Regular travellers through Clapham Common Tube station have been left bemused by an advert which has been dividing opinions over its potentially misogynistic message.
The wall advert, for a relatively unknown Greek freelancing company ‘People per hour’ was found in November displayed in the Tube Station tunnel. It features a photo of a woman working on a laptop and underneath it reads: “You do the girl boss thing. We’ll do the SEO thing”.
The advert was brought to the public’s attention by the Business Editor of the Daily Mail, Ruth Sunderland on twitter @ruthiesun on November 15. Along with a photo of the advert, she tweeted “This is at Clapham Common tube. How about ‘You do the patronising sexist dinosaur thing,’ People Per Hour (great name by the way 😂 😂 😂) and we’ll do the ‘you do know it’s 2019’ thing shall we?”
Amid calls from her followers for her to report it to the Advertising Standards Agency as well as many expressing bewilderment at the advert’s existence, Sunderland described the name ‘People Per Hour’ as “sounding like the name of a brothel”. In general, most of the commenters on her post believed that it was clumsy and misogynistic and seemed unnecessary patronising for a company that was clearly trying to pander to a female audience.
However, some commuters and travellers in Clapham Common tube station who spoke to South London Lines believed that while the message was ignorantly put across, it was not particularly supposed to be harmful or demean women bosses.
David Rodgers, aged 18, a student from Swansea said that “I think it’s patronising, but I don’t think it’s malicious, just ignorant. In the place I worked part time, women are always treated as professionally and respectfully as anyone else.”
Esther Ruddle, aged 20, a pianist from Peckham said, “I think people use language like ‘girl boss’ and ‘girl power’ to empower women, but by always saying ‘girl’ instead of ‘woman’ it is subconsciously belittling”
Sarah Warsama aged 21, a charity worker from Sheffield said that she believes it is “patronising and sexist and it purposely looks down on women.”
People per hour is an agency for freelancers to advertise their expertise so that potential clients can compare different freelancers for the best priced worker.
A commenter on Sutherland’s post pointed out that some mothers might be using the company to advertise their freelancing skills and struggling to balance work and life and that a website like People Per Hour could force down prices and take money away from working women. The commenter believed the advert only highlighted the gender imbalance in the freelancing work world.
South London Lines has reached out to People Per Hour but has received no response.
