Colnago Made A Big, Fat Sexist Social Post And Everyone Is Pissed About It
On Monday morning, the folks who work in marketing over at Colnago will be greeted with a lovely surprise—Social media engagements from the weekend are through the roof! ...But not for why they had hoped. See the sexist post that is causing a sh*tstorm on the brand's Facebook page:
Why are people upset? It's just a cute, playful photo of a ~young~ female cyclist, right?
False. Everything about this post is a sexist disaster. Way to encourage women to want to ride bikes, Colnago! 👏
At the time this was recorded, Colnago's page had 256,516 Likes. This post had 510 likes, 126 comments, and 85 shares.
PS – The original post has since been deleted.
It didn't take long for the Facebook followers to react and give the company a piece of their mind... Here are a few choice comments:
The Good:
"Is Colnago trying to alienate women? Do they understand that by using women as props and not taking us seriously or treating us like people is setting us and your company back? Get with it Colnago, this shit is totally unacceptable." Natalia Mendez
"Colnago, you just made my list of bikes-not-to-buy. Please join the 21st century." Meredith Rambow
"Colnago, please read the comments from your male fan base and realize how destructive ads like this are to women." Crystal Schmidt
"totally gross. its 2015, stop using sexist imagery like this." Anna Maria
"As a woman cyclist and a former elite racer I will never buy one of your bikes ! This is NOT the way to advertise your bikes or help promote women's cycling!" Sabrina Forbes
"This is so, so bad. As if to say, "Women don't actually riiiiiide the bikes, so we can probably just skip buying shoes for this shoot, right guys?!" Advertising like this is profoundly misogynist, and it's got to stop." Glenn Stefani
"Ayyyy is your marketing dept on vacation? This is a pisspoor excuse for advertising." Ben Shovel
The Bad:
"Oh yeah I like that ride..." Raymond A. Pace
"The bike was beautiful also" Arthur D'Alessandro
"The bikes not bad too." Feargal Thom
"I think I will know where to ride this weekend if you tell me where is this pretty lady going ;)" Al Though
Oh, and the same post is on Twitter too.
Ready for the weekend ride? pic.twitter.com/Whi63QiWN7
— Colnago (@Colnagoworld) October 23, 2015
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vote votesYes, it objectifies women
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vote votesNo, I am an idiot
UPDATE: Still not convinced?
Here's a nice lil' side-by-side action to show the difference of how the brand might use a male in a photoshoot with their very expensive products vs a female...
PS – The photo on the right is STILL published despite the recent backlash.
UPDATE #2: Colnago has begun blocking people
The brand has opted to "block" users on Facebook who are asking them to acknowledge the sexist posts rather than respond.
Also, the page likes keep going up and up... *sigh*
UPDATE #3: Colnago has released an apology
This certainly doesn't resolve the issues of misogyny in the marketing world (especially sports marketing), but it's definitely a step in the right direction.
Props to everyone who banded together to show this brand that sexism is NOT ok.