It’s cool when your brand is a little edgy and takes a few risks. Think Virgin Airlines America and their safety demonstration video. It’s not cool when your brand is overtly sexist and, on International Women’s Day to boot, reinforces negative gender stereotyping.

Side note – the above image is tongue-in-cheek and sums up this company’s reaction pretty well. More about that later though.

The bad guys here are Indonesian firm Salvo Sports, who thought it was a good idea to spice up the washing instructions on their replica Indonesian Super League side Pusamania Borneo jerseys. We give you…

So how does one deal with the immediate shitstorm that follows something like this hitting social media? Not like this, with Metro reporting:

A posting on the company’s Twitter account said: ‘The message is simply, instead of washing it in the wrong way, you might as well give it to a lady because they are more capable’

And the sportswear firm continued: ‘There is no intention to humiliate women. In contrast [we want to tell the men] learn from women how to take care of clothes’.

Nailed it guys, except not at all. That really is one of the least adept backpedals I have ever seen.

Then again, parts of Indonesia practice Sharia law so we should be surprised the label doesn’t instruct them to be stoned to death for being out of the kitchen.

[source:metro]