Watchdog bans AutoTrader’s sexist Valentine’s day advert

The Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has ruled that an AutoTrader SA commercial is guilty of negative gender stereotyping.

This was after a complainant stated she found the advert “derogatory and insulting to women and perpetuating stereotypes about women being greedy and using men to elevate their status”.

“It is further unfair to men, insinuating that men need to achieve a certain income bracket or level of status to have relationships with women. Women have come a long way — [they are] independent, educated and successful enough to buy their own luxury vehicles,” added the complainant.

The commercial opens on a young woman, dressed up and, presumably, waiting to be collected by her date. While she waits, she browses AutoTrader on her phone. She swipes through pictures of luxury vehicles, saying, “Oof, he better drive this car.” Then she looks up in surprise as a smiling young man pulls up, waving enthusiastically, in a bashed-up yellow bakkie.

“Hi Mbali! You ready?” he says.

“OK,” she says, clearly uncomfortable.

An amusing interaction follows, in which the two of them struggle to open the car door for her to get in. “You pull, I push!” That doesn’t work, so “I pull, you push!” She finally gets into the car and he hands her a bunch of flowers.

A new struggle to open the window ensues. Then the seat belt.

“You ready?” he asks.

“Yeah, let’s go,” she responds. 

But despite numerous attempts, the car won’t start — the engine makes a tapping sound. “I think your car’s trying to tell you something,” Mbali says, showing him her phone screen, tapping it with her fingernails, and emulating the tapping sound of the engine. “AutoTrader?” the date asks.

“I guess I’ll be taking that,” says Mbali, picking up her bag. “And that…” she takes the flowers, and leaves the man looking bereft.

Perpetuating stereotypes

“Yoh, don’t let your car be the reason you are single,” says a voice-over. “Swipe right on AutoTrader this Valentine’s Day.” 

“This advert has disrespected women and is perpetuating stereotypes that women and men [have been] working long and hard to change,” the complainant said.

“I don’t appreciate my teen son watching an advert like this and subconsciously believing that … to have any relationship with a woman, he has to impress her with a luxury car nor do I want my son to believe that women use men for material gain and status and him subsequently disrespecting women because of such gender stereotypes being perpetuated,” added the complainant.

AutoTrader responded that the advert was not intended to promote gender bias stereotypes, and the tone and feel of the ad was deliberately humorous and light-hearted.

“The advert aims to highlight a tendency to procrastinate on taking the necessary steps to procure a new and better vehicle rather than an existing unreliable and unsafe car,” it said.

“The roles of ‘the driver’ and ‘the date’ can easily have been reversed placing the woman in the vehicle and the man on the pavement. Applying the complainant’s logic in that scenario would still result in the complainant’s gender-based complaint,” said AutoTrader.

However, the board agreed with the complainant and instructed AutoTrader to not use the commercial in its current format again. 

In giving judgment, the board found that a commercial making use of the gender stereotype of women requiring men to have valuable assets is offensive to women and society.

It said the commercial condoned “blessee” thinking, which is a growing social trend in which young women date strategically to find financial security rather than love.

It said the advertising code states that: “Gender stereotyping or negative gender portrayal must not be permitted in advertising, unless in the opinion of the ARB, such stereotyping or portrayal is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom.” 

The board accepted that the commercial was humorously and cleverly executed. The question that it had to grapple with is whether this humour offsets the message that it is acceptable to reject a man because he drives a “bad” car, and that men cannot expect to find love if they drive a “bad” car.

The board said humour alone could not be a justification for the use of gender stereotypes.