresses himself’ with zero regard for the negative impact on the females around him. The patriarchy in action. Clever work John Lewis 👏"

I realised why i found the advert so disturbing (apart from all the great points already mentioned).

The boy dancing reminds me of this www.dailymotion.com/video/x35x301 and thats really, really not right. The video is a clip from the Wicker Man where the landlords daughter is "dancing" in the next room - I think it's all the wall slapping.

@ItsAllGoingToBeFine

I realised why i found the advert so disturbing (apart from all the great points already mentioned).

The boy dancing reminds me of this www.dailymotion.com/video/x35x301 and thats really, really not right. The video is a clip from the Wicker Man where the landlords daughter is "dancing" in the next room - I think it's all the wall slapping.

For the Christmas ad, JL will show all us GC women being burnt in a wicker dinosaur.

But even if it were trying to support the trans community its hardly groundbreaking is it? I remember the scene with Billy elliot and his friend putting on dresses and dancing and that was nearly 2o years ago!

If you really wanted to push the "express yourself" angle could they not have had, for example little sister putting on a dance show and then at key point pulling aside a curtain to welcome her brother onto the stage where he gives it his all and accidentally knocks over a lamp in his enthusiasm...looks worried to parents but they just clap the performance because after all their wonderful home insurance covers accidental damage.

Same message of being yourself without contradicting what you're actually selling and without the creepy undertones of bullying, classism and wanton destruction....

@TheUndeadLovelinessOfDemons

He's a boy wearing a dress. He's not acting like a drag queen. Although he's an obnoxious little shit and if he's NT he'd be in deep shit in this house.

Hmm, I'm not sure that I saw it that way. He most definitely had the mannerisms and facial expressions of a drag queen and not just a boy in a dress.

My husband hated it, I thought it was quite funny, but within 30 seconds of seeing it I could also see huge issues with it too. I wonder if it will be removed at some point.

@thevassal that would also be better

I'd forgotten that our current home insurance is with John Lewis . It is up for renewal in May, but my husband just said that we ought to see what it would cost to stop it and take it out with another company now.

Also thinking of complaining. Who do I complain to? Never done it before.

I actually think it’s pretty Anti Trans
Put a boy in a dress and he thinks it’s ok to behave badly

I wonder if those people who don’t see a problem may lack some awareness of warnings of inappropriate sexual behaviour in children (and dare I saw it understanding of how safeguarding works). This useful resource describes how to tell if a child’s behaviour is inappropriate.

www.stopitnow.org.uk/concerned-about-a-child-or-young-persons-sexual-behaviour/how-to-tell-if-a-childs-sexual-behaviour-is-age-appropriate/

Stop it Now is a resource for the UK & Ireland aiming to help stop child sexual abuse. It is run by the Lucy Faithful foundation which is the only uk charity dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse.

The pouting, arm draped up the wall and hip jutting behaviour shown in the advert would definitely fall under ‘mimicking sexual flirting behaviour too advanced for age’ which is an amber category behaviour for the child in the adverts age group which they advise requires a response from a protective adult, extra support and close monitoring.

Showing this type of warning behaviour in an advert and implying it is nothing to be concerned about ie ‘normalising it’ is highly irresponsible.

@Hoppinggreen

I actually think it’s pretty Anti Trans Put a boy in a dress and he thinks it’s ok to behave badly

Oh it's definitely anti trans. I am sure that trans women who are trying to peacefully exist in the world will be horrified at the advert's suggestion of how gender non conforming children behave.

It's whether or not this is deliberate and whether JL meant to be so insulting to the trans community.

It seems that both advert AND criticism of the advert are transphobic then? Marvelous.

Put a boy in a dress and he thinks it’s ok to behave badly

It's not far from that attitude to the US school rape cover-up case, is it?

I remember a long and boring January where we frequently trashed the house to entertain bored small kids.

People frequently trashed their houses because children were bored? Am I being a meanie when I expect my kids not to smash the tv up and even keep the drinking glasses in one piece?

Why does the advertising world seem to attract only the type of people who would produce an ad that is so wrong (and many others)? What's the problem with that industry currently?