Two ad spots for a deodorant brand, Layer’er Shot, have generated widespread outrage, with film personalities, our ad watchdog and the Indian government ordering its immediate withdrawal. Their scripts differ, but both feature a gang of young men talking about taking a “shot” as a way to have sex with a single woman. This is a campaign that leaves us bewildered.
All advertisements objectifying women need to stop. But the attempt to portray its smell-good advantage by the shot is particularly troubling. It normalizes the kind of dirty talk that should have no place in any society committed to maintaining women’s agency and overcoming an attitude that mixes male power and privilege for sexual conquest. Whether these two commercials were allowed to attack the audience’s sensibilities raises some questions. How was this subject even conceived? Has the ad agency behind the shot considered what it said about its ad makers? And has the customer understood the toxicity of the youth culture that the brand has sought to emerge and foster? This sordid episode should be a wake-up call to advertisers. Consent cannot be deceived. And “boys will be boys” just won’t wash.