Take a look at this, below (full article here…not the original one, sadly):
This hot pink monstrosity has been touring the country, as part of Labour’s drive to attract more women voters, backed by former Minister for Women, Harriet Harman.
How, in the name of all things sacred, was this allowed to leave the communications department (I sincerely hope it didn’t come from Labour’s above-the-line agency) of a major UK political party.
It’s the kind of thing that would be said as the very first thought in response to a brief to target women voters: “shall we have a bright pink van that says ‘woman’ on it?’
The reply to this should’ve been: ‘don’t be stupid – how obvious, and how patronising to women, is that? Oh, I know – women like pink. That’ll make them vote Labour.’
Yet, unbelievably, this idea has made it from concept to completion.
So, a bright pink van – because all women like pink (and all men like blue etc) and are fickle enough to vote for a political party on that basis – kicks off the patronising guff.
Then the words ‘Woman to Woman’ are plastered to the side of that van: “gee, if we’re targeting women, we’d better put the word ‘woman’ on the van…. twice”.
And, obviously, only women can speak to other women about politics…
Oh, and of course, all women are far too stupid to realise that Labour are targeting them with a pink van just so they can get their votes, as a significantly large group, and not because they particularly care about them.
Seriously – for the 9.1 million women who didn’t vote in the last election, did Labour believe driving a pink Transit van round the country would suddenly make them think; ‘well I must vote now – it’d just be wrong not to’ ?
As you’d expect, this stunt has been mercilessly pilloried online, with comparisons to Barbie vans and the Sheila’s Wheels adverts.
What did Labour think was going to happen, though? Did they not see how this could be perceived as a terrible, cheesy, patronising idea, open to complete piss-taking?
Honestly, I have no idea how this made it past ‘first thought’, let alone being allowed to leave Labour’s comms department. Baffled…. absolutely baffled.