A Match.com ad, which featured a seemingly subservient woman doting on her man in scenes that would not have been out of place in a 1950s commercial, has been slapped down by the ad watchdog for reinforcing gender stereotypes.
The ad, which ran on TikTok this summer, featured clips from a day in the life of a couple. It opened on a scene showing the man sitting down on his phone with his feet up on a footrest, as the woman brought him a drink before proceeding to kiss him. A female voice-over stated: “Things that make him realise I’m a keeper. I will make him his protein shake after the gym.”
The voice-over then said: “I always make sure he has a fresh towel and socks after his shower” while the woman in the video was shown arranging a towel and pair of socks in the bathroom. She added: “I put the football on for him every evening” as the couple were shown standing up, watching football on the TV, with the woman holding the remote. The voice-over concluded: “Find your keeper via Match. Go download the Match app today.”
But one viewer was decidedly unimpressed, and rifled off a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority, challenging whether that the ad was sexist and perpetuated negative gender stereotypes, and therefore was harmful and offensive.
In its defence, Match.com insisted the ad formed part of a three-video storyline, which also showed gestures carried out by the man for the woman.
However, the dating site said it had removed the ad from TikTok and acknowledged it would have been more appropriate to include gestures carried out by both individuals in the same ad to avoid any perceived inequality between the couple.
Even so, the ASA still carried out its investigation with its ruling stating: “Because the ad relied on the stereotype of a woman carrying out domestic chores in order to please her male partner, we considered that viewers would interpret the ad as reinforcing a negative gender stereotype.
“We further noted that the actions of the woman were one-sided and were not reciprocated by the man in the ad.”
Referring to the voiceover during which the woman said she “always” made sure the man had a fresh towel and socks and put the football on for him “every evening”, the ASA added: “We considered that the longevity of the gestures implied that they were not one-off acts of kindness but were indistinguishable from chores.
“Given that, and in the absence of any reciprocal gestures by the man, we considered that the woman was shown to prioritise her partner’s needs over her own.”
When it came to the ad title “Things that make him realise I’m a keeper”, the ASA added: “We considered that the title, when viewed in the context of the ad, reinforced the idea that women should be subservient to men in order to maintain a successful relationship.
“For those reasons, we concluded that the ad perpetuated negative gender stereotypes and was likely to cause harm and widespread offence.”
Ruling that the ad must not appear again, the watchdog warned Match.com to ensure that it did not portray sexist or negative gender stereotypes in future marketing communications.
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