Equal pay is an important topic, so one Danish footwear company decided to take on the discussion... with a shoe commercial.
Yes, what was supposed to be about mixing fashion and equal rights ended up with many customers confused and some, even offended.
In the ad by Bianco, the commercial starts off with a woman asking viewers to "Listen up."
"There's still not equal pay for equal work anywhere in the world," the ad says.
"And it seems most women are not even angry about it," it continues. "From now on, equal pay is no longer enough."
The ad goes on to other topics like how women pay more for things like haircuts and underwear, and how women should not be paid less than someone who uses "body lotion to his face."
It even ends with one of the women in the commercial throwing a hot cup of coffee on her boss' face.
On YouTube, the company wrote the following statement about their ad:
"If most agree that pay should be equal but we still are not there, then something new must happen and this is why Bianco's new campaign film puts petrol on the embers and suggests that the aim has simply been too low. Why fight for equal pay, when you can fight for more pay than men instead?
The message is that being a woman costs more than being a man. Having your hair done costs more when you are a woman. Women's underwear is much more expensive. Women have to get new clothes for each occasion, whereas men just need a decent suit and a single pair of good shoes.
Therefore, in Bianco’s new film, the women have had enough and, with their shoes as weapons, they fight against those with the money under the slogan Equal Pay is not Enough and #WomenNeedMore."
Some customers, however, were not impressed.
"It's very distasteful to ridicule such an important thing as the fight for #equalpay with your woman stereotypes for your own capitalistic gain," one Facebook user wrote.
"A lot of women are angry about it, but funnily enough not because we want to buy more shoes. Isn't it great when capitalism attempts to cash in on feminism? What a load of bullshit," another user wrote on Facebook.
Others pointed out how the ad failed to mention more necessary women's products, including tampons and pads, which are overpriced.
Last week, the company responded to some of its critics online.
"If the campaign creates dialogue and encourage for debate — as it does now — the campaign has already done something for the better," they erote on their Facebook page.
Also on HuffPost
