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‘Are You a Spinster?’: Government Bans Campaign Considered Offensive for Women

March 6, 2017

The Egyptian Consumer Protection Agency and Ministry of Supply have decided to ban an advertising campaign that prompted uproar over the past few days in Egypt for being offensive towards women.

A billboard that read “Are you a spinster?” was used to advertise for a cooking oil brand. While the original idea was to empower women and help them escape judgments and classifications, the billboards were deemed offensive by the majority of girls and women.

There were more billboards in the campaign that read, “The shade of a man is better than the shade of a wall”, and “Break a woman’s rib and she will grow 24 more”. All the billboards were taken down.

The National Council for Women welcomed the immediate decision of the Consumer Protection Agency and Ministry of Supply to ban this campaign. The campaign saw billboards being erected in Cairo, including 6th of October Bridge and the Ring Road.

According to the President of the National Council of Women Maya Morsy, the ban asserts that the Egyptian society respects women and is aware of their role, further adding that the decision dignifies women. Morsy said that the language that was used in the campaign was rather offensive to women, and these words should be deleted from the Egyptian dictionary.

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