An advertorial meant to celebrate International Women’s Day may have unknowingly offended women instead.
Singapore’s waxing chain, Strip: Ministry of Waxing (Strip), is being heavily criticised in China for its advertisements featuring orangutans.
The advertisements promoting waxing seem to liken hairier women to orangutans, almost objectifying and belittling women.
Source: Strip Hong Kong
According to TODAY, the offensive advertisements went viral on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo and Douyin.
Netizens spotted the advertisements at Xin Tian Di Plaza in Shanghai, China.
The first advertisement features a beautiful woman posing in a blue dress with a polka-dot print. She does not have any body hair and seems to be smiling with confidence.
However, right beside her is an orangutan in the same dress. The animal slouches and appears dispirited.
Source: Weibo via Channel NewsAsia
In another advertisement, two women with smooth skin in bikinis are holding hands while jumping into a lake. Beside them is a hairy orangutan jumping into the water with them.
Source: Strip Hong Kong
South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that many netizens took great offence to the advertisements.
One person commented that she had made a tipoff against this advertisement. She wrote, “This company degrades women and materialises women and creates body anxiety among women only for the sake of its commercial interests.”
Many other netizens shared the same sentiments, with another sharing, “What’s wrong with being hairy?”
In response to the comments, an anonymous employee from Strip’s Shanghai salon said, “The orangutan represents a person with too much body hair”.
This was because the company was unable to find a woman hairy enough for their advertisement, and thus they represented a hairy woman using the orangutan.
The employee also noted, “The advertisement sends the message that if you don’t remove your body hair, you will look like an orangutan; if you remove it, you will become beautiful.”
However, according to the company’s press release, Strip believes these statements were fabricated.
The alleged conversation in the article with an unnamed staff member saying that we could not find a human as hairy as an ape and hence used the image of an ape is most abnormal.
Strip is currently conducting an internal investigation with its Shanghai team.
Strip shared that the orangutan, the company’s mascot, was inspired by “the beloved tourism icon of Singapore”. Thus, netizens may have misinterpreted the intent of using an orangutan for their advertisements.
Strip also notes that they “never engage in shame campaigns to push or influence people to accept beauty services that benefit [them]”.
The company wishes to avoid any misunderstandings from happening again. Thus, they will be removing the image of the orangutan in current and future advertisements in China.
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Featured image adapted from Strip Hong Kong and Weibo via Channel NewsAsia.
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