Veet pulls ad criticised for being ‘homophobic’ and ‘sexist’
Hair removal company Veet has pulled an advert deemed “homophobic”, and “sexist”, saying it will “rethink” the campaign which suggested women with leg-stubble were “dudes”.
The campaign featured videos of a man waking up in bed with what he thinks is a woman, until he touches a leg which is draped over him. to discover a bearded man who speaks with a woman’s voice.
The tag-line of the ad states: “Don’t risk dudeness”, as the bearded man says: “Yeah I know I’m a little prickly, I shaved yesterday”.
As the voiceover states “Veet wax strips. Feel womanly around the clock”, the bearded man turns into a woman.
After debuting on Monday, the series of videos were pulled from YouTube and their TV spots, with a statement from Veet saying the campaign would be changed.
Many took to social media to complain about the ads, deeming them “sexist” and “homophobic”.
A message from Veet read: “Hi…this is the Veet marketing team in the US. We just wanted to let everyone know, we get it – we’re women too. This idea came from women who told us that at the first hint of stubble, they felt like “dudes.” It was really simple and funny, we thought. To be honest, the 3 of us could really relate to these real-life moments and they made us laugh.
“Not everyone appreciated our sense of humor. We know that women define femininity in different ways. Veet helps those who choose to stay smooth. Our intention was never, ever, to offend anyone, so we decided to rethink our campaign and remove those clips. Thank you for letting us know how you feel.”
The below copy of the video remains online, despite the official version having been removed.
