Is it ever ok to use sexism in marketing?

I recently bought my friend the Waitrose ‘Strawberry Tart’ shopper and she loved it. She thought it was fun and being in her late 40s, she said that it made her feel youthful, like ‘she’d still got it.’ But it got me thinking.

How a tote bag raised questions about sexism in marketing

I’d pondered the bag while standing in the queue for the checkout, and wondered at it’s use of language. Yes it’s one of a range; there was Apple crumble too, but Waitrose knew well what they were doing. I’m sure there will be a whole host of people like my friend who wanted to get their hands on one, owning the label as a badge of honour. But a brand adopting such a derogatory statement makes me uncomfortable. It is also very much at odds with the Waitrose brand.

Why brands must align their products with brand values

Waitrose is part of the John Lewis Partnership, whose values include: ‘BE YOURSELF. ALWAYS: We’re quirky, proud and at our best when we are free to be ourselves’ and ‘DO RIGHT: We act with integrity and use our judgement to do the right thing.’

The tote is quirky, and can be taken literally or suggestively but is using a misogynistic insult aimed at women and their behaviour the right thing? As a marketing tool to drive social sharing and viral conversations I’m sure it worked wonders for their online presence. But they might equally have turned off many of their prime target audience.

Women are powerful consumers and make about 85% of purchasing decisions.

The TikTok trending tote seems to work against John Lewis Partnership’s brand purpose; ‘Working in partnership for a happier world.’

The role of sexism in modern advertising campaigns

As a marketing tool to drive viral conversations it may be effective, but it could be reinforcing a worrying trend. Women have the vote, the gender pay gap is shrinking and ‘Me Too’ saw celebrity women speaking out against sexual abuse and misogyny in the workplace. But in recent years we’ve seen Andrew Tate amass a huge following of young men, and a rise in the number of sexual attacks and violence shown towards women in the UK. 

As a divisive influencer, Tate has amassed over 9 million followers on X; and was the third-most googled person in 2023, according to Wikipedia. But Influencers are not solely to blame. Attitudes can also be influenced by the language we choose to use, so sexism in marketing should be inexcusable in 2025.

I’ve worked on projects in the past where either myself or another designer has come up with a near-the-knuckle idea that we know would get huge traction and interaction. But we pride ourselves in being brand ambassadors and guardians, which means we are responsible for making sure that our creative solutions are on brand and in the best interests of our client’s business in the long-term, rather than chasing short-term gains. We also have a collective responsibility in our industry to do no harm, and in my opinion, the ‘tart’ bag contributes to a growing ‘accepted’ level of mysogeny in the UK.

The high cost of controversial ads

Adverts are experiencing cancel culture and when they get it wrong they are ridiculed with memes and parodies – it can be a costly mistake. In 2019 Pelaton released their Christmas advert ‘The gift that gives back’ and were completely lambasted for being sexist and ‘promoting unhealthy marriage dynamics.’ The advert also showed the (already thin) woman vlogging to show her partner and her social followers her progress. The advert failed to appeal to the target market, but it also led to a catastrophic drop in Peloton’s share price – it’s value dropping by $1 billion in a day. 

The same year, the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK banned advertisements that depicted gender stereotypes, so that now a man sings to his Flash mop, and a father and son ponder how long the Fairy liquid will take to run out. To all intents and purposes it seems like advertising is getting it right. But big brands are being sneakily sexist according to Jane Cunningham, one of the authors of ‘Brandsplaining: Why Marketing is (Still) Sexist And How To Fix It.’

She implies that marketing has just got less ‘obviously’ sexist. “Marketing to girls is all about being kind, being sweet, being affectionate, looking after things. For young women, it’s all about your appearance, making sure you’re always as perfect as you possibly can be in order to seek and achieve male approval, and then of course you become the perfect mom, delighted and endlessly happy to have this baby.”

Subtle sexism in marketing still exists today

In 2022, the Marc Jacobs Daisy ‘Ever so fresh’ perfume advert showed this sneaky sexism is still in play. It features three young women dancing in fields of flowers with no other dialogue than, ‘Daisy, daisy, daisy.’ The girls are beautiful and come across as dumb. Smaller brands and local campaigns often don’t have the same regulation as larger, national players so they are making even worse blunders.

In 2023, Essex-based Garage Floors Direct received an open letter of condemnation from Suffolk Rape Crisis for their ‘sexist’ ad that showed a young woman in a dress and high heels along with the statement, ‘So easy to lay.’ Not so subtle. Suffolk Rape Crisis accused the organisation of “playing into archaic stereotypes that perpetuate the culture of rape.” It said; ‘Adverts like yours affect how women feel about themselves, how women are treated by the police and the justice system and by wider society.’

The offensive billboard was quickly removed and the flooring company donated the advertising space on Bury Road in Ipswich to Rape Crisis. The ad that then appeared was quite simply the perfect response. It carried the wording: ‘It was just a joke,’ with the final three words crossed out, and the word “sexist” added.

How women are reshaping the future of marketing

Cunningham goes on to suggest how women can help to influence marketing. She says that for all its faults, women are turning to social media to discuss what they find objectionable about brands, and that they can influence marketing by spending with the brands that are doing the right thing by women and by refusing to buy from brands that are very evidently trying to keep women in their place, and/or the place they think women should be. 

A simple tote bag with complex implications

So, do I regret buying the tote bag? In short, yes. It’s a fun and quirky design, but it also feels like a missed opportunity – one where clever marketing could have been empowering rather than perpetuating outdated stereotypes. It’s a reminder that as consumers, we have a voice.

What we choose to buy reflects the values we want to support, and next time, I’ll think more carefully about what message I’m carrying – literally and figuratively.