AT&T Offends Half Its Audience

Click Here to See the Ad

AT&T's Mobile Share program is designed for small business.  That's cool.  The television ad that they have created depicts staff of a realty company asking questions and getting answers about the service.  That's cool, too.  Four of the five of the actors are female.  Also cool.

What's not cool is the fact that the single male portrayed in the spot is cast as a total idiot.  He plays an insecure and bumbling counterpoint to confident and assertive women.  I understand the value of humor in advertising, but why would you create humor that is potentially offensive to half of the population of small business operators?

Here's a test to see whether this situation is offensive or not.  What if the roles were reversed?  What if the ad featured four confident and assertive men along with a woman who is an insecure and bumbling idiot?  I bet AT&T would be swamped with complaints.  Humor shouldn't insult the audience.  Shame on AT&T for insulting a significant portion of its target audience.