U.K. brand slapped for its sexist holiday marketing
Fueled by a thoughtless tweet, a British company takes flak for advising bosses to buy their ‘lady staff’ nail files for Christmas.
If you’re careless, you might land in hot water like the British nail-file company that was slapped for its sexist marketing language aimed at “lady staff” members.
The incident sparked a social media firestorm in the U.K. and offers an important lesson for PR and marketing pros.
Last week, former U.K. “Apprentice” winner Tom Pellereau’s company Stylfile splashed this headline across its website, “This Christmas, show your appreciation to your lady staff with Stylfile.”
According to Brand Republic, Stylfile removed the headline from its site, but British millionaire and celebrity—Lord Alan Sugar, host of the U.K.’s “Apprentice”—fanned the flames on Twitter when he tweeted:
Women, why not get the boss to buy you all a small gift for Christmas to show appreciation for all your hard work bit.ly/VTBv2D
— Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) November 19, 2012
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