Checkatrade’s main rival Rated People has shot itself in the foot after being battered by the ad watchdog over a sexist poster campaign which stated: “Building work. It’s a man’s game. Bit like football was.”
The company, whose CEO Adrienne Minster recently claimed that “empowering more women and people across the gender spectrum to build successful careers in trades services is a priority for us”, ran the ad in September 2022. It also featured an image of a hand holding a drill; beneath that, smaller text stated, “If you’ve got the skills, we’ve got the jobs”.
However, 11 complainants, who believed the ad perpetuated harmful gender stereotypes by suggesting employment in the building industry was exclusive to men, challenged the Advertising Standards Authority to investigate whether it breached the Code.
In its defence, Rated People insisted the ad was one of several that were part of a campaign to actually encourage diversity into the trades profession. It said the intention of the ad itself was to highlight that just as football had traditionally been seen as a man’s game, the trades profession continued to be seen in that way.
It added that the aim of the campaign as a whole was intentionally designed to challenge that stereotype and change that mindset through their message of encouraging women into the trades, with the message that it was skills that were important, rather than gender.
The firm said that while the ad itself had an element of “tongue-in-cheek” humour, it was intended to recognise the success of the England Women’s football team at the recent 2022 UEFA European Women’s Football Championship. It maintained it used that to demonstrate that women could have success in a previously male dominated industry, and to illustrate that the same could also be true in the trades.
Rated People also said it was aware of the varied response the ad had received and acknowledged suggestions that the execution of the ad could have been better. However, it considered that a significant proportion of people had understood the message and what it was designed to achieve.
Outdoor media owner JCDecaux, meanwhile, said it did not consider that either the wording or image was offensive and therefore did not believe that it had breached the Code.
The ASA, however, had a different take on the issue, despite recognising that the ad was part of a wider campaign aimed at improving diversity in the trades industry and challenging the associated stereotypical bias. Because the ad was displayed in isolation, the watchdog assessed it on its merits alone.
While acknowledging some consumers were likely to interpret the ad as trying to debunk long-established stereotype that building work was a male profession it considered that the claims were ambiguous.
The ASA said that other consumers were likely to interpret the ad as presenting changing attitudes to football in a negative light, mourning the fact that football might no longer be considered a “man’s game” and presenting building work as one area where women were still excluded, and should continue to be.
It ruled that the ad reinforced harmful gender stereotypes that both football and the trade industry should be for men only, and concluded the ad was likely to cause harm and serious offence, and breached the Code.
Banning the ad from appearing again in its current form, the ASA warned Rated People about future activity.
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