Harassing catcalls at women is okay as long as it’s done properly, right?

This advert is part of the Snickers Australia ‘You aren’t yourself when you’re hungry’ campaign and has drawn an equal mix of laughter and rage since it was posted online on 25th March.

Some of the terms used to describe it include ‘empowering’… ’positive prejudice’… ‘obviously made by men!’.

The construction workers yell a range of catcalls to provoke women passing by, such as:

“I’d like to show you the respect you deserve!”

“A woman’s place is where she chooses!”

“You know what I’d like to see? A society in which the objectification of women makes way for gender-neutral interaction free from assumptions and expectations.”

Should we look on the advert simply as a bit of humour, not to be taken too seriously?

One Youtube commenter vented loud and clear under the video online:

“So wait, men are only respectful and decent human beings when they’re ‘not being themselves’? Men should eat a snickers to ‘be themselves again’ so that they can be sexist, ignorant douchebags that harass women? Great, Snickers. This kind of sexist perpetuation of masculinity is just what our world needs. “

So what do you think? Does the advert challenge sexist stereotypes or as just make them worse by reinforcing other ones?

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