BANGLAORE: What is worse? A bunch of female children saying 'f**k' 40 times on TV to emphasise the need for equal rights for women, or the fact that one needs to take such extreme measures to talk feminism?
T-shirt brand FCKH8 recently launched a pro-feminist ad campaign that features little girls dressed as princesses talking about gender issues. In the course of the ad, they use words like 'f**k', 'penis', 'ass' and 'boobs', and at one point, one of them even flips out her middle finger.
Women are paid 23 per cent less than their male counterparts at the same job, while female candidates who got straight A's in college earn the same as men who got C's, the ad says. One in five women are sexually assaulted in their lives, says one girl and asks, 'which one of us would it be?'
These are burning issues, no doubt. But is this the right way to get people talking about them? Concerned parents from across the world are appalled by the advertisement and have condemned the brand for 'abusing' children to sell t-shirts. On the other hand, the campaign has been well-received by a section of people who feel that the swearing is okay as it just draws people's attention to the social issue.
The campaign sure has shocked the world. But has it managed to draw attention to the feminist issues that it claims it is about? Hardly. The statistics that it provides have reportedly been debunked by several studies. All that one remembers long after watching the ad is six-year-old girls hurling profanities in their sweet baby voices. And that accomplishes exactly nothing.