Not so 'progressive' ad angers some, expert says go easy on it

A woman, who calls the shots in office, cooks for her husband who is also her junior at the workplace. Is that thought "demoralising" or "sexist"?

Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel's new ad, which presents a working woman cooking for her man, has stirred up outrage on Twitter. But adman Prahlad Kakkar says it's perfectly valid and there's nothing wrong in the content.

"She's cooked meal with her own hands because it is important to her to cook for her husband. It's special. I think it's perfectly valid ad. It means that sometimes women are more competent than men...not all the time but sometimes and that they deserve to be bosses," Kakkar told IANS on phone from Mumbai.

Launched recently, the ad presents a woman setting a deadline for her subordinates, who include her husband, in office.

On her way home in a chauffeur-driven car, she calls up her husband to check what he would like to eat for dinner and then she is seen preparing a few dishes.

Through with cooking, she asks her husband to come home and tempts him with her home-cooked food by sending him its video.

Known for touching hearts of many through their ads like the recent one on a young couple set to marry soon or about an army man communicating with his lover, Bharti Airtel has this time angered people.

Here's what some of them tweeted:

Sarah Jacob: Ah, Airtel. You attempt to be 'progressive' and 'feminist'. End up with an ad even more retrograde and sexist than usual!

Gaurav Kapur: This airtel ad sends the wrong message. A double income, no kids couple can't afford a cook?! Demoralising for management students!

Parul Tyagi: The Boss wife Airtel Ad is the latest example of 'trying too hard to look cool while riding on feminism'. Total fail.

According to a survey by Gallup Inc., a US research and consulting services company, the payroll-to-population employment rate for women in South Asia is 10 percent as compared to 36 percent for men.

The data shows that the ratio of working women is still not on par with men.

Also, cooking meals or looking after household chores doesn't make a woman less competent.

Kakkar said: "Why shouldn't women be bosses in the office?"

"They can still cook for their husbands and still be good housewives. But in the workplace... that's resentment... that's where men don't like their women being senior to them.

"If a wife occasionally cooks a special meal for her husband it means she can't afford a servant? What rubbish? Look at the house. It's a very upmarket house. The only underlined resentment is why should the woman be the boss?" he added.