“Is your wife recycling? Why not? Ask her nicely!” is a large printed statement on an advertising billboard that has resulted in Open Sky Recycling Services being found guilty of negative gender stereotyping.
Their failed attempt at humour in their quest to encourage recycling efforts was the subject of a complaint laid with the Advertising Regulatory Board that has led to an instruction to the industry not to accept the offending advert in its current form.
“Why is it assumed that only women should do the recycling? Why can men not also step up? It is supporting the stereotype that women belong in the kitchen and should do household tasks,” submitted the complainant.
Open Sky Recycling Services, in response to the objection, stated that while they were not a member of the ARB and therefore not bound by its decisions, the business did respect the ARB’s role in upholding industry standards and guiding best practice. It therefore undertook to respond in good faith and with a willingness to constructively engage with feedback.
“Should the ARB find that the advert may unintentionally offend or misrepresent, we will take this into account when planning future campaigns, as it is not our desire to alienate or upset any segment of our audience,” Open Sky stated.
The phrasing was a light, tongue-in-cheek way to draw attention to recycling habits and provoke a chuckle with the broader goal of encouraging greater participation in recycling initiatives.
— Open Sky Recycling Services
They said that the billboard had been created as “a light-hearted and humorous message” and was not designed to offend or perpetuate outdated gender norms, but “rather to engage our audience in a way that reflects common dynamics they have observed in the communities we serve”.
Open Sky noted that in many households, the wife “and often the domestic worker” typically take the lead in managing recycling and household waste. It was this anecdotal observation that “formed the basis for the messaging, which aimed to resonate with our primary target market through humour and relatability”.
Open Sky said recycling was a shared responsibility in the household that everyone should participate in, and it was never their intention to exclude men or reinforce the idea that it is purely a woman’s duty.
“The phrasing was a light, tongue-in-cheek way to draw attention to recycling habits and provoke a chuckle with the broader goal of encouraging greater participation in recycling initiatives.”
The ARB undertook to apply the Code of Advertising Practice in relation to offensiveness and gender.
“There is no question that the advertisement portrays a negative gender stereotype by showing housework as the domain of women. It is problematic in that it entrenches outdated gender roles that place women in the kitchen, and men in the professional space,” the directorate found.
Open Sky argued that wives typically take the lead in managing and recycling household waste, and “this anecdotal observation formed the basis for the messaging, which aimed to resonate with our primary target market through humour and relatability.”
The directorate accepted that a gender imbalance when it comes to household chores likely still exists, and that women could more likely be the target market for recycling solutions.
“The advertiser is justified in identifying women ... as their target market. They are also justified in targeting their advertising at that market. However, the messaging becomes problematic in regard to the stated target market. The wording ‘Does your wife recycle?’ is clearly, in most cases, directed at the man or the husband in the relationship,” the directorate said.
This, it said, was problematic as it established the man as the head of the household who must influence his wife to do the right thing, “which is not a trope that should be supported”.
It also rendered invisible professional women who might pass the billboard; “women who may well make collaborative decisions about household waste management with their partners, leave such decisions to their partners, or even be unmarried and making these decisions for themselves without the need for a man to urge them to do the right thing”.
The advert was found to suggest that women are primarily homemakers who don’t make decisions unless urged to by their husbands. The added “Ask her nicely” statement was found to play into casual sexism that could not be explained away as a joke.
“At the risk of being accused of lacking a sense of humour, the directorate is unable to identify exactly what it is that the advertiser regards as so humorous in the billboard. At best, it lies in the idea explored above that women are unreasonably volatile, which is harmful and not, in fact, funny.”
The directorate therefore found that the billboard engages in unjustified negative gender stereotyping.
“Members are instructed to remove and not to accept future advertising from the advertiser with the wording: ‘Is your wife recycling? Why not? Ask her nicely,'" it concluded.
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