Swiffer, a highly visible cleaning company, has been called on the carpet for its most recent ad campaign, featuring renowned female symbol of strength Rosie the Riveter with a steam mop in hand.
Rosie the Riveter was used as a character used during World War II to highlight and symbolize the hard-working women who took jobs in factories to manufacture the necessary products that the men who served abroad would need to emerge victorious. Since then, Rosie the Riveter has been looked upon as a proud visage of feminism, and as an example of the importance of gender equality.
Swiffer invited the criticism by plopping their steam-mop product in Rosie's hands, inviting tweets such as this one from Heather Beschizza: "We can do it! Because cleaning kitchens is a woman's work. #swiffer #sexist."
The Women's Fund of New Hampshire was equally irked, expressing their opinion on Twitter as well. "Swiffer tells women 'We can do it!' 'It' in this case being housework. We're super unimpressed."
Raina Douris of Buzzfeed described the misguidedness of Swiffer's ad, and put into words the outrage felt by many consumers. "If you can't see why it's offensive, or at least incredibly ignorant, to use her likeness to market a FANCY BROOM, then you're not looking, said Douris. "The whole point is that Rosie symbolizes women's DEPARTURE from being solely responsible for homemaking. This ad is backwards."
Swiffer quickly abandoned the controversial ad, and released a statement saying, "It was not our intention to offend any group with the image, and we are working to make changes to where it is used as quickly as possible."
Swiffer's website features three other advertisements featuring women doing household cleaning and chores that have received less attention than Rosie the Riveter's. According to Yahoo!.com, although women now comprise 40 percent of American breadwinners, they still do the majority of housework. This is likely why cleaning companies like Swiffer still market their products toward women; this time, though, they clearly missed their mark.
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