A now-deleted LinkedIn post has copped some well-earned backlash from business professionals across the globe over extremely cooked comparisons between marketing tactics and (ahem) women’s boobs.
The post by UK strategic adviser and marketing executive James Langridge hit everyone’s least favourite social media platform LinkedIn earlier this week, and let’s just say the ill-thought-out insights left everyone stumped about how this got past LinkedIn’s community guidelines.
It kicks off with the highly questionable phrase “Let’s talk boobs for a sec,” claiming that the larger they are, the more likely they are to be covered up, while smaller breasts tend to be “on show”.
“But it’s got me thinking, the more confidence we have in whatever we’re presenting (boobs or otherwise) the less we tend to shout about it,” he wrote.
A snippet of the now-deleted post. (Source: LinkedIn)
From there, Langridge extended the metaphor to the marketing world, arguing those with “A-cup ideas” use flashy tactics to get attention while those with “FF concepts” are quieter, more refined, and deserve to be showcased more.
“There are a lot of people in marketing working with A-cup ideas and using verbal pushup bras to attract eyeballs, prospects, and sales,” he wrote.
“But there are a quiet minority in turtlenecks and big coats packing FF concepts and offers. So if you’re getting annoyed with the people constantly shoving their stuff in your face — know that you’re not alone.”
He encouraged people to “show off a little more” and “make marketing classy again”, wrapping up the bizarre address with a note that people could reach out to him if “you might be hiding your assets” like he did.
In news that will shock exactly no one, the post didn’t land well.
Many users pulled up the platform for allowing such content to remain online. (Source: LinkedIn)
Melbourne-based digital marketing executive Carolyn Stebbing wasted no time calling out LinkedIn’s glaring double standards, noting legitimate discussions around sexual health and wellness often get censored on the platform while such drivel stays up.
“The saddest thing about this is that there are amazing people out there creating a whole heap of positive, legitimate stuff in the sexual health, wellness and sextech space, yet constantly battle censorship and blocking on this platform,” she wrote in her own LinkedIn post.
“But then a dude posts something appalling like this and it doesn’t go against community guidelines. What’s the deal, LinkedIn?”
A number of users also described it as “the worst thing on LinkedIn”, “foul” and completely out of touch.
Simon Thomsen, editor of Australian tech and entrepreneurship publication Startup Daily, also took to LinkedIn to ask whether Langridge would ever be allowed to speak like this in an actual office.
“Would you let Jimmy here stand up in the LinkedIn offices and speak to the team like this? Would this be a suitable workplace presentation in your business?” he remarked.
Thomson didn’t mince words, explaining: “If the answer’s no, then what the hell are you doing letting it stay up on this site?”
“You are an enabler at this point and lacking in duty of care for the women — and many men — who use this site as a professional resource,” he wrote.
Grace Carter, managing director of UK business collective The Metamorphose Group, described the post as “absolute bullshit” and highlighted real-world damage this sort of rhetoric can have on women in the workplace.
“Women reading this will walk into boardrooms wondering which of their male colleagues are thinking this to themselves,” she wrote on LinkedIn.
“The fact this ‘banterish’ post (*rolls eyeballs*) is the kind of thing that is deemed acceptable to be published in a public and professional forum says everything you need to know about what get said behind closed doors. Plus, about why women are discriminated against, held back in their careers, scorned at for having the audacity to have children, not able to speak their minds openly.”
Like many of us, she pointed out it was a massive sigh of relief that most of the 3,000 comments on Langridge post agreed this was problematic as fuck.
“But it’s not enough. We shouldn’t HAVE to explain why this is wrong. We shouldn’t have to justify it. Unless he’s been sleeping under a rock for the last 50 years, it should go without any explanation needed,” Carter pointed out.
The problematic post has now been deleted, but hey, next time you’re thinking about using body parts like this as a metaphor for marketing, maybe just don’t…?
This should go without saying, but for those in the back, I’m calling it — there shouldn’t be any place for misogyny dressed up as ‘banter’.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Langridge for comment.
Lead image: LinkedIn / iStock Images
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