Clothing brand apologises after ‘gender stereotyping’ in ad

You know what men like? Football. Nothing else – they don’t have a diverse set of tastes, most certainly hate fashion, and would rather drink out of novelty mugs for the rest of eternity than be seen dead with a wine glass.

At least that’s what Jacamo, the men’s clothing brand, appears to have been implying in its recent ad campaign.

The brand – known for its diverse selection of sizes – has been accused of gender stereotyping in its new ‘real man’ ads.

Each advert features a photo of a ‘model’, often topless or wearing fashionable clothing and doing something some might consider stereotypically effeminate such as holding a “man bag”, taking a bite out of a Magnum or sipping on some wine.

While on the right is a ‘real man’, who is fully clothed, more average looking and doing something more stereotypically manly such as holding a football, eating a sandwich or drinking something out of a mug.

And so the #RealManRunway campaign, which hopes to find a normal man to be the new face of the company, hasn’t gone down well on Twitter.

Some have accused it of gender stereotyping, while others have suggested it has “homophobic undertones”.

“Disgusted to think that a company that is all about equality with bigger sizes would be so homophobic,” wrote one Twitter user, while another said “this is wrong on so many levels”.

However, not everyone believes the adverts need to be taken so much to heart.

“I agree the wording is poor, but MY view is that’s it’s not homophobic. You’re making an assumption based on your perception,” one person wrote.

Jacamo has since apologised for the advert on Twitter, writing:

“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.”

It continued: “We are mortified that this caused any offence and of course apologise.”

What do you think? Was Jacamo’s advert encouraging gender stereotypes or even homophobic? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK.

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