Sweden turns heads online after slapping down ‘distracted boyfriend meme’
Sweden has thrown a wildly popular stock image of a ‘distracted boyfriend’ into a new light after the country’s advertising ombudsman declared the stock photo to be sexist.
Photo: AntonioGuillemF/Depositphotos
The staged depiction of a boyfriend’s gaze straying from his angry partner was employed by Swedish internet service provider Bahnof to illustrate a job advert shared via Facebook and Instagram, with the employer taking on the role of the pretty girl and the girlfriend labeled as ‘your current workplace’.
Regulators were left non-plussed by this approach however, describing the advert as ‘gender discriminatory’ by depicting women as ‘sex objects’ as well as relaying a ‘stereotypical’ image of men.
In a statement the ombudsman wrote: “It portrays women as interchangeable objects, and that only their appearance is interesting.
“According to the committee, the objectification is reinforced by the fact that women are designated as workplace representatives while the man, as the recipient of the advertisement, is being produced as an individual.”
In its retort Bahnhof issued a statement prepared by head of communications Anya Alenberg and CEO Jon Karlung which said: “Everyone who follows the internet and meme culture knows how the meme is used and interpreted. [Whether someone is a] man, woman or neutral gender is often irrelevant in this context. We are an internet company and are conversant in this, as are those who would look for a job with us, so we turned to that target group. If we should be punished for anything, it's for using an old and tired meme.”
Adding credence to its view that the campaign was gender neutral Bahnof posted a number of alternate versions of the campaign in the following days with characters of different genders and even animals.
The online crackdown follows a decision to ban sexist adverts from the streets of Stockholm, the Swedish capital.