Appalling campaign
Premium- All ads that objectify women need to be called out. But Layer’r Shot’s attempted portrayal of its smell-good benefit is particularly disturbing
Two ad spots by Layer’r Shot, a deodorant brand, have evoked widespread outrage, including from film celebrities, our advertising watchdog and the Indian government, which ordered its immediate withdrawal. Their scripts differ, but common to both are a gang of young men talking about taking a “shot" in a way suggestive of a sexual go at a lone woman. It’s a campaign that leaves us aghast.
All ads that objectify women need to be called out. But Shot’s attempted portrayal of its smell-good benefit is particularly disturbing. It normalizes the sort of grubby locker-room talk that should have no space in any society committed to upholding the agency of women and overcoming attitudes that mix male power and privilege for sexual conquest. That these two ads were allowed to assault viewer sensibilities at all raises some questions. How was this theme even conceived? Has the ad agency behind Shot considered what it says of its ad-makers? And has the client grasped the toxicity of the youth culture the brand has sought to casualize and promote? This sordid episode should be a wake-up call for advertisers. Consent cannot be trifled with. And “boys will be boys" just won’t wash.