As a mum I spend my days telling my daughter she can do, be or achieve anything she wants. I tell my son the same.
We discuss equality, respect and that women are much more than their bodies. Then Ultra Tune launch an ad campaign like this?!
With over 30 official complaints since their launch last week, the Ultra Tune campaign features women looking like fools and in ultra-sexualised situations. Worse, they are being aired in prime time family TV slots like the Australian Open.
As a woman (and mother) are you really okay with a TV ad that not only positions women as helpless sex objects or objectifies their bodies in what is more a glorified wet t-shirt competition than women extinguishing a fire?
I’m not, and I’d like to think every other woman in Australia with children feels the same. Here’s what we mean…
As mums, I think we should feel outraged and angered. If you don’t feel angered it’s time to stop letting your daughter play soccer, put her into the shortest shorts you can find and tell her that the best thing she can aim for in life is to be some loser guys chained to the sink missus. Because she’s dumb, can’t hold her own with men and was put onto this earth for male titillation.
Here’s the thing. This is not just about daughters and equal opportunity. It’s about shaping how our sons view women. Why are we comfortable with a campaign that is blatantly sexist? Openly demeaning? And degrading to women? And letting our boys see these messages. We’re letting them think that this message is okay.
The Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) tells AdNews it has started receiving complaints about the ad on the basis of discrimination, exploitation and degrading imagery. Ultra Tune had a similar campaign last year and despite over 400 complaints in 2016 they simply don’t care. In fact Ultra Tune executive chairman Sean Buckley said “People should lighten up.”
So, here’s what we do. If this kind of advertising enrages you. Complain. If you’re an Ultra Tune customer, don’t be. Write on their Facebook page that their message is vile and that as women (and mums) we won’t stand for it. Because it’s important that our daughters know they can do, be or achieve anything. And our sons know that women are their equals.
