This Brand Released An Ad Showing A Woman Avoiding Assault By Simply Taking Off Her Makeup. How Did It Get Approved?
As a woman, who has too been subject to objectification and instances of sexual harassment, I can safely say and on behalf of several women that if there is anything that can help avoid sexual assault, it is not asking women to stay home at nights, or by forcing them to wear longer skirts, or stop breathing the same air as men, but keeping the perpetrators in line and instructing the men to keep it in their pants. A concept that flew right past a Chinese company, as they released an ad for make-up remover wipes and they decided to do this by makeup shaming women. It’s so bad, we are just surprised it released.
The ad, that was released by Purcotton, owned by Winner Medical Co. on a platform named Douyin showed how a young woman ended up scaring off a would-be attacker with her make-up-free face after using the cleansing wipes. And with this, they didn’t just blame the victim for it, but also “demonised” makeup.
The video that has now been taken off, was a 26 second clip that showed a woman being followed as she walked down a street at night. As she noticed the stalker getting closer to her, the woman is shown to take her wipes out to remove the make up off of her face, managing to scare the perpetrator with a bare face. It’s so bad, we think only a bunch of entirely tone deaf men would have approved something like this. Ultimately, the mentality that women must dress modestly to ‘avoid creating temptation’ is what needs to be fixed and not our faces or dressing.
"Faced with a deepening public relations disaster, Purcotton wrote on Weibo on Friday that it attached 'high importance' to the affair and added, 'as for the discomfort the video’s content caused to everyone, we deeply apologise and will immediately take down the video.'" https://t.co/AT7b6qItbn
— Bob Pickard (@BobPickard) January 12, 2021
Also Read : Madras HC Chief Justice Says Sexual Harassment Should Be Dealt With Seriously. Women Shouldn’t Be Blamed For Their Clothes Or Demeanour
https://twitter.com/globalfirstnews/status/1349034670294401027
The ad created an uproar on social media and for good reason. From putting the onus of being assaulted on the women who wear makeup, they also ended up offending women who wear makeup, suggesting without it, they are capable of ‘scaring men off’, which is so wrong at so many levels.
A user on Weibo (China’s twitter), wrote, “How can you make fun of a woman being followed late at night?”, while another user commented, “The woman is not at fault here, it’s the offender who wants to commit a crime.”
A Chinese website that protects the interest of women, China Girls’ Information, operated by the Chinese-government-affiliated All-China Girls’ Federation, also commented on the matter as they expressed how the ad “demonised the sufferer”. They also went ahead to say, “[It’s] stuffed with prejudice, malice, and ignorance,” and boy were they right.
The company has now apologised and issued an apology saying their intent was only to show the “cleansing ability” of the wipes. Purcotton further issued in the second apology that, “We have allowed a video that did not follow our values to go online. We let you down and hurt your feelings. We deeply regret this and sincerely say ‘We are sorry, we were wrong’.”
