GAP accused of Sexist Advertising

It seems that it’s not only the upmarket brands such as Jack Wills and Calvin Klein that are landing themselves in hot water for controversial advertising lately, as high-street label GAP have also recently found themselves on the chopping block! GAP, the clothing company for men, women and children’s apparel, have recently sparked huge social media outrage with one of their latest advertising campaigns which critics are calling sexist. The advertising campaign in question features an image of both a young boy and girl, however it was the words written next to the images which have caused  the widespread offence. Next to the boy, who is wearing a GAP t-shirt with world-famous scientist Albert Einstein’s face on it, the ad writes: “the little scholar”. Conversely, the young girl, who is wearing a white top with a pink GAP logo on it, is labelled as: “the social butterfly.” And to add further insult to injury to all those unhappy with these seemingly sexist labels, underneath ‘The Little Scholar’ the ad says: “Your future starts here” whilst the ‘Social Butterflies’ are merely “the talk of the playground.”

Whilst there has been no initial response from GAP regarding their controversial ad, it has sparked moral outrage amongst the population. One of the most notable responses was that of former children’s laureate, Malorie Blackman, who Tweeted a picture of the ad, captioning it: “What the actual hell?” And it seems that Blackman’s short but concise words have epitomised that of all critiques on the issue. One disgruntled parent actually tweeted: “My daughter & son both love to have genius ideas – please don’t limit them. PS you spelt Einstein wrong.” Ouch, looks like GAP are going to have a tough time explaining this one!