Blog of Wade Making Connexions

Henderson & Horning – Sexist Advertising, Justice Through Social Networks?

Picture of a guy, top ripped open, sitting down, staring suggestively up towards the crotch of a lady in red fishnet stockings. Sign reads, “How Long Have You Been Looking?” (Corner of Harris Street and Pyrmont Bridge Road, [still current]).

I passed this sign at least twice a day, 5 days a week, for months on end. It’s wrong, and it’s time something was done about it. The photo above is where we begin. Captured by Vicky and uploaded to flickr.

I wasn’t happy leaving this at flickr, and thought a few people on Twitter might be interested. It turns out a few people were, and I got comments helping me find others, as well as a re-tweet from Gavin, aka, @servantofchaos. @timlonghurst, long time ‘futurist‘, activist, and all round nice guy took it offline, and suggested I call the number. An obvious point.

Today I called the office of Henderson & Horning. I spoke to someone called Bill in their management about the sign. I asked if he had any comments, or if there was any approvals or permissions that had been sought to advertise there. Upon telling him I was looking at getting it removed, he gruffly suggested I contacted the Advertising Standards Board.

I’ve filed a complain, which has been received(below), and reply letter should be sent to me within 4 weeks. Will keep things updated! Feel Free to pass this around! Would love to see it dealt with.

(The hook with social networks lies in the fact, that before the world of flickr and twitter, I would have been isolated, and have had no where to turn to. Thanks to flickr and twitter, there’s now a place to converse about this issue, as well as a network of support/guidance. A once lost voice, is now heard.)

Update (30/July):The Advertising Standards Board sent me a reply;-

As your complaint raises issues under Section 2 of the AANA Code of Ethics, it is scheduled for submission to the Advertising Standards Board. A copy of it will be provided to all members of the Board in order to help them in their determination of your complaint. We will also send a copy of your correspondence to the advertiser in question for comment. Any comments we receive from the advertiser will be submitted to the Board for consideration together with your complaint.

Update (6/Aug): It appears this campaign is starting to act as a Google Bomb. Now searching for the company in question, this page is #2. Come on #1! Below is a screen shot.

Update (7/Aug): The Servant of Chaos, Says “Henderson & Horning being personally introduced to social media by Wade”;-

 
Gavin Heaton – “The memory of the long tail is, indeed, forever.”

 
Update (8/Aug): Integratedbrand has picked up the story, from the perspective of brand importance in the world of social media;-

 
Jen Travis - “Everything you DO and SAY matters in brand management. Absolutely everything.”

 
Update (25/Aug): Tim Longhurst has also picked up on this story.
 

 
Tim Longhurst - “A stakeholder is anyone who can have an impact on your brand’s value.” 

 
The Advertising Standards Board replied today, stating that “The Board determined that the advertisement breaches the Advertiser Code of Ethics and, accordingly, upheld the complaint.”

Meta Data:For those looking at using tags along side with media from this page, please use the tag henhornsexism.

Nice work, Wade.

For something to be sexist it has to address a stereotype. I’m not sure what stereotype this sign is addressing. What’s it saying? Other than that men and women have sex? You’ll have to clarify this one for me…

Oh, have you seen the new Dominos commercial? The pizza delivery chick is this tiny petite little thing and she’s delivering a pizza. There’s a body guard type of guy next to her and she says it’s such a great deal and the guard says “copy that cupcake” I wasn’t sure to call it sexist or not. Maybe he was just calling her cupcake because she said the deal was “sweet”. My first reaction was offense though.

Hi Heather,

This is almost the exact opposite of an Ad covered by SMH, where Males felt that a VW ad was sexist, due to a ‘crotch shot’. (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/01/02/1104601243209.html)

This is the same thing. Yes this may all be natural, but it does not deserve a place in advertising. Having a guy staring at a woman’s crutch to sell anything is wrong.

I haven’t see the Ad. I don’t own a TV. Do you have any youtube links to it? Would be good to see.

Peace,

Wade

Wade a job well done to start off with. Another name I’d give that sort of advertising is “Lazy”. I wonder what type of business they actually want in that building?

Hey Wade, thanks for being so conscious! Might want to drop a note over at the blog feministing.com and see if they pick it up.

[...] Twitter and Flickr to gain support for his own grievance with Henderson & Horning for their sexist advertising campaign, it only takes a matter of days to challenge a brand’s reputation. Wade states that, “the hook [...]

Hi Allison,

Thanks for your comment and suggestion. I’ll be sure to check the blog out and submit the story. I hope to catch up with you in person soon.

Peace,

Wade

[...] real estate company, apparently) no doubt think they’ve got their market just right, but if Wade and Gavin are anything to go by, they’re out of line with their [...]