Unilever has caused controversy by promoting transsexualism in an advert for its Dove brand.
Titled #RealMoms the advert features a transsexual amongst several mothers.
The cosmetics brand claims that the advert “shatters stereotypes about motherhood”.
Pro-trans
In the advert, the man sits alongside a woman and a baby and tells the camera: “You get people that are like, ‘What do you mean you’re the mom?'”
“We’re like, ‘Yep, we’re both gonna be moms.’”
Dove says the advert aims to prove that “there are no rules about how to be a parent today”.
Magnum
Earlier this month, a Unilever advert promoting same-sex marriage was cleared by the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) in Australia despite being described as inappropriate.
The advert for Magnum ice cream depicts a woman preparing for her wedding, walking down the aisle and meeting her female spouse-to-be, accompanied by the strapline “pleasure is diverse”.
Same-sex marriage is not legal in Australia, and recently a Bill proposing a public vote on this issue was blocked in the Senate.
Ben & Jerry’s
A viewer wrote to the ASB to complain that the advert amounted to the “promotion of lesbianism during family viewing time”.
The ASB conceded that same-sex marriage is not legal, but dismissed the complaints, claiming that: “it is not the Board’s role to say whether a particular issue or scenario can or should be depicted in an advertisement”.
In 2015, Unilever-owned Ben & Jerry’s renamed one of its ice cream flavours to “I Dough, I Dough” at participating stores to celebrate the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the US.