Fairy liquid ‘sexist’ for leaving men out of poll

THE modern man is expected to do his fair share of the washing-up and laundry duties – but not according to detergent brand Fairy.

P& G, which makes the cleaning product, has been embroiled in a sexism row after conducting a womenonly poll on doing the washing.

In a survey of more than 3,000 people, the company did not ask a single man about the best laundry product for sensitive skin, prompting critics to accuse the firm of stereotyping domestic chores.

Promotional material on packs of Fairy Non Bio urges customers to ‘ Try the Voted No 1 laundry brand for sensitive skin’.

But the small print admits the claim is based on an ‘online panel of 3,348 females aged 18-70’.

The gaffe was spotted by Matthew Cottrell, a 32- year- old father and mortgage broker from St Neots, Cambridgeshire. ‘Fairy needs to clean up its act,’ Mr Cottrell told The Sun.

‘ Surely, it is sexist to ask only women and perpetuates the stereotype that women do laundry and

‘Perpetuates stereotype that women do laundry’

men don’t. Long gone are days when that was typical.’

Scott Popham, communications director at P&G, admitted: ‘In this survey, we agree there i s room for improvement.’

Fairy is not the first brand to fall foul of a gender stereotyping row. In 2018, high street holiday firm Tui was criticised after giving ‘ Future Tui captain’ stickers to boys but ‘Future Tui cabin crew’ ones to girls.

And last year, the Advertising Standards Authority announced a ban on ‘harmful gender stereotypes’.

The watchdog said the ban covered scenarios which would cause ‘serious or widespread offence’, such as adverts of a man with his feet up while a woman cleans, or a woman failing to park a car properly.

Tony Blair sparked controversy in June when he revealed that he had n o t d o n e a n y d o mesti c c h o r e s since 1997.

The former Prime Minister, 67, said he left the dishes, vacuuming and cleaning to his wife Cherie – even though she has her own career as an international lawyer.