Clothing retailer Jacamo has been blasted for “homophobic” and “gender shaming” adverts which question clothing and accessory choices for “real men”.
Menswear retailer Jacamo, is finding out the hard way how not to run an online Twitter campaign as its #RealManRunway campaign has backfired, with many on social media blasting it for its “homophobic” and “gender shaming” undertones.
The online picture campaign focuses on two men, one male model and one “real man” and always contains the slogan, “real men don’t…”
The campaign which was devised to, “make men feel represented on the high street and to celebrate the diversity of the UK’s men” has seemingly failed to make its point in practice.
The advert which has caused the most offence shows two men, one posing with a “man bag” and the other with a football. The slogan reads, “Real men have balls, not man bags”.
Twitter users have called for the deletion of the Tweet and for Jacamo to explain itself.
One user, Mr Onion-Bucket, replied,
“Real companies don’t advertise using homophobic undertones.”
YouTuber and gender activist Georgie Aldous blasted the company in a statement,
“Just seen that the brand that’s all about equality and having clothes accessible for bigger people Jacamo have made a new homophobic advert on their Twitter about what it is to be a ‘real man’. Stating that men who wear man bags aren’t real men and that men who “have balls” aka like football are.
“I feel like I am constantly trying to be shoved into a category that I do not want to be in, I feel like I should have to like football, not like the colour pink, shouldn’t dye my hair and should have a girlfriend because I’m a man. But you couldn’t be more wrong.
am my own person and my gender does not define me or my actions. I like perfume, I wear make-up and I like guys. Does that not make me a real man?”
BACKLASH
It wasn’t long before the backlash against the company snowballed with many calling for the sacking of its marketing department and the deletion of the account and the Tweet.
Big Brother 2014 star, Mark Byron told THEGAYUK,
“(I’m) fuming about this… How dare they. It’s scandalous.”
MORTIFIED
A spokesman at Jacamo, which has been trading for 9 years, responded to the criticism by saying that the company was “mortified” and that its aim was, “championing (the) male body and diversity”.
Speaking to THEGAYUK.com Ed Watson said,
“Here at Jacamo championing male body and fashion diversity is really close to our hearts.
“We want to encourage all guys to feel confident – regardless of age, size, shape, colour or sexual orientation and that’s why we launched our Real Man Runway competition, to make more men feel represented on the high street and to celebrate the diversity of the UK’s men. Encouragingly we have loads of entries which are testament to this aim.
“Our social tweets were supposed to be a fun way of illustrating that there is more than one type of man something that the Real Man Runway competition is trying to do.
“We are mortified that this caused any offence and of course apologise.”
