Laundry detergents company Ariel has deleted its '#ShareTheLoad' ad, after receiving severe backlash for being 'misogynistic'. The advertisement showed men sharing the house chores as 'unequal division of household chores is keeping women awake' even during the lockdown.
Ariel's (now-deleted) tweet read: "Times of crisis bring people closer. They push us to play roles unimagined and to be the best versions of ourselves in every little moment. Here's to all those spectacular men who've begun to #ShareTheLoad and made it a joyful, loving part in their homes."
After the video was shared on the micro-blogging site, users panned the company for 'hyping' the bare minimum a man should do.
"Men doing household labour is "unimagined role" because of dumb hyping of normal work like this Women get beaten for not making perfect rotis. Men are "spectacular" for being able to fold clothes. @ArielIndia this is an unbelievably bad ad that also infantalises men," wrote author Rituparna Chatterjee.
A user tweeted, "The ariel ad reminded me of a chat I had a few days back- I had said ‘i know bahut kaam hai lekin ghar mein char log ho, mil baant ke kar lena, and was told Hamare mein mard bartan nehi dhote ya jhaadu nehi lagate!! Mujhe aur mother in law ko hi karne padega’ WTF is this??"
"He puts the clothes in... He even puts the detergent liquid in, and wait for it... Switches a fully automatic washing machine on!! *Sits on the sofa after this hard labour looking for his cup of chai*," read a tweet.
Here are the reactions:
