'Girl boss' SEO advert banned for ‘patronising women’

The advert appeared on London tubes in November 2019
@JayneMoobs/Twitter

An advert urging viewers to “do the girl boss thing" has been banned for encouraging “harmful gender stereotypes”.

The poster for PeoplePerHour, an online platform connecting businesses and freelancers, raised eyebrows last year when it was plastered across London’s Underground.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it had received 19 complaints from people who believed the message “perpetuated harmful gender stereotypes” by offering a “patronising” depiction of a woman running a business.

They added that a follow-up phrase on the poster saying: "We'll do the SEO thing" – referring to internet search engine optimisation – also suggested women are not “technologically skilled.”

PeoplePerHour responded to the complaints by removing the word "girl" from the advert and issuing a public apology on their website.

They said the term “girl boss” was a reference to a “book, popular culture movement and professional network”, according to the ASA.

American businesswoman Sophia Amoruso is widely credited with popularising the term "girl boss", after using it as the title for her best-selling autobiographical book.

Sophia Amoruso attends the 2019 Girlboss Rally in California last June
Getty Images for Girlboss

PeoplePerHour said they had not considered that pairing the term “girl boss” with the word “thing” could come across as “patronising and reductive”.

However, they later accepted that the wording “might unintentionally come across as sexist and demeaning to women.”

The advertising campaign was launched in November last year with a number of onlookers sharing their disapproval on Twitter.

One user wrote: “The girl boss? Is there a separate guy boss?

“So glad you’ve got the seo covered tho cos you know, girls find that stuff really hard.”

Another commented: “Thank god for @PeoplePerHour letting me know I can stop playing at doing the "girl boss thing". My little female brain was getting all tired and confused…”

PeoplePerHour have since carried out training with their advertising team to help them become more mindful of language which could be misinterpreted, the ASA confirmed.

The Standard has contacted the firm for comment.​

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